The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-29

Barry .....726 751. 144 7ll Niehoff ...7ss 6s2 TOP 6s5
 Perhaps no comparison between reg ular players on the rival teams in this worlds championship series shows more superiority one over the other than does Jack Barry over Niehoff It is the willy. foxy veteran. hardened in hundreds of battles. brainy and a born leader, against an ordinary ball player without great experience who is hustling. doing just the best he can and improving.
 It is Niehoff's hard luck to be brought up in comparison with one of the greatest ball players of the era and if friends of Niehoff are dissat- isfied with the value placed upon him in this series they should not be. for being rated that close in ability to Jack Barry Is indeed a compliment.
 Barry has faults. He is not a heavy hitter; he Is bit strange as g. sec ond baseman because he has played short for many years and it has been hard for him to change back to the different angle of making throws. It was Barry who won the American league pennant for Boston just as he would have won it for either Detroit or for Chicago had either of those teams been fortunate enough to se- cure him. He rallied the Red Sox at a stage of the season when they were going to pieces just as surely as any team ever went to pieces.
 This man, with all due regard to Eddie Collins. was the brains and the spirit of the Athletics during their winning years, and although he accom- plishes his work in such a quiet way that the fans hardly notice him, he is one of the greatest field generals the game ever has known.
 Niehoff is 1retty nifty player him self The first time I saw this fellow was the spring he broke into the big show. It was at the spring training camp and the players were coming down into the sliding pit. I noticed quiet. determined sort of a fellow who evidently was just being introduced to that sort of thing. He was watching keenly the way the older fellow hit the dirt and when he came he finished with a dash, hit the sand hard, his teeth c1inched and he meant business. He is rather agile than speedy and he Is corking slider.
 Niehoff. on straight figures, outhits Barry. He has been rapping the ball
  slightly above his normal hitting gait. Barry is ordinarily a .240 batter and is 20 points below that on this sea- son
 On the attack, however. Niehoff is not nearly as dangerous man as Is his rival for the job, for this reason: Bar ry is a pinch hitter. one of the best. I have had pitchers of the calibre of Jim Scott, Ed Walsh and Walter John- son tell me that they would rather see Collins or Baker coming to bat in pinch than to see Barry up there in crisis of a game. And if you study Jack Berry's work year in and year out, you will be surprised to discover how many blows he delivers when the runners are on the paths waiting to be driven home.
 We are compelled, even allowing for Barrry's pinch hitting and the differ ence between the National league pitch CTS who have been weak this season and the American league pitchers who have been up to the average. to give Neihoff numerical advantage as an offensive player and a considerable edge at that because Barry is not running the bases and Niehoff. with 8 non baeei running ball club, Is netting a number of pliers that shows he is spry and speedy enough to get by with the steal stuff.
 But when 1t comes to defensive work and inside work, Barry piles up large majority over his young rival Niehoff has improved lot as a fielder since he joined the Phillies. The players tell me he is getting better right along, stead fer, and that he is working beautifully with Bancroft on the pivot plays around second The number of double plays they have made around the base is enough to prove this stateemnt.
 However, Barry is past master of plays around the bag, and, further than that, a great student of pitchers and batters--a part of the game Niehoff as yet can know little about. Barry does his work largely by knowing what bat ters will do with certain kinds of pitched balls and with being there to get the ball. He coaches pitchers quiet- ly And helps them over the rough places.
 On seasons work. Niehoff looks much better compared with Barry than he does whom they are sised up with g