The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-02

Children, this week we study tW
ball clubs, one composed of a neN
grandstand. Il pitcher, a first base
man and an outfie1der, the other con
posed of a manager and a lot of ma
terial.
The difference between Brooklyn
in the National and the st. Loui
Browns lies in the fact that II seem
To be straining every effort to buil'
up a ball club and the other is try
ing to keep out of last place and de
pend upon a magnificent new baseball
plant to draw the people,
Ny figures. closely reduced. shoW
me that Brooklyn is a seventh place
ball club this season, with a better
chance of being eighth than sixth, anc
that the Browns, while still figuring
to finish last, will be a much inn
proved club and one that will give any
club in the league a tusslc.
Just how it is cannot be told here:
but something has gone on in the
American league. IF st. Louis had
been conceded first pick of recruits
and allowed to grab the promising
material tina is loose-that is, the
cheaper material-the Browns coulo
scarcely have lone better. If there
is merit in the mine run of minor
leaguers, the Browns ave strengthened
considerably. without paying money
/ for the stars, they have accumulated
a corking good crowd of Youngsters,
ana | believe they have done better
both in the purchase and in the draft
than any club in the country.
The team. of course, still is weak.
1t needs pitchers and it needs a lot
of other things, but it is likely to
come strong and to develop. There
are signs of hope. In the first place,
George StoVan has proved himself fit
to class as a regular manager instead
Of as an experiment.
Last season | figured the Browns
would win 50 games. and they won SO.
This season | figure they will grab 81
games, and if they do, the team that
slips will go below them. Indeed,
am figuring them a lot better than
they We're, inasmuch as the league as
a whole has frightened up, the weaker
club strengthening materially n the
strong ones at least holding their own.
1t is going to be a hard league to
move up in this season, for, although
Detroit ought to be easier to beat,
Philadelphia, the White Sox, Cleveland
and New York will be harder, and
Boston just as hard as ever, which
makes the task of st. Louis more diff
cult.
st, Louis campaign to strengthen
the team was a remarkable one. The
Browns secured a regular army of re-
and cancelled a dozen or more
drawing them. They skinned
cream of the oas league, and
among others got Patterson, a first
baseman, from Oakland, who hit 800
M is touted strongly by some scouts.
This fellow Pratt, fair at second
and to me looking better at
shortstop, is a natural hitter and a
'lever man on the bases. With Austin
1t third and Wallace or Mailman at
short the infield looms up as rather
formidable. The reports I get on this
elbow Mailman, brought back from
Memphis on an optional agreement,
ire that he is a much improved player,
with Wallace aging, the young
would fit in well anywhere.
=
There is a swarm trying for out
ield positions. on the best four |
an select the oufield figures, TAG,
-gainst Boston's 1893, by the compara-
i've tests, using Boston as the basis
f the strongest. BY the same test the
figures sixth in the American
Truth to tell, it figures bet
CT than that, except for the deduc-
ions necessary to figure lack of eX-
ard the uncertainty as to how
he tC2m will line up.
l figure that Shotten, a 900 hitter,
fast, clever man; Brieb and Maisei
PROBABLY will be the initial lineup.
Maisel is the fellow Who set the
aague afire at Harrisburg last season
nd for whom several clubs, includ-
ng Baltimore, were %scrapping. Just
he stands now I'm not certain,
mt if St. Louis hangs to him he looks
rood, and according to one of the
West scouts in the country, a conner
With a Cap come,
st. Louis has beer rather weak in
he catching department, although it
had men who might have been all
light under better circumstances.
'tovall evidently has tried to freshen
~ the catching staff. With krichell
md stephens and Alexander he fin
shed i'll fair shape last season, and he
two new men who come strongly
outed, SO strongly, in fact that they
ire good trading material whether st.
louis wants them or not. Agnew.
rom Vernon, | do not think is ripe,
he is a corking hitter and
L FAIR hackstop. and McAllister from
Montgomery is rated high.
TO me the sign of hope is Alexander,
a catcher, who ought to do a good deal
OF improving With experience and who
IN the post season series last fall
seemed to have the makings of a bet
Ter man than he ever promised to be
prior to that time.
Ihe pitching department has been
the most deficient. In fact, the pitch
ing has been so bad for several wears
tfat 1t has made n weak team look
weaker than it really was. | think
the pitching will improve immensely
With the end Of the rowdy and care