The Washington times., 1915-06-19
TY DEFIES BA N JOHNSON.

oung, DetroitS second baseman, has
been a veritable stonewall on defense.
find the right man Cor this position. He
tried a whole flock OF players in the
keystone Job. but they all had some
weakness that seriously Handicapped the
club. The Tigers are-and always have
been-a hard batting club. They never
have had any great amount Of trouble
scoring runs. but their defense las been
weak. Particularly around second base,
the quality Of play has been below the
! big league standard.
' Young Is not such a very strong hitter
on what he has shown so far. though
he does help out the attack on occa-
! sion. He is wonder on the defense,
| however. and that is what we want. In
| fielding ground balls. he has few equals
| In the league. and he has killed dozens
of smashes of the sort that we used to
| see go for safe hits. In the games
played against the seacoast clubs. he
| saved us on more than one occasion by
| sensational stop.
| Mckee and Baker our two young
catchers. also did some splendid work.
! NeitheJ of these men Is exactly a new
| conner on the club. as Baker was with
| lis last year and Mckee Joined in 1913.
But this spring Is the first time that we
| have been able to use them regularly.
An injury to Stanage kept him out of
some Of the most important games,
notably the last series we played with
Chicago. and the two younger receivers
sensational style.
Chicago can thank several Of her
young players for keeping her up in the
van. Quinlan and Felsch. the two rev
outfielders. have performed In a very
satisfactory manner, while Breton and
Roth have done some good work on
the infield. Manager Rowland believes
| in shaking up his battlefront whenever
one combination is not getting results.
so he has had almost all of his players
! In the game a one time or another. He
| does not hesitate to take out a man
| who is in a slump, and there must be
! something in this system, for he is GER
! tainly getting results.
New York, another first division club,
| has to thank Walter Pipp for a num-
Der of it's victories. This is his first
| year as regular, though he went south
with the Tigers in 1914. He has been
in the league, and his hits have driven
in lot Of runs for the Donovan club.
| Lutte Boone is another boy who Is
helping the Yankees immensely He was
| with the club last season and played
! second toward the close Of the year,
but this is the first campaign in which
he started out as regular. lie Is play
ing a very clever game in the field. and.
| though he isn't a 800 hitter, gets a
timely thump every now and then.
Boston has practically a veteran team,
| or rather one on which all the players
! other than pitchers have had at least
| one Of the recruit pitchers, is doing
, fairly well, particularly as hitter. This
big fellow seems to be a natural slug
ger, and he has won several games
through his ability to whale the ball.
| Ruth has to take off his hat to Ray
! Caldwell when 1t comes TO being the
champion pinch-hitting pitcher, however.
/ The New York star made what probably
| Is a worlds record a short time ago
! when he got a home run on three sue
cessive days. The first two of these he
! secured in the role of emergency batter.
! while the other was in a game that he
was pitching.
Washington, like Boston. is using
practically the same team that 1t had
| last year, so recruits cannot be handed
anything for its showing. Cleveland had
mob of recruits and Is using several
recent acquisition from the American
| Association, seems to be a strong play
| er. ! haven't seen him work, but the
papers have been filled with his good
, iisiding and hard hitting. Wood is an
! other man who is playing good ball
| He was with the club last season. but
didn't succeed in breaking into regular
| position He seems to have established
himself at first base as q regular now,
after various other men have made a
tizzle of that position. Another likely
looking Indian recruit is Smith.
Branch Hickey is finding Howard and
Dee Walsh handy. Howard was with
| him last year but didn't get much of a
| chance, while Walsh has belonged to
| the Browns since the dark ages without
ever qualifying as regular. He has
been in the minors with Hedges string
on him much of the time. This young
man went to St. Louis as an infielder
| but he never made much of a success
| at that job and it wasn't until he was
| put into the suburbs that he really
| found himself Hickey thinks him one
] of the best defensive Outfelders in the
! league
Connie %ack has a gang OF recruits