The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-26
MANY BAT BUSTERS
IN PHILADELPHIA
Swat Artists Have Been De-
veloped in Quaker City
Baseball Diamond

Philadelphia, Feb. 26.-HeavS hit
ting and Philadelphia go hand in
hand. This city has always been not
ed for its players with extraordinary
hitting ability. In the old days from
Captain Arson to Ferguson to Sam
Thompson. to the days of the famous
Lajoie-D Flick trio. Philadcl-
phia has w%orshipped at the shrine of
many distinguished whalers of the
sphere.
There were men like Lave Cross. Ed
Mcfarland. Roy Thomas. Harry Da-
Wis, Ralph Seybold, Dave Fultz, Dan
Hoffman, and many others who were
above the average in hitting ability.
This tradition of the city to reach
forward for the hard walloper hasn't
been lost to this day. Both the Attn
letics and the Phillies have some of
the leading hitters of the country.
Take the champions of the world
first. 1t is probably II best hitting
team in the major leagues. Six reg
ular players. one catcher and two
pitchers bat above the 800 mark.
For a team to be so heavily gunned
with sticksmiths is rare. and II does
not have to go further than the clubs
ability to smite the ball to find out
why they have won two world cham
pionshipS in IL row.
Only Ono His Superior.
Tho leading hitter of the Athletics
is Collins. who is the second, or ut
least the third best batsman in Amer
lea. Only one player has an undis-
putcd right to rank above him, and he
is Ty Cobb, The admitted king of ball
players.
Joe jackson battcd harder than Coz
Inns last Year. but whether he can
keep ii up is.n matter of some doubt.
Collins is Il little chap. His build
ia all nerves and muscle. and he has a
pair of master eyes. Eddie hits the
hall clean and hard. There is nothing
fluky abou his drives. many Of which
go for extra bases. Collins is Il scien-
tic hitter. and knows how to place
the ball. fe hits to any field, and is
hard to play for on that account.
j. Franklin Baker is another mar
vel with the stick. Bakers specially
league pitchers will tell YOU that Bak-
err drives II ball With more force
than any other hitter in the circuit,
not excepting Cobb, Crawford or la
.ioie.
Baker can be played for. Nine times
out of ten he will send IL liner
screeching to right. The opposing
players pull the center fielder toward
right and play the right fielder near
the line. and the second haseman is
playing many feet further toward the
right han he usually does
The field is dressed to minimize Ba-
ker's chances of Il base hit. set he will
sting one through the infield so fast
and true that nobody car stop the
ball. When Baker hits the ball right,
the only way he can he retired is for
the ball to go directly on the fly or
ground to the intielder, or on the fly
to h outtielder. No iielders can
cover ground" and get him, for he
drives the ball through With too much
speed.
Baker is constantly improving in
his batting, that is. the fine points of
batting. lie is learning more every
season. From Il natural slugger his
style is being broadened. and all the
time it makes him a more dangerous
hitter than ever. Ii has been pre-
dicted that Baker some day will win
the American league batting cham
pionship.
Lapp is Hard Hitter.
The Athletics have other hard hit
tiers. Jack Lapp ranks with the top
notchers in batting. Llpp is much
like Baker. Smaller i'm size, but
sturdy, he shoots them to right field
with express speed. He makes Il big
lot of extra base hits. Last season
Lapp batted better than II catcher
in the major leagues. III fact, his
average of .353 placed him sixth
among American league hittcrs. No
National league hitter approached
that mark.
Dan Murphy is another reliable
mar with tho stick. On the hit-and-
run play he is il master. The new
captain of the Athletics makes most
of his hits in pinches, and is regarded
as one OF the most dependable bats
men on the team.
Rube Oldring is another hard hit
ter. Placed second on the batting
list. he has Il faculty for moving the
man OF base around. Oldring is fast
as a deer. and always gets the most
value out Of his drives. i5ris Lord has
developed into Il 800 per cent swat
ter
Another powerful hitter on the .Ath-
:etics is Jack Mclanis. Mack careful
ly scl1ooied him, ami he is nhw one
% the Leading swattcrs of the league.
lie had his first real chance last sea-
son Ii pounded the pill for. a per-
centasc OF 1921.
Mact. has two unusually reliable
pitchers with the bat. They arc Bend
err ana Cuomhs. who hit the ball like
the lcg"ia.s.
The Fhillica 1,;,i; little behind The
Athletics In aI ability TO maltrca, the
corlicored bali. Although several
players oitstripEcd Sherwood Magec
IN Hitting last season. The Pills left
fielder is generally regarded as the
Loss Sticker Of the aut:ii.