The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-06-03
Killing HASN'T So
MUCH ON MORAN

Do the cubs miss king? Will the
absence of Killing from behind the. bat
materially weaken the worlds cham
pions' baseball team? Is Pat Moran
able to catch good enough ball to Off
set the absence of King?
These are questions constantly being
asked by fans and critics all over the
country for, as Moran has been in the
past, the second catcher on the club,
the general impression is that the Chi
cago team has been weakened through
the necessity of working him regularly
in place of John king.
Manager Chance never loses an op-
portunity of telling all who seek fnfor-
nation on the above question that Pat
Moran is one of the best catchers n
BASEBALL; that, merely as a backstop.
| he always has been good enough for
any club; that his throwing, though
not spectacular, nips as many runners
attempting to steal as King got with
his fast, line throw; that the head
work of Moran in signaling the pitcher
| is as good as any receivers in the
business, and, finally, that he is not
only a far better hitter than is gener-
ally believed, but is one Of the most
timely stickers on the cub roster.
These statements the manager
makes simply from his observation of
Pat in the games, and his personal
! knowledge of what the backstop not
only can, but does do right along
Questioners frequently looked surpris-
ed when they hear this line of talk
/ but Chances statements are easily
upheld by the statistics kept of the
games In which these two players
\ have participated.
H Obviously it would not be fair tc
make any comparison between these
two men on their work last year, foi
King was the regular catcher, working
nearly every day, while Moran only
got into the game when King was
out for any reason. Instead, take
Kings work last season and Moran''
this spring.
Proven by the figures kept on these
two players, Pat Moran is q more
timely hitter than John Killing. Takt
the first thirty-one games in which
Moran worked this spring and con
trast them with the first thirty one II
which King caught last year. Pat 4
: not hitting to quite as big an averag
as did John, but Pat has brought hom
Just as many runs for his club and
after all, 1t is the runs that coun
when it comes to winning ball games
not the number of base hits any on
individual can make.
Again Moran has proved himsel
equally good at killing off attempts t.
/ In in IN
were forty bases stolen against tn
lcub catchers in thirtyone games.
Moran, in those thirtyone games
has batted 245; King batted an ever
300; there King seemingly has a,
advantage But Moran has been doini
a lot of clean up hitting this spring
too, having five doubles, triple and
homer to his credit, while King ha
seven doubles, two triples and no hom
runs in his games. Their fielding aver
ages are almost equal. Moran has ha
more chances this spring, than Kiln
had a year ago and their average
stand: Moran, 1882; Killing, .9S4. M
much to choose between there.
In the matter of timely hittins
Moran has scored twelve men on clea
base hits and has brought in thrc
others on plays started by him o.
which there was no chance to cut q
! the runner at the plate. That Ii
total of fifteen. King scored exantl
fifteen runners for the cubs in tn
same number Of games.
Most critics and fans believe No
rams weakness is his throwing an