Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-18

week in the American League, finds him
self leading the great sluggers OF tnat
organization this morning by a rather
comfortable margin. 1t Is, OF course; nor
to be expected that the Spartanburg
youngster will be able to retain this po-
sition for the pace he has set Is TOO
fast to be kept up; but il there Is any
virtue in getting good start, walker
certainly should set things aflre mere.
That the youngster has ability has been
proven but for all that he has had Things
break his way. which every player must
to be successful. Good as mas Deen MS
hitting Walkers fielding has been most
impressive The fact that he has lot
of action in the outfield Is OF the great
est help to the team. He never rams 10
back up both the infield and outnetd, ana
when ball is hit into his territory he
loses no time getting II back Where d
nlav can be made with 1t. He handles
the ball we'll and in this respect out
classes many seasoned outfielders 1t is
no easy matter to take an extra Dase
on Walker, for he throws well. ana ap-
pears to he almost perfect in handling
ground balls.
With experience he will improve, too.
and when he is all summed up he seems
10 give promise of developing into
most valuable man. to say the least.
That was a rather disastrous series the
Detroit team played in New York. and in
cidentally proved that the Highlanders
are very apt to make more trouble in the
present race than they were given credit
for being able TO do Philadelphia, New
York and Detroit are going to fight
II out for the flag this year. That seems
certain. Boston does not cut any figure.
but Chicago may come with squirt that
will help to make the race more interest
ing than II has been to date.
There has been a wonderful change in
the interest in the American League
struggle. For a time 1t looked as if
Detroit would walk away with the hunt
ing, while today there are at least three
teams which are apt to gain the lead
within the next month. Chase's pitchers
are working well, and whenever a team
has a strong quartet of twirlers i'm form
it is sure to be troublesome. True. the
Highlanders have done their best work
on their own grounds, and may not do
near SO wen when on the road, but for
all that, that team stands better chance
to be a contender than does Boston.
The splendid showing OF the st. Louis
Cardinals bears out the theory that there
is but one way to get winner. and that
is to build up young ball team, 1t re-
quires time. money and experience to ac-
complish this. but il can be done, as
Bresnahan has proven. Barring Miller
Higgins. the star second baseman of the
Cardinals. Bresnahan has no veterans in
his lineup. He started out with com
bination of recruits and veterans. which
proved failure, and he got rid of the
old fellows and relied entirely on his kids
The result is that today Bresnahan has a
ball team which is constantly getting bet
ter and which must be feared by every
team in the National League. They have
been experimenting with the youngster
in ST. Louis for eight or nine years, and
not until this year have they had salts
factory results. What makes Bresna-
hans team look particularly good Is the
fact that 1t plays consistent ball against