El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-03-25

- HREvEPORT La, March %
There's a 10 year old shortstop
- by the name Of Jimmy Smith
whose briIliance seems to overshadow
nearly every thing else in connection
with the spring doings here Of the
Chicago Federals. now officially
dubbed The Whales"
Smith covers ground with the speed
OF an antelope He seems TO be able 10
get anything hit within IS feet Of him
and ne makes throws from seemingly
impossible positions And what an
ARM His motion is so easy that it
seems the bail must come lobbing
along. Yet that motion carries the ball
TO first or to home with the speed
OF a rifle bullet.
At bat his position is good and his
eye is good He meets the ball on the
nose and he puts g lot Of weight be-
hind it OF course, so far he has bat
ted only against practise pitching but
he looks as II he viii be abe TO deliver
with the war club if called upon
Smith is as fast as chain lightning
on the bases He gets away fast and
he keeps moving at top speed He's a
game youngster and he's brainy- He's
a bit rough in spots, but Joe Tinker
is polishing off these spots very rap
idly and is grooming this sand lot
kid as his successor at the short stop
ping job.
Tinker May Lose Job.
IF I don't do some humping myself
that kid may crowd me out OF the teg-
ular lineup this year" quOth Tinker
Smith played with a semi-pTo team
in St Mary's, Ohio, last sumner. play
ing earlier with the Duquesne univers-
iry team around Pittsburg. Tinker
saw him in Pittsbug at the fag end
Of the 1919 season and grabbed him.
He tried out Smith in six or seven
games last fall and the kid showed up
like a conner.
ice Tinker brought four or five
youngsters down here with him, but
II looks as though Smith alone viii
survive. The others have shown but
little. Two Of them have been chased
back TO their home towns and the 9th
something very Soon
Tinker Steals StaIIinEs'a Staff
Tinker has a real ball team under
his leadership and il looks as though
Federal circuit viii be treated TO real
baseball when Tinker starts his mach
Inc TO moving pennantward.
one OF the faults with the 1914 Chi
feds was that 1t had no reserve pow
er, and that the majority OF its hit
tiers were lefthanders, who were al
most helpless when pitted against
sOuthpaW tWirlers- -5ut that fault eX-
lists no longer. Tinker has grabbed off
George Stall1lgs's idea as to a reVers-
Ible outfield, and viii carry three
right handed and three left handed
hitters so as to be ready for an emery
ency.
The 1914 outfield-Zwilling Flack
and Wickland-Wiu be used against
right handed pitchers When a south
ps-F 7-Jrils foF-the opposition, Tinker
viii withdraw his port side swatter
and replace MIN with Charles Hanford,
secured from the Buffalo Federals
Charles kavanaugh, who was with the
1919 White Sox, and Leslie Mann, with
the world champion Braves last year.
Mann Works at Third
Mann, by the way, is being tried out
a. third. That's his old position Tink-
er, apparently, isn't exactly satisfied
with the two men that he has as
candidates for that jOb-Rollie Zeider
and ". P MCGOWAN, who came from
Hontzdale, Pa, and If Mann shows up
well enough at third he may draw the
Job
Tinker viii be at short, with Smith
acting as his understudy. Johnny Far