Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-20
PRACTICE GAMES EACH DAY

at short.
LINCOLN, March 1S.-(Special )-COach
Bobby" Carroll announced this afternoon
that he would start the wedding out pro-
cess next week among the candidates for
the Nebraska base ball teams. He will
reduce the size of the varsity squad to
twenty players and will bring the fresh
man numbers down to about eighteen as
pirants.
AS the entire base ball squad is Just now.
II is altogether too large an aggregation to
permit the head coach TO get the best re-
suits from the strongest players. Coach
Carroll for the last three weeks has been
forced to permit all men who have ap-
peared in uniform to work out In the
practice games, and because Of this he
has not been able TO devote attention to
the best material on the squad.
BY the middle OF next week the Nebraska
coach will have decided upon the list OF
men who shall be permitted to remain
on the varsity. He will then separate the
fortunate lot OF aspiring M winners
and begin giving them instructions and
pointers on the game that will be calcu-
lated to hurry them into excellent form
for the first game Of the season.
that has been cavortlng on the new diamond
for the last three weeks, Coach Carroll
has had little chance 70 give the leading
men individual attention, but he has Sc
cured a good idea OF just what players are
tit to be considered OF varsity caliber, and
he will be In a position to out down the
size of his squad without leaving off any
players who might prove valuable men
to the team II they were allowed to stay
with the select few for several weeks
longer.
Can Almost Pick Team.
The warm weather during the first half
OF the present month gave all the Corn
husker base ball players an early start
in their outdoor training and for over two
weeks now the varsity and feshmen can
didates have had q daily game on the new
field. The practice in these contests has
served to SHOW up the men who have
no chance OF getting on the team, and at
the same time it has given the men who
have watched the squad an idea Of just
what the composition OF the team may
be for this spring.
1t is practically certain that all OF last
seasons M players who are on the squad
will make" places on the team. OF these
veterans there are six, two being pitchers.
and he is sure of getting his old position
again. In ALL there are two pitchers and
five other players who will be sure Of
positions This allotment will leave but
four fielding places and two or three po-
sitions on the twirlng staff yet to be
filled.
Captain Greenslit. Jess Clark. sturtez-
negger, Metcalfe. Slaughter, Mathers and
olmstead are the veterans who VIII be as
signed to their old places. Adams, the pit
cher, who was on the varsity in 1904, will
also get place on the staff of slab ar
lists, II he has lost none of his effective
pitching strength. Among the other candi-
dates who may be considered as possibili-
ties for the varsity are Patterson, Rat
ciffe, Bliss, Farley, Balderson, Wood,
Lofgren, Waters. Phelman, Cummings,
Kessler Decatur. Storms. Hyde, Frank ana
Carr
1t is not certain yet whether Captain
Greenslit will be assigned permanently to
the backstopping task. Coach Carroll has
been trying Patterson and Ratcliffe as
catchers, and has not come to q decision
about their qualifications for that place
Ratcliffe has not proved to be reliable in
stopping the ball and in pegging to the
second sack. His hitting has been excel
back OF the bat he may decided to send
him to the field.
Patterson is proving a success in catching
behind the plate and is easily the equal OF
any man on the squad so far as back
stopping is concerned. His pegging has
not been tested this spring, as his throw
ing arm has been sore for two or three
weeks. He has had instructions not to
try any hard throws. In case, when his
arm gets well and he can direct accurate
throws TO second, he Will probably be used
as substitute catcher. just now, Greenslit
is slated to do the backstopping.
Clark Fixture at First.
At the initial bag Jess Clark, a veteran
OF two seasons is the title holder, ana
nobody has any liens on his Job. He is
playing fast ball this spring-faster than
at any time before. His training In the
Lincoln Sunday School league last summer
put the finishing touches on his work. He
is batting at a 800 rate and should be one
| Of the leading stickers OF the nine.
Second base is one OF the open places.
Waters. Cummings and Pheiman are the
strongest competitors for this job. Waters
is rather an erratlc player, but during the
past week he has been doing some crack
] ling good work on the second sack. He
has been fielding well and slugging the ball
for three or four hits In each game. II no
continues his steady playing he will be en-
titled 20 a claim on the second bag.
Cummings has not proved as strong a
fielder as Waters, but he bats fully as
well. He shows signs OF improving In his
work on the bag and may yet become a
valuable man 10 the team. The next three
weeks will serve 10 bring out any latent
skill he may possess.
Phelman is fast fielder and gets around
the bases better than the average Corn
husker. His batting has not been up 10
expectations as yet He will make stfG