South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-04-25
TWIRLERS D My
WORRY OF SMITH
Bad Weather Has Handicap
ped Mound Men, Others
Look Strong.
BY I'd }. Murray.

One more day and the Central
league season Of 1916 will begin 20
become a part Of history. Just how
that history viii be recorded no man
knows. although a few OF the dope
sters around the circuit imagine
they do. OF else they are striaging
the public
This Central league race is going
10 be a merry one II the teams size
up in the field as they do on paper.
Picking the winner Is not a job for
mere man and v must be admitted
that most OF the fans and writer's
are keeping away from this sort Of
employment
But thie much can be said Of the
coming season. IL should bring out
some interesting clashes No mat
ter what team wins or what team
finishes IN the cellar. the clubs i'm
the Central league are going TO fur
nish plenty OF thrills for the fans
in the various cities. Muskegon at
present seems TO be the only club
that is weak, but Babe Myers is at
the helm and has strings out for
men who are expected TO put the
town in Michigan on the Central
league map in large letters OF
course Babe may fall down, and
then again he may not
Ed Doesn't Know.
IS Ed smith ina speaking of the Bend
ers' chances yesterday afternoon ad-
mitted that me didn't know" Ed
Is II the opinion that he has q good
ball club. but whether or not II Is
better than the others IN the Cen
tral league. he cannot tell. one
thing certain. Ed will get busy il
he finds that the rest OF the bunch
have his team outclassed.
The man who invented figures or
rather the man who said figures
could not lie. had never rGn across
the baseball writer who can sit
down aud figure out the relative
values OF the different teams and
pick them as they will finish Fig
ures can only be used TO estimate
when il comes 20 baseball and they
are not elastic enough 10 include
heat. players injuries and dispos.-
ton. and a million other things that
20 10 make our national pastime
Had Strong Bunch.
But starting with the team Smith
had IN the Southern Michigan
league. the record il made showed
IL was too classy bunch 10 make
the race IN that league interesting.
Smiths gang. once il got started.
was never headed. 1t has always
been the writer's opinion that that
gang could have stepped out in the
Central league and made things in
teresting for the rest OF the clubs in
the league.
Smith that year had Broder Esch-
en- and Helmer i'm the gardens This
year he has Fisher. Bashang and
Grimes. Fisher is better ball
player than Broder Red" is fast.
has a good arm and can hit around
300 Bashang is about as good =
fielder as Eschen is better leed-
OF man. but will not hit as hard.
Grimes is not the clouter that Hell
mer was. but Grimes will Offset Hell
mers advantage by his speed The
outdeld as "a whole is better than
the one Smith had last year. for 1t
collectively should hit about as
strong while IL will gain in fielding
and base running
Third Base l. Strong.
Tannehill az third. IL he stays. will
be an Improvement over Joe Gro
dick. for Joe is back here fighting
for HE old job. Dolly Gray and
Edmiston can not be mentioned in
the same breath Dolly is faster on
the field. on the bases and. at the
plate viii hit around 500 60 Ed
missions 200 Koehler at second
will be as good as Koehler was at
second last season. George Beau
is a better ball player than he vas
last season. while should Kading
prove better than Beau it Will mean
first is thai much stronger
Withrow is a better catcher than