The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-02-11
Here and There in the World of Sport--Winter Season Gossip
Fullerton Finds Task Hard to
dope" Outcome of Flag Race

lNalur OF men piaN!n. the same posl-
tiuns i'll other teams. Eventually | re-.
durr the composite and the
tive values down 10 the team values
"t sarnrs each team should win and
where thry ought to finish with tnat
percentage.
Unknown Quantities This Year.
The difficulty ;his season is that one
is w"rlinS with SO many unknown
quantities ;1,a the managers tnrrn-
selves will not derid. until after the
,fiiln'hS Sc :sAn. IL overcome this
HAY, picked the TWO strongest candi-
dates for each position in which thcr.
l. Il contest for u Regular job. averaged
the rivals. and used that as the basis
of p">itiun s'r"nsth ur the teams.
/ While ii seems Il wild goose system.
YET .a<; season ! picked. in January
and February. a dozen players who got
the Jobs and the majority of these
We're selected from pure dope and in
the FACE of announcement, that other
men would HAY" tn" positions. For
instance. | picked Wolvcrton's New
York :eam. and when tho season
opened he llncd mp exactly as I pre-
die ted. although ;wo weeks earlier he
Rad "niN II man in position.
Thor" is a LOT of extremely prom
Using nov blood in the major leagues
this spring. l,ut it appears to m. the
best OF the new men were tried out
last fall.
In estimating the value of the in
fiVldual players. please do not imagine
mat ] am merely stating my individual
opinion Of the worth or weaknesses
OF these men. Some of them | know
nothing at all about except from their
the reports If managers. scouts. and
players. ! would rather take the
Judgment of players as to the value of
men they have played with or against
tnan my OWN or any one ~"lSe's.
Changes Opinion on Wagner.
Fol instance. I have seen Heihe
Wagner play dozens of ball games. l
never considered him great. The ma.
JoritN of times watched him he did
not play good ball or SHOW much form.
Yet the players of the American
league told ms. he was great. explain
cd h and how he played. Il took
TWO years for me to sec il their way.
liut ] had to take their word for il,
last fall he proved it to my COM
plete satisfaction. The PLAYERS knew.
] didn't because had happened to
watch him On off days.
There is another player in the
American league ! once rated as
among the hest. y doubted ii.
One night ] was sitting with three ball
players and his name came up. on
Dressed my opinion and they laughed.
They told me why he was 4; bad play
or. ] watched him for weeks before
saw the two Weaknesses they mention.
ed.
Ry accepting the judgment of men
down there on the field and Of the
scouts and managers. one gets nearer
the truth. He must discount the en-
thusiasn If o and the press
%ngenting sense Of managers, but most.
ly they will tell the truth.
The other day sat down with two
men. cmployes Of different ball clubs.
and a list OF all the new players. We
vent over the men one by one and
when VIC finished ! had u pretty fair
idea Of how good those men were in
tho minors. suppose some .f them
will accuse me Of knocking" them.
In my article ncx week l will start
the dope series with the Cincinnati
Reds.