Spurts of energy on the part of different clubs, unexpected ill fortune on the part of others, and marked variations of form, which ranged from the leaders almost to the lowliest teams of the second division, injected spasmodic moments of excited interest into the National League race for 1912 and marked it by more vicissitudes than any of its immediate predecessors.

By careful analysis it is not a difficult matter to ascertain why the New Yorks won. Their speed as a run-getting machine was much superior to that of any of their opponents. Every factor of Base Ball which can be studied demonstrates that fact. They led the National League in batting and they led it in base running. They were keenly alive to the opportunities which were offered to them to win games. Indeed, their fall from the high standard which they had set prior to the Fourth of July was quite wholly due to the fact that they failed to take advantage of the situations daily, as they had earlier in the season, and their return to that winning form later in the season, which assured them of the championship, was equally due to the fact that they had regained their ability to make the one run which was necessary to win. That, after all, is the vital essential of Base Ball. To earn the winning run, not by hook or crook, but to earn it by excelling opponents through superior play in a department where the opponents are weak, is the story of capturing a pennant.

They were dangerous men to be permitted to get on bases, and their dearest and most bitter enemies on the ball field, with marked candor, confessed that such was the case. Opposing leaders admitted that when two or three of the New York players were started toward home plate one or two of them were likely to cross the plate and that, too, when one run might tie the score and two runs might win the game.

While there were some who were quite sanguine before the beginning of the season that the Giants would win the championship, there were others who were convinced that they would have a hard time to hold their title, and after the season was over both factions were fairly well satisfied with their preliminary forecast.

The runaway race which New York made up to the Fourth of July gave abundant satisfaction to those who said they would win, and the setback which the team received after the Fourth of July until the latter part of August afforded solace to those who were certain in their own minds that the New Yorks would have much trouble to repeat their victory of 1911.

It must not be forgotten, too, that the New York team had the benefit of excellent pitching throughout the year. In the new record for pitchers, which has been established this season by Secretary Heydler of the National League, and which in part was the outcome of the agitation in the GUIDE for a new method of records, in which the various Base Ball critics of the major league cities so ably contributed their opinions, Tesreau leads all the pitchers in the matter of runs which were earned from his delivery. Mathewson is second, Ames is fifth, Marquard seventh and Wiltse and Crandall lower, and while both the latter were hit freely in games in which they were occasionally substituted for others, they pitched admirably in games which they won on their own account.

In the opinion of the writer this new method, which has been put into usage by Secretary Heydler, is far superior to anything which has been offered in years as a valuable record of the actual work of pitchers. It holds the pitcher responsible for every run which is made from his delivery. It does not hold him responsible for any runs which may have been made after the opportunity has been offered to retire the side, nor does it hold him responsible for runs which are the result of the fielding errors of his fellow players. On the other hand, if he gives bases on balls, if he is batted for base hits, if he makes balks, and if he makes wild pitches, he must stand for his blunders and have all such runs charged against him as earned runs.

Nothing proves more conclusively the strength of this manner of compiling pitchers' records than that Rucker, by the old system, dropped to twenty-eighth place in the list of National League pitchers, finished third in the earned run computation, showing that if he had been given proper support he probably would have been one of the topmost pitchers of the league, even on the basis of percentage of games won, which is more vainglorious than absolutely truthful.

The Giants are to be commended for playing clean, sportsmanlike Base Ball. There were less than a half dozen instances in which they came into conflict with the umpires. The president of the National League complimented Manager McGraw in public upon the excellent conduct of his team upon the field and the players deserved the approbation of the league's chief executive.

The general work of the Pittsburgh team throughout the year was good. It must have been good to have enabled the players to finish second in the championship contest, but the team, speaking in the broadest sense, seemed to be just good enough not to win the championship. As one man dryly but graphically put it: "Pittsburgh makes me think of a wedding cake without the frosting."

Fred. Clarke, manager of the team, adhered resolutely to his determination not to play. It was not for the reason that the impulse to play did not seize upon him more than once, but he had formed a conviction, or, at least, he seemed to have formed one, that it would be better for the organization if the younger blood were permitted to make the fight. It was the opinion of more than one that Clarke incorrectly estimated his own ball playing ability, in other words, that he was a better ball player than he credited himself with being.

As batters the Pittsburghs were successful. As fielders they were superior to the team that won the championship. As run-getters they were not the equal of the Giants. In brief, fewer opportunities were accepted to make runs by a much larger percentage than was the case with the New York club, which can easily be verified by a careful study of the scores of the two teams as they opposed one another, and as they played against the other clubs of the league.

