The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-04


 With the comparative figures of Whit ted and Lewis, left fielders of the rival teams We. reach the finish of the study of the regular teams and with rather sur prising results.
 The fact that Phila de,phias outfield shows so well when studied in eompari- son with the famous Red Sox trio is tonishing, and shows that Morans team has a lot of strength for which it has not been given credit. While the Red Sox outfgure the Philles by rather heavy margin both in the infield and the outfield it is not enough to offset what advantage may be gained through com parison of pitchers alone.
 The Phllies are not outclassed We find that their pitchers will have to pitch about per cent better ball than the Red Sox to equalize the difference in hit tng power and that the fielders will have to do about per cent better than they do regularly to bring them to the Boston standard, unless the Red Sox fall off that much in their work
 The figures show neither team Is likely to hit as hard as it does in season, be-
 
 10 cut down it's batting and reduce the attacking strength all round.
 But to the final comparison of the regu- lars. There is big surprise in those fig ures. You would not suspect that Whit ted, cast off by the Boston Braves, ranks so closely up to Duffy Lewis this fall that there is small choice between them? Neither did l until l studied the cope carefully and analysed each mans work.
 When you come to figure an individual ball player, you must make allowance for his disposition, if that tends either to enhance the value of his work or to detract from it.
 Whtted is an odd ball player. He has disposition. Last year he was one of the most valuable of the Braves. He was the happy disposition, the fellow who turned serious situations into joke, who laughed off rows between players. smoothed over difficulties, stood between some of the athletes and Stallings often taking the scoldings of the irascible man ager upon himself to shield some more sensitive person. Stallings used him when he wanted to vent his ire upon the team, and Whitted grinned and passed it If with . jest.
 On the Phillies' team he has been in- valuable in keeping up the team spirit during discoura ging times. He has cheered the players along, furnished the pep and the punch that some of them needed, and made Moran's way easier by his tact in strengthening out those little internal cla shes that so often iniure a ball club.
 Whtted is dangerous man on the at tack, resourceful quick to switch his plan, and he can hit. He bumps that old grape fruit to the tune of about 2S0 gets on a lot of times, and is one of the top notchers in run scoring for his team.
 His fielding is not brilliant, but it mas been satisfactory, and with a steady job assured he has really done better work this year than he did last. On the bases he is not speedy man, but he is tricky, trying to outguess pitchers, and he steals a fair number of times, principally by catching the other team unprepared. He Is just a little above the average in me- ohanical ability for outfielders. he watches batters closely, and he works hard and fights all the time. It Is his spirit and punch that make him compare so well with his rival.
 Duffy Lewis is one of the problems of; the series. We have come to be so accustomed to referring to Bostons wonderful outfield that at times we take 1t for granted that it is flawless Carrigan does not figure things that way. He sits down there on the bench and sees a lot of things that are for gotten by the fans There was time 1ate tnlS season when IL seemed as 1T Lewis would be benched and that Hen drickson would get steady job in left field. It was rumored through the American league that the change was certain, but it did not take place, as Lewis braced considerably in his work. especially in his hitting.
 Lewis is not the greatest outfielder. He is scarcely above the average as a mechanical fielder but he has strong points as against his weak. His ability to throw and to cut off hard drives that go foul after crossing third base on the Boston grounds. and to retrieve the ball before it gets into that em- barrassng corner is one of his strong points which will come in handy even on the new Braves ground. He has rather short field near the foul line