At the request of the Chicago Tribune I have consented to write articles about what may be my last series of games as manager of the Chicago Cubs. I hope for some reasons it won't be my last, but that is something I can't know now. Chicago has been good to me and I have tried to give the best I bad to Chicago. I promised the gentleman who bought my one-tenth interest in the club that I would come back as manager if Mr. Murphy offered me a fair contract. I am ready to do so. It's up to Mr. Murphy. I have not resigned.

The sporting editor told me the fans would want to know just what I thought of the chances of the Cubs against the White Sox. He said I ought to start my article right off with that, because it would give it what he called a good "punch." I always expect my own orders to be obeyed by my players, so here it is: I think the Cubs will beat the White Sox.

Naturally that is what everyone would expect me to say. But I do expect to win. So do our players. We always feel that way. It is one of the reasons why we won four pennants. We expected to win the pennant this year. And I still think we would have won except for hard luck, the worst of which was the injury which put Archer out of the game. I knew all along that if anything happened to Archer we were gone. We cut the Giants' lead down from sixteen to four games. Then just when we had them on the run we slumped ourselves and lost our chance.

It was because we expected to win and never gave up fighting that we took the pennant in 1908. It was one of the greatest fights against handicaps ever made by a baseball club. I wouldn't give lead money for a ball club that didn't expect to win. A really game club should expect to win every game. I must explain that statement. Of course it cannot win every game all season. It would be foolish to think so. But when it goes onto the field every day it should expect to win that particular one.

I make these statements because I want the fans to know the Cubs.

The way we feel is what some of the regular baseball reporters call our "fighting spirit" The Cubs have just as much of that spirit now as ever.

I think we will beat the Sox because taken as a whole I think we are a better ball club. We think we are better hitters and better fielders. I am sorry I cannot say we have a better pitching staff, but we have not. If Ed Walsh were out of it, possibly I would make that claim, too.

To show you that I can appreciate an opponent, I will say to the fans of Chicago that in a short series of games like this I think Walsh is the greatest pitcher in the world. He can pitch every other day and goes just as strong at the finish as at the start. Besides that, be can act as relief man for an inning or two if needed in between.

I really think a third- or fourth-place team in either league with Walsh added to its staff could play a series of seven games with the champions of the league and have an even chance. That's how much I think of Walsh.

Admitting all this, if we can beat Walsh in the first game, it will be a big advantage to us. The Sox will be more discouraged if Walsh is beaten than we will be if he beats us. That means a good deal in baseball. We have beaten Walsh before and we have beaten good spit-ball pitching.

I think now that I will start Cheney against Walsh. If Cheney is at his best be will pitch as good a game as Walsh. Cheney is a game fellow. He has been in the hard spots all season and has always been ready to come back. If Walsh should be the least little bit off, with Cheney good, you can give the game to the Cubs.

If both are at their best it will be a great game, but I think we will win. My reason is that the Cubs know more baseball. Don't call that a 'knock." It isn't. Our players have been together for years. We are older and more experienced-too old, some folks say. We know from long practice together just about what to do or expect in any emergency. The entire Sox infield is new this year, counting Zeider as playing a new position. The outfield has not played together the way ours has. Archer gives us a big shade in catching.

I'm not going to compare the players, man for man, to show why we are better. Some fan in the stand or bleachers might remind me of it during the series. But I don't think it's just because I'm manager that I feel that way.

I expect Callahan to use Walsh, Cicotte, and White. We may get Benz, too. White beat us last year. A good beady pitcher like White is likely to bother us more than a fellow who has more on the ball but who doesn't know how to mix them tip. We have been hitting left handers, however, this year and got lots of practice because managers thought we were weak against them. I think we won three quarters of our games against them this season. I intend to use Cheney, Richie, Lavender, and possibly Reulbach, but of course may use others.

Now, about the series last fall.

We don't look back to it with any pleasure. But in justice to my players, I will say we were discouraged last year by the loss of the pennant. Brownie, our best card, had been overworked in trying to win. We didn't play our game.

Some of our players have felt a little upset by the reflections on them recently, but every one of them seems to be keyed up to the proper spirit. I think we want to win this series a great deal more than we did last year.

Another thing I want to say is that considering the great rivalry with the Sox, we have the greatest respect for them and like them personally. We want to beat them, and that's all there is to it, but there is no bitterness about it.

Now we're game enough to say, "Let the best team win." But down deep in our hearts that means let the Cubs win, for we think we are enough better at batting and fielding and in experience to make up for the advantage the Sox have in Walsh. I hope we can reward the Cub fans with a victory after their disappointment of last year.