It took more driving power to get the Pittsburgh players around the bases than it did those of New York. In tight games, where the advantage of a single run meant victory, the greater speed of the New York players could actually be measured by yards in the difference of results. Naturally it was not always easy for the Pittsburgh enthusiasts to see why a team, which assuredly fielded better than the champions and batted almost equally as well, could not gain an advantage over its rivals, but the inability of Pittsburgh Base Ball patrons to comprehend the lack of success on the part of their team existed in the fact that they had but few opportunities, comparatively speaking, to watch the New York players and found it difficult to grasp the true import of that one great factor of speed, which had been so insistently demanded by the New York manager of the men who were under his guidance.

Pittsburgh had an excellent pitching staff. Even better results would have been obtained from it if Adams had been in better physical condition. An ailing arm bothered him. While he fell below the standard of other years, one splendid young pitcher rapidly developed in Hendrix, and Robinson, a left-hander, with practically no major league experience, pushed his way to a commanding position in the work which he did.

Until the Giants made their last visit to Pittsburgh in the month of August the western team threatened to come through with a finish, which would give them a chance to swing into first place during the month of September, but the series between New York and Pittsburgh turned the scale against the latter.

Fired with the knowledge that they were at the turning point in the race the New York players battled desperately with their rivals on Pittsburgh's home field and won. Even the Pittsburgh players were filled with admiration for the foe whom they had met, and while they were not in the mood to accept defeat with equanimity, they did accept it graciously and congratulated the victors as they left Pittsburgh after playing the last game of the season which had been scheduled between them on Forbes Field.

First base had long bothered Clarke. Frequent experiments had been made to obtain a first baseman, who could play with accuracy on the field and bat to the standard of the team generally. Clarke transferred Miller from second base to first and the change worked well. More graceful and more accurate first basemen have been developed than Miller, but in his first year of play at the bag he steadied the team perceptibly and unquestionably gave confidence to the other men.

But making a first baseman out of Miller took away a second baseman and second base gave Clarke more or less concern all of the season. At that, Pittsburgh was not so poorly off in second base play as some other of the teams of the senior circuit.

Two important factors contributed to the success of the Chicagos in 1912. For a few days they threatened to assume the leadership of the National League. With the opportunity almost within their grasp the machine, which had been patched for the moment, fell to pieces, and the Cubs, brought to a climax in their work by all the personal magnetism and the driving power of which Chance was capable, were exhausted by their strongest effort. The courage and the wish were there, but the team lacked the playing strength.

To return to the factors which contributed to the club's success. They were the restoration to health of Evers, and a complete change in the manner of playing second base, added to the consistent and powerful batting of Zimmerman. The latter led the league in batting and repeatedly pulled his club through close contests by the forceful manner in which he met the ball with men on bases.

A third contributing force, though less continuous, was the brief spurt which was made by the Chicago pitchers in the middle of the season. They were strongest at the moment that the New York team was playing its poorest game, and their temporary success assisted in pushing the Chicagos somewhat rapidly toward the top of the league. They were not resourceful enough nor strong enough to maintain their average of victories and finished the season somewhat as they had begun.

The most of Chicago's success began to date from the early part of July, when Lavender, pitching for the Cubs, won from Marquard of the Giants, who, to that time, had nineteen successive victories to his credit. Chicago continued to win, and the New York team made a very poor trip through the west.

Lavender's physical strength held up well for a month and then it became quite evident that he had pitched himself out. Then was the time that the Chicagos could have used to good advantage two and certainly one steady and reliable pitcher, who had been through the fire of winning pennants and would not be disturbed by the importance which attached to games in which his club was for the moment the runner-up in the championship race.

Chicago managed to hold its own fairly well against the New York team. Indeed, the Cubs beat the New Yorks on the series for the season, but there were other clubs, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati, which won from Chicago when victories were most needed by the Cubs, and their hope to capture the pennant deserted them as they were making their last trip through the east.

The race was not without its bright side for Chicago. Even if the Cubs did finish third for the first time since Chance had been manager of the organization, it was a welcome sight to see Evers apparently in as good form as ever and Zimmerman so strong with the bat that the leadership of the batters finally returned to Chicago after it had been absent for years.

Cincinnati, under the management of Henry O'Day, finished fourth in the race. It was by no means a weak showing for the new manager, in view of the team which he was compelled to handle. Until the New York club played its first series in Cincinnati, which began May 18, the Reds were booming along at the top of the league, apparently with no intention that they might ever drop back. It was New York that won three out of the five games played and took the lead in the race, and when that happened Cincinnati never was in front again.

To the other managers, who had been watching the work of the Cincinnatis it was apparent that sooner or later the break would have to come for the reason that, as the season progressed, better pitching would have to be faced by the Cincinnati club, while it was doubtful whether the Cincinnati pitchers could do any better than they were doing. The manager seemed to have known this, for when the break did come and the Reds began to totter, he said in reference to their downfall that no team could be expected to win with only ordinary pitching to assist it.

In this manner Cincinnati played through the middle of the season always just a little behind most of its opponents. As the latter days of the year began to dawn the Reds began to improve and not the least of which was in the better work of the pitchers.

