Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-08
BECKER BETTER IN BIG FIELD. That is Why Manager Dooin of the PhiIlies Benches Cravath Sometimes


 How many times has one Philly fan remarked to another in the course of the recent western trip of the Quak- CTS: What is the trouble with Cra- vath? Why has Dooin been Keeping him on the hench?" It is safe to say the question has been asked and answered in hundred different ways a thousand times. says the Pubic Ledger. When man rated as one of the greatest slugers in the game and fair fielder is benched there is bound to be much wonderment. and the puz- 5zled fans want to know why. Cra- ivath was a tower of strength to the Phils in their fight for the pennant fast year and was prominently men toned as a candidate for the automo- bile offered the man most valuable to his team. Has he been benched be- cause he is going back?
 Emphatically the answer is mo" In the first place Cravath is only out of the game when the Phils are facing right handed pitchers. When the southpaw artists are at work Gebby is in the batting order, and when the right-handers work Becker replaces him. It is not that Cravath has gone back-it is that Beals Becker is play ing the best game of his career. While the PhiLs were in the West, Becker starred in every department of the game. No man could have played a better game in the Outheld than did Becker the last month.
 Becker Is one of the most puZzling players in baseball. Other players have their off days-it is no unusual thing to hear @ ball player say he Is going good" or going bad" It sim ply means that ball players, like other human beings, have their periods of success and their periods of failure. But Becker carries the fin and out proposition to an extreme. Becker going good" than days looks like night When he Is right he swings at a ball with deadly accuracy and won derful power. When he Is wrong h. appears to forget all that he ever knew about batting and hits wildly at balls that are no where near the plate
 Recently Becker has been "go'nS good good as he ever did in his life and. therefore has been a source of great strength to his team. TherS isn't an outfielder in the country who has been playing better ball than t1is same Becker. He has hit as hard and often as Cravath would, has covered an amazing lot of ground. thrown per fectly and run the bases like a Milan. And that is one reason why Cravath has been on the bench much of the time Becker has been going so good that he has been more valuable than Cravath despite the great ability of the latter.
 There is another reason why Cra- vath has been replaced by Becker whenever possible. All of the right fields in the West are expansiye.s There isn't a short right field west of Phil adelDhia. and it takes a fast man to cover the ground Becker is admit tedl4 faster than Cravath. Even when Becker is not going good he can cover more ground than Cactus" The lat ter covers every inch of the right garden at Broad and Huntington streets and, moreover, understands how to take them off the fence better than any other out fielder in the lea que In the Gig fields however, Beck CT is the better man. all other things being equal.
 The big fields of the West place Cravath at disadvantage in another way. When Gabby comes to bat ,ut there the felders fall back as far aS they can and gather drives and f1:es from the biz fellows bat that wouTd be extra base hits on the home grounds. Cravath cannot seem to hit the ball easy and find spot between the infeld and the deep playing out neld and his batting average nst,rr. ally falls off. And so it is not thst Cravath is going back He is just a good this season as he was last. Wiff Becker going as he is now. however, and r1ght-handed pitcher workin. for the enemy Becker is the man :o, the right garden.