El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-23
LOOK OUT FOR
THE RED SOX

Look out for Clark Griffith and his
band of Cincinnati Reds this season.
Watch out for them from the very
jump, and don't let your vigilance
slacken anywhere along the route. A
little carelessness, little bullheaded-
ness, a lack Of precaution in dealing
with this formidable baseball outfit,
and the pennant will be floating over
the park near the Ohio river. The Gin
cinnati aggregation lacks few num-
bers of being Of championship team
caliber, and any slackness in fighting
the Reds will mean a jolt that will
make Pittsburg. Chicago and New
York howl like lions.
Batting counts terribly nowadays,
when there isn't much Of 1t, and the
Reds will come very near being the
best batting team in the National
league this season. A little money can
be found, If need be, that they viii
outhit Pittsburg on the official aver
ages when the count is taken. Base
running? They are the best base run
ming team in the National league right
now, and they are not going to lose
any of their speed. Fielding? They
were not as good in the field work last
season as they should have been, but
this year they are going TO be there
with the stops and pickups almost as
accurately IS even the Cubs, who are
the smoothest and fossiest machines
in baseball. The pitching department
of the Reds held them back last sea
son and now Griffith thinks this has
been corrected. Net result: The Gin
cinnati team comes pretty near being
the one best bet In baseball today if
anybody offers decent odds. While It
Is generally accepted as a solid prop
osition that Pittsburg and Chicago will
fight it out, Cincinnati will be the
dark horse.
The batting strength Of the Cincin-
natl team, as Griffith has doped it out,
is tremendous and is sure to be much
better this season for several reasons.
Be it remembered also that both
Lobert and Downey are great base
runners naturally and that if they
come back to their proper batting
form this year. they will also steal a
heap of extra cushions
H0blitzel, on first, is a magnificent
batsman, a mere boy, and likely to hit
better as he gains muscle Egan, on
second, is a splendid hitter and one Of
the classiest base runners in the game
Lobert and Downey, as has been said,
form. These four men were new to
one another last season and played
the infeld raggedly. All Of them are
natural ielders, and this year they
VIII play infield ball of the machine
pattern. Egan in particular will teach
the ginger and speed and will mold
them into quartet of winners.
Mike Mitchell, in right, is a fine
fielder, swell thrower and one Of the
best batsmen in the country In cen
ter Griff has his choice among Pas
kert, Miller and McCabe. Paskert is
a neat batsman and fast fielder Mil
Ter is easily the master Of the lot with
the stick and the best base runner.
but has had an almost useless throw
ing arm. II the wing gets well he
will yet nail the regular job; if not.
Paskert will take it at the start. as
McCabe, though a fine hitter, is crude
and also q slow runner for so young a
man.
Another element Of added power is
found in left-Bob Bescher. This man.
new to the big league, was the lead
ing base runner Of the circuit last sea
son, though he hit lightly. Bescher is
by rights a fine hitter and should re-
turn to form without fail.
1t will be seen, therefore, that Grif-
fifth can count on all the batting and
base running strength he had In 1909.
The catchers, Mclean, Clark and a
new man named Konnick. are all good.
Mclean Is a corking catcher and swell
hitter when in good condition. Kon-
nick is touted as a sure conner, and
Clark showed more than common quail
ity last autumn.
Fromme, Spade, Casper, Rowan, Bee
be and Covaleski make up a pitching
staff that is good enough to win with
and more than good enough with q
team Of sluggers back Of them.
Give the Reds the least bit Of luck. |
start them on winning streak, and ii |
will be almost impossible to chok !!
them. Pin a deep tack right here: !
The Reds are going to be the heavy |
hitters of the league, and If Pittsbur
Or Chicago lets go the traces for even |
a little time that Red team Is going |
to win the flag.