They did well enough to beat Philadelphia for fourth place, and while O'Day did not have the satisfaction of finding his first year as a manager generous enough to him to make him the runner-up for the championship team, he actually put his club in the first division, which is something in which many managers have failed and some of them managers of long experience.

Misfortune and ill luck always attaches itself in a minor degree to every team which engages in a championship contest, but most assuredly Philadelphia had more of its share of reverses through accidents to players and illness than any team of the National League. Yet the Philadelphias were courageous players from whom little complaint was heard. They took their misfortunes with what grace they could and played ball with what success they could achieve, whether they had their best team in the field or their poorest.

Strangely enough they played an important part in the results of the race. Frequently they defeated the Chicagos, all too frequently for the comfort of the Chicago Base Ball enthusiasts, and when the loss of a game or two by the Philadelphias to the Chicagos might have turned the race temporarily one way or the other, the Philadelphias, with decided conviction, refused to lose.

It may not be necessary to call attention to the fact of absolute fairness in the contests for championships in the various leagues which comprise Base Ball in its organized form. The day has passed when the Base Ball enthusiast permits his mind to dwell much upon that sort of thing, if ever he did. But if it were necessary to advance an argument as to the integrity of the sport and the high class of the men who are engaged in the summer season in playing professional Base Ball, there could be nothing better to prove that the price of victory is the one great consideration, greater than the fact of Philadelphia's success against a team which was a strong contender against that which finally won the championship.

As much as Philadelphia desired that New York should be beaten, for there was no love lost between the teams in a ball playing way, the fighting spirit and the predominant desire to add to the column of victories as many games as possible brought forth the best efforts of the team of ill fortune against Chicago and struck telling blows against Chicago's success at the most timely moments.

As a whole the St. Louis team did not play as well in 1912 as it did in the preceding year. There was some bad luck for St. Louis as well as Philadelphia. The players did not get started as well as they had in the previous two years. Their spring training was more or less disastrous, for they were one of the clubs to run into the most contrary of spring weather.

Perhaps the worst trouble which the St. Louis team had, take the season through from beginning to finish, was in regard to the pitchers. There were two or three young men on the team who seemed at the close of the season of 1911 to be likely to develop into high class pitchers in 1912. They pitched well in 1912 at intervals. One day it seemed as if they at last had struck their stride and the next they faltered and their unsteadiness gave their opponents the advantage which they sought.

Perhaps, if the St. Louis team had been a little stronger to batting it would have rated higher among the organization of the National League. Several games were lost which would have been taken into camp by a better display at bat. In fielding the team was much stronger and the success of the infield, combined with some excellent outfield work now and then, frequently held the team up in close battles, but when the pitchers faltered on the path the fielders were not able to bear the force of the attack.

For three seasons in succession Brooklyn seems to have been fated to start the season with bad luck and misfortune. The spring training trip did not bring to Brooklyn all that had been expected owing to the inclement weather.

When the team began the season at Washington Park a tremendous crowd filled the stands. Long before it was time for the game to begin the spectators became unruly and swarmed over the field. It was impossible for the ground police to do anything with the excited enthusiasts and at last the city police were asked to assist. They tried to clear the field, but only succeeded in driving the crowd from the infield. Spectators were so thick in the outfield that they crowded upon the bases and prevented the players from doing their best. For that matter the outfielders could not do much of anything.

A ground rule of two bases into the crowd was established, and the New York players, who were the opponents of Brooklyn, took advantage of it to drive the ball with all their force, trusting that it would sail over the heads of the fielders and drop into the crowd. They were so successful that they made a record for two-base hits and Brooklyn was overwhelmed.

This unfortunate beginning appeared to depress the Brooklyn team. The players recovered slightly, but had barely got into their stride again when accidents to the men began to happen. Some of them became ill, and the manager was put to his wits end to get a team on the field which should make a good showing.

Fighting against these odds Brooklyn made the best record that it could. As the season warmed into the hotter months the infield had to be rearranged. There was disappointment in the playing of some of the infielders. It was also necessary to reconstruct the outfield. Unable to get all of the men whom he would have desired the manager continued to experiment and his experiments brought forth good fruit, for unquestionably the excellent work of Moran, who played both right field and center field for Brooklyn, was a great help to the pitchers. By the time that the Base Ball playing year was almost concluded Brooklyn had so far recovered that it was able to place a better nine on the diamond than had been the case all of the year.

Boston never was expected to be a championship organization. The material was not there for a championship organization, but Boston did play better ball than in 1911 and that is to the credit of players, manager and owner. The club had changed hands, but the new owner had not been able to readjust all of the positions to suit him. He put the best nine possible in the field with what he had. Never threatening to become a championship winning team Boston played steadily with what strength it possessed and always a little better than in 1911, so that the year could not fairly be considered unsuccessful at its finish.

