Omaha daily bee., 1910-06-12
THE SUNDAYS BEE
JUDGMENTS
OMAHA, NEB.. SUNDAY. JUNE u. 1910.

THE Rourkes have not yet hit their
gait. They are not playing the ball
OF which they are capable The
II team needs steadying, needs bal
ancing and needs It badly. There is
enough seasoned timber In It to make Il
the winning team OF the league, but It will
not win consistently until 1t begins to do
better team work. The men are not bat
ting any more faithfully than they are
fielding, not as well as they can and must
They hit in streaks and this Is Ineffective
batting. The pitching staffs failure TO get
into formidable shape has afforded the one
excuse for not wining more games. but.
while tho pitchers still are not coming up
to requirements, they are not the only ones
OF whom better work is demanded. There
has not been enough closely-coupled, sys-
tematic, clockwork in the base running.
Thursdays game with Lincoln, which went
for thirteen innings and tie, was a forci-
BILE Illustration OF this. Three times Omaha
had the game within its grasp and would
have won 1t had just little heady base
running been done. Lincoln. with all the
splendid pitching Of Farthing, was not by
any means entitled to hold Omaha to tie.
The Rourkes should have won the game long
beforethe ninth inning. Their base running
was not only faulty, II was sluggish, drony,
showing a clear lack OF organized team
work. Once a three-bagger was literally
thrown away, again a two-bagger and
again a single stretched into a double. Mel
ter. who was pitching, did masterful work,
holding the visitors almost at his mercy
for thirteen innings, far surprising his OPP
ponent. but no pitcher can win games
against the sort OF base running that the
team did that day. Meter, by the way
should be relied upon for many victories
from now on. We believe Manager Rourkt
IL needed on the bench throughout the
game His old head, his steadying influ
ence and his ability to speak with ultimat'
authority. are elements that his men seen
to require. 1t is not the time to become
impatient, nor hypercritical, for the season
Is young and the race 10 close, decided,
close, and the weather has been against goot
base bali everywhere, but we do believi
that with such an aggregation OF materia
as President Rourke has assembled h
ought to be getting better results.
~-
Omaha is as long on second basemen a
Monte Cristo was on thousand-doila
bills. But a team can never have to-
many Grahams and Foxes. Fans ar
specializing a good deal about what p,
Rourke will finally do as between thes
two gilt-edge players and Pa is lettin
them speculate. 1t is a cinch he will no
do anything rash. For Fox he gave $l,5C
in cash and he is worth every cent OF
and more, and he picked up Graham a
Grand Island when he went to look owe
the young fellow Ryan, and George q
once developed into. wonder. Then h
hurt himself season before last and woul
never play again, so many thought, but h
is playing and is rapidly getting back I
his normal speed. His return and Fox
maintenance OF his fine work does. indeed
put question up to Pa that he win hav
to answer sooner or later. but he may ar
swer 1t when the times comes and yet nd
let either man get away from him. o
course Graham. being the younger ma
be relied on for big league material som
day, and either would make great tradin
stock The team could stand strengthenin
in the box.
The big league scouts are watchin
Farthing OF Lincoln. and well they maj
The boy, who is only %, is certainly
cSmer He has been in professional con
pany such short time that he has not, W
believe, been able to show his real wortl
but at that he has done some fine worl
He has the most graceful and effectiv
delivery of any south-paw In the leagu
He Is strong, rangy and apparently headS
y, he has marvellous speed and an assortmeI
OF curves over which he exercises remark
able control. Better than all, he is q
earnest worker, intelligent enough to al
preciate the need of faithful application
This boy wEs originally right-handed. bl
he broke his right arm and, instead
giving up in despair, as many youths woul
he determined to make pitcher of hin
self; began practicing with his left arr
and now see the result. A man with thu
sort OF grit is going to succeed and v
predict bright future for young Farthir
sunless he should happen to break h
left arm,
The Lincoln team as a whole does N
look any too strong though 1t has son
material that will bear developing. 1t hi
not the class of the Wichita or Sioux Gil
bunch. and we are inclined to believe
lacking in managerial direction. Its GU
field is not as strong as 1t was last yei
by any means, though there may be son
gsiight improvement on the infleld. Dav
IN center uOCo NOT tOuCn DhNiu5OH. wi
is not the fielder Waldron is, nor Il
filter At third the team has been m
terially strengthened. 1t could scarce
have been weakened. Old Jim Cockman
a great Improvement over the reckless al
erratic young Pritchett.
Hans Wagner seems to have passed ov
the summit of his career. He is not hittiI
very much at all. Tommy Leach is on Z
injured list, taking away temporarily fro
the outer garden one Of the greatest
fieiders and a consistent hitter. T
a Pirates are not rising, Whether they W
yet rally and become contenders renal
to be seen. Their pitchers have been sIC
TO round to. The Giants. on the 9th
hand. are making a great fight 1t wou
be interesting, indeed, If they and I
Cubs fell into repetition OF their @