The Washington times., 1906-06-17
FAN SUGGESTS
FIXED POLICY
Thinks Washington Could
Be Greatly Strengthened.
MAKE 1T FIELDING TEAM
Put Altizer on First, Mil at Short,
and Stanley in Right,
Says He.
MAKE 1T FIELDING TEAM

ton baseball team Is written In Such
fair and manifestly well-intentioned
vein, without display Of personal ami
mus. that Il IS well worth considering.
1t is by a well-known business man, and
a close follower of baseball. who does
not care to have his name appear IN con-
nection Herewith, but who signed II in
full in his communication. The criti-
cism is as follows, and is given for what
IT is worth:
Criticism Of a Friend.
Sporting Editor The Times:
The honest criticism of friend should
be welcomed by the officials Of our local
bail club. We should not shut our eyes
to apparent defects when an honest dis
cussion might better conditions. Twenty
wears of close attention and patronage
should be sufficient testimony OF my
LOYALTY and sincerity.
II the first place, my obserVaIioHe
have led me to believe that all success
ful teams have some fixed poICy al
their ulan of makeup II must De eitheI
perfect in offensive or perfect IN oeieh,
sive mode of play. A team mace up y.
mart heavy hitters but poor felders ana
s,,,d aeIders but poor hitters will never.
IN nv opIpion, amount to anything. They
will olav the spasmodic ball that results
In winning and losing streaks. When
the weak hitters on the team are taxing
a temporary brace they will win. ana
when the heavy hitters take a slump
In fielding they will lose,
Batting Not All.
A team 10 stay at the top must play
consistent ball. They must be perfect
in some department of the game 1
can remember as a boy how the Phila-
delphia team, In the, days of Fogarty
and Andrews, kept at the top on the
strength OF their base running. most
every man OF the team being fast on
the bases last year the Philadelphia
and Chicago clubs finished at the top
in tre American League because they
were practically perfect in the defensive
part of the game, and the New Yorks
won the pennant IN the National League
because they were heavy hitters, or
nearly perfect IN the offensive part OF
the game Take one OF the sluggers
DOnlin) out Of the game, and see the
result.
And today New YOrks are leading in
our league with seven men hitting over
800, but only a few points away from
team hat has only two These illus
trations. 1 think, win suffice TO show
that IL does not make so much differ
ence which branch Of the game you
excel in, only have one branch per-
feet. or as near perfection as possible.
Need of Fixed Policy.
1t will be observed that 1 have omitted
Il
being limited TO the makeup OF the
regular team. While some pitchers are
better than others. l doubt If it makes
any difference in the standing OF the club,
provided the entire staff is OF average
ability. l wish 20 be understood; per-
haps II would be palmer to say that
the average pitcher will win II he is
| supported at the bat from a smuggling
| team or gets perfect support from a
| fielding team I believe that the Phila-
delphias Ga fielding team) and the Cleve-
] lands Ca batting team could exchange
entire batteries and their standing
would not be affected in the least.
Now, how Will this discussion apply to
the local club? In the first place let the
management decide on a fixed plan for
building up the team. The nucleus is
| there for either kind, but I think the
| nelding talent predominates-
Altizer at First.
In the first place, two catchers are
| enough for any club. Klttredge could
| be traded because he is the slowest Of
| the three. The pitchers are probably
| all right When a man holds a team
| down TO three hits he is doing ali thai
| could reasonably be expected Of him.
| First base is probably the proper place
for our new recruit. as he is too erratic
| in his throws for a good fielder, but IS
apparently a natural hitter.
Our fielding feature is not lost sight
of, and our batting strength improved.
! Schlafy and Nil are as good as we
| could probably geI from a fielding
standpoint. and are not batting so bad
either. Cross needs no words of COM
mendation; he is all right from any
angle. The outfieId could be strengthen
ed by playing Stanley in right. He is a
player after Jones style, a fast runner,
sure catch. and sensational throWer
| Hickman is a fast man for his size, but
his hitting does not counterbalance the
small amount of ground he covers and
! his poor throwing. I believe Stanley is
| batting ahead of him now and probably
! Will on the season.
Fielding Better-Batting No Worse.
Thls arrangement would leave Stahl
free TO run things from the bench. take
MS place on the coaching line, bat in
| emergencies, play in case of INJURIES to
! inhelGers, and incidentally hunt for new
players without breaking the lineup
OF the team The fielding would be
| improved and the batting would not
! be weakened.
Then with q little attention to the hat
ting order there would be Improvement
in base running That there is room
for Improvement in this respect Is
shown by Wednesdays game, when our
| first batter in six innings reached f1rst
base. and yet we were shut out.
have tried to make suggestions that
are practical, utilizing the material AT
hand. ) think II they were adopted
(which / do not expect). the team per-
fected II team work. and more atten-
ton paid to bunting, we would have
a team to be proud Of. G. S. w.