Going back to the beginning of the year and looking over the contest for the National League championship of 1912, it is not uninteresting, indeed it is of much interest to call attention to the remarkably odd record which was made by New York to win the pennant. In that record stands the story of the fight, with striking shifts from week to week.

The first game played by the Giants was against Brooklyn, as has been related, and it was won by New York and that, by the way, was the game in which Marquard began his admirable record as a pitcher for the season.

The Giants lost the next three games. Two of them were to Brooklyn and one to Boston, and the players of the New York team began to wonder a little as to what had happened to them.

Then New York won nine straight games from the eastern clubs, being stopped finally by Philadelphia on the Polo Grounds. But that defeat did not check them. They started on another winning spurt and played throughout the west without a defeat until they arrived in Cincinnati. This total of victories was nine. All of the games on the schedule were not played because of inclement weather.

Cincinnati won twice from New York and then the Giants turned the tables on the Reds, who had been leading the league. They threw them out of the lead, which they never regained, and won another succession of nine victories. That made three times consecutively that they had won a total of twenty-seven games in groups of nine, assuredly an unusual result.

Losing one game they again entered the winning class. This time they won six games in succession. Then they lost a game. After this single defeat they won but three games. Their charm of games in blocks of nine had deserted them. They were beaten twice after winning three, and Pittsburgh was the team.

Then they won another single game and immediately after that victory lost to Brooklyn. But that was the last defeat for a long time. Well into the race, with their condition excellent, and playing better ball than they had played since their wonderful spurt of the month of September in 1911, they won sixteen games in succession.

The morning of the Fourth of July dawned hot and sultry. The air was thick and muggy and without life. The Giants were scheduled to play two games that day with Brooklyn, the first in the morning and the second in the afternoon. If they won both of them they would tie a former record, which had been made by the New York team, for consecutive victories.

Perhaps it may have been reaction after the long strain of winning or it may have been an uncommonly good streak of batting on the part of Brooklyn. Surely Brooklyn batted well enough, as the morning game went to the latter team by the score of 10 to 4. In the afternoon Brooklyn again beat the Giants by the score of 5 to 2. Wiltse pitched for New York and Stack for Brooklyn.

The New York team went to Chicago and won twice. Then it lost. The fourth game was won from Chicago and then the Giants lost two in succession.

They won one game and immediately after that lost four in succession. Chicago began to have visions of winning the pennant.

From Chicago the Giants went to Pittsburgh, stood firm in a series of three games, winning two and losing one. Their next call was at Cincinnati and beginning with that series they got back to form a trifle and won five games in succession.

Returning home they were beaten on the Polo Grounds three games in succession by Chicago. After that New York settled into a winning stride again and won six games in succession. Pittsburgh came to the Polo Grounds and stopped the winning streak of the champions by defeating them three times in succession. That was a hard jolt for any team to stand. Yet the Giants rallied and won the test game of the Pittsburgh series.

It was but a momentary pause, for after another victory St. Louis beat New York. The Giants won another game and the next day lost to St. Louis. That finished the home games for New York and the team started west, facing a desperate fight. They lost the first game to Chicago, won the next and lost the third. Going from Chicago to St. Louis they won three games in succession, returning to Chicago, lost a postponed game with the Cubs.

From Chicago their path led them to Pittsburgh where they lost the first contest. Then they made the stand of the season when they beat the Pittsburghs four games in succession.

Cincinnati turned the tables on the Giants to the consternation of the New York fans and won twice, when it seemed as if the Giants were about to start on a career which would safely land the championship. The Giants returned home and beat Brooklyn in the first game and lost the second. They won the next two and then lost again. The championship was still in abeyance. Again they won and then lost to Philadelphia.

Here came another test in a Philadelphia series at Philadelphia which contained postponed games, and once more rallying with all their might, won four games and lost the last of this series of five.

Following that they won three games and then lost to St. Louis. They won three times in succession and then lost four games to Chicago and Cincinnati, but all of this time Chicago was gradually falling away because it was necessary that the Cubs should continue to win successive victories if they were to beat New York for the championship.

The Giants atoned for the four defeats at the hands of Chicago and Cincinnati by winning the next four games in succession, and while this did not actually settle the championship, that is, the definite championship game had not been played, the race was practically over and all that was left to fight for in the National League was second place, in which Chicago and Pittsburgh were most interested. The pitching staff of the Chicagos had worn out under the strain and the Cubs were beaten out by Pittsburgh.

The semi-monthly standing of the race by percentages follows:

STANDING OF CLUBS AT CLOSE OF SEASON.

The Chicago-Pittsburgh game at Chicago, October 2, was protested by the Pittsburgh club and thrown out of the records, taking a victory from the Chicago club and a defeat from the Pittsburgh club.