Evening star., 1908-12-20
LEADING PLAYERS
At SECOND BASE
Lajoie the Premier at the
Middle Station of the
InfieId.

Picking the best second baseman in the
American League is too easy. The real
difficulty is in selecting the next best
guardian of the Keystone bag. as Napo-
leon Lajoie Is head and shoulders the
premier of all the men who played sec
ond base in the Ban johnson circuit this
year.
| Larry not only had no rival in fielding
and headwork, but in batting also he sur
passed his rivals. with one exception
Jim Delehanty OF Washington beating
him out with the stick
Second basemen come and go but with
the exception of Johnny Evevs of the
Chicago Cubs not a second sacker has
sprung up that could even approach our
own Lajoie in fielding grace. No other
man playing that position can cover the
ground as does Larry. No other man
can recover himself so quickly on slow
hit ball and get the leather to first to
retire the batter as can Larry. No other
man can pull off SO many apparently i'm
possible plays as does Larry. But with
all of Lajoie's great playing he probably
receives less applause than any second
! baseman In either big league. for the
| reason that the fans expect Larry to
make phenomenal plays, and let it 60 at
that.
Williams Was Handicapped.
Who is entitled to second honors? Is 1t
Jimmy Williams of the Browns? Is it
Germany Schaefer Of the Tigers? Is it
Jim Delehanty OF Washington? Or is II
Mcconnell Of the Red Sox?
| Up to the time that he ran into an
attack of rheumatism that sent him to
| the bench for two weeks Jimmy Williams
| had the call. He was fielding grandly,
while his ginger. headwork and timely
( hof{ {fya~v
manding place in the league race. Were
any st. Louis fans asked which player
was entitled to .ne most praise for that
condition of affairs the answer would
have been Jimmy Williams" When
Jimmy was taken sick the Browns began
| to slump and dropped to fourth place
Without any question Williams played
I the best game of his life. his work being
far superior to that which he showed
when with New York. He batted only
1856, however.
On Duty All Season.
But when the entire seasons work is
considered. Germany" Schaefer must be
given credit for doing the best work. Had
it not been for schaefer. Detroit never
would have won the pennant. At second
he played his usually good game and
when O'Leary was injured, Germany
went to short and played star ball. Later
he shifted over to third and there repeat
| ed his good work. In the worlds series
| he was sent back to second. 1t must be
admitted that he did not shine against
| the Cubs, as his playing was mot any
| where near up to his form during the
| regular season, either at the bat or in the
! field.
Delehanty Best Batter.
Jim Delehanty was the best batting
second baseman in the league, but did
not seem to be able to stand the climate
/ at Washington any too we'll. being out
frequently on account of illness AS a
| fielder, however, he does not class with
| Laioie. Schaefer and Williams. He is
an aggressive player. however. and very
valuable to a team both on that account
and in view of his hard hitting. He
played but eighty-three games. however.
Delehanty batted .317, while Schaefer
batted but .259 Schaefer, however.
proved a most valuable run-getter, steal
| AS a sacrifice hitter Schaefer also ex-
celled the Washingtonian, making forty
three to DeIs nine.
Little Mcconnell Coming Fast.
AS for Mcconnell of Boston, all that
can be said of the youngster is that he
is a conner. He lacks experience, but
mechanically lie seems to have everything
/ that goes toward the building up of a
star second baseman. He is as quick
as cat and can field slowhit erounders
as well as any one. AS batter and
base runner he is a star.
The other second basemen in the Ameri-
can League We're not in the same class
with those mentioned. George Davis is
practically all in and covered but little
| ground during the last season. In head
! work, of course. he shines, but in mechan-
ical ability he is shy.
Eddie Collins Promising
Unglaub, who played the bag for Wash
| ington part Of the season, is a rattl;ng
good infielder, but not star at any
position.
In Eddie Collins Connie Mack has the
making of a great second baseman. In
F.. the few games he played at second in
Cleveland he had it all over Danny
Murphy. who has been a regular second
haeenan for the Athletics for several
years. The fact Is that Collins is a
natural ball player, one who seems des-
tined to be one of the stars Of the game
in few years. He played 1O2 games
in different positions this year and bat
ted .273. which is mighty good mark
! for a yOunsster.
Frank La Porte of New York and Bos-
ton is just fair. He is steady and good
batter but is too heavy man to ever
| shine in the intield
Here's the way the condsackers
/. should be ranked I.ajoie. Schaefer. Will
liams. Delehanty. Mcdonnell. e Collins.
Murphy, UnSlaub. Davis and La Porte.