The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-09-26
Fullerton Compares
Club Center Fielders
Statistcian Gives Figures and Analyses of Six Play
ers on Clubs Striving for Worlds Series
Honors-Cobb Rated Separately.
BY HUGH s. FULLERTON.

three clubs of each league that have
fought such desperate campaigns for the
honors OF meeting In the world series. II
becomes evident at a glance that the
National clubs should, for their own IN
terests. be pulling for anyone to beat
the Detroit Tigers.
Ty Cobb towers head and shoulders
above all. the other center fielders In the
country, and this fact never becomes
more evident than when one sits down
and figures the worth Of the man In
plain figures. ~. -
II would be fortunate for Cobb IL
Brooklyn should win the pennant be-
cause, figurtng him against that Dodger
team, Il would seem shame for him
TO be turned loose on the bases against
their catchers, at the bat against their
pitchers Cexcepting Coombs. who 10 wise
and knows Cobb. The pitchers and
catchers OF both the Braves and the
Phiilies figure to do more toward stop
ping Cobb than do the Brooklyn
fellows. II would be almost q one-man
series IL Cobb should be turned loose
against Brooklyn to show the Dodgers
how this old army game should be
played. He would start them throwing
and anyone who has watched the Dodg-
ers heave that old pill around the
grandstand knows what would happeh'
A We s,udy the six teams in COM
parison with each other, position py
position, the one fact that becomes
more and more clear In, with all us
hitting and base running power. brook
lyn Is one OF the most panicky pan
clubs in the business. They run along
three or four innings as steadily as
anyone, then blow all to pieces ana
throw away the game. This panicky
tendency seems to extend all along tne
line. am unable to place the plane
entirely, but there Ii an extreme lack
of faith In each other that Is breu OF
this habit and each man In constantly
expecting someone else to blow. ana.
as a consequence, just what tney ali
look for happens eften enough Sinh 70 o,her n
wise might seem very strong. ma
this Affecting the work OF Johnston, VINO
is brilliant and erratic by turns: ne
! was not good enough to be considerco
seriously wien he was In the Big Show
before. and really In not yet finished
enough TO play on champtonship teain
| He is improving and should continue 70
| improve-but that does not help much
in the present contingency.
Dode Paskert really Is the class OF
the center fielders the National League
could offer against the American, when
| only these three teams are considereu'
This fellow Is an odd outheider, COW
ering a lot of ground. working hard ana
, he hits very well-elose up to 30. Yet
| compared with Cobb. Paskert has
| small chance to seem much better thah
an amateur. Compared with the aver
age. Paskert locks very well he hos
a smart ball player. and has lot OF
deficiencies, yet his attacking power ana
his ability TO 20 a long way after ny
ball helps to overcome his weaknesses
SnodErass il not In class. This Ia
n puzzle: why does Stallings. one OF
/ the smartest managers In the world
grab SO many mediocre outfielders
Snodgrass once promised TO become :
great catcher: perhaps he never would
have been one. but, In his kidhood. ne
looked that way, but McGraw wantins
TO use this rangy and promising LOOK.
ing fellow every day. transformed BIN
into an outfielder. We all kept hoping
that he would become great player
lacks aggressiveness, and IL not per
feet as a purely mechanical man. Be
sides that. he has gone back 10 some
ldegree-just how much Is hard TO de-
eide. He is a slashing fellow. who n, !,
dangerous when his team is driven int
d tight place. Oddly enough. he looki
almost as we'll as a vital force agains
tho Boston Red Sox pitchers. SO fai
:a. ssat tss S %.ahsr Detroit on
against the uncertain White Sox stan
When we come to the Red sox. un
fortunately for them. We cannot thil
year figure Iris Speaker. and the result
is a sharp decline In their efficienc.
figure in center field. We are compellet
10 calculate on a combined outheld
shorten is all right, but not a heav,
we have another element Of erratic un
certainty to add to our calculations
!, Walker II fast. a wonderful, but no
accurate thrower. and not at all a salts
factory substitute for Speaker. He 4
not the ball player. even now. tina
culations. he Is interesting because n
one least OF all himself. can tell wha
, he will do. He might be the hero o
the disgraced dub OF the entire series
up in the air to some extent. especial
! those who do not know his style O
playing ball.
! The Chicago White sox are unable I
4 present center fielder who would out
class the National League rivals, al
4 though In figures their composite out
3 field ranks fairly well up. allowing 10
r the best use Of each player who tackle
4 the position. We find from the figure
. that Lieboid Is perhaps the most usefu
and he probably would do the gren
bulk Of the center fielding during
series. should the Sox be lucky enoug
. to pull through winners. He Is not
} great hitter but a good waiter. and h
reaches first much oftener than hi
hitting would indicate. Felsch Is ur
=, doubtedly a materially better ball plays
. than is Liebold In the purely mechanics
: sense, and would be used as often q
( his physical condition would permit.
q composite OF Iiebold and Felsch
hardly fair comparison since the
best points often are in the same d,
= partment, SO that part Of the total tea
= strength In on the bench, no matt,
!. which Is playing; Felsch has show
= much Improvement this season, althoug
q prone to slump. The pitchers declaI
a he has vital weaknesses as a bate
: which are becoming known. Llebo
y has the advantage In experience, ar
in knowledge OF opponents. and Is pla,
q ing for batters.
- Then comes Cobb. We have written
~ much about Tyrus that every one know
all about him. II would be joyous
a these days TO see Ty In a worlds seri
n II only for tho purpose OF demonstratiI
~ TO National League players how this o
a game ought to be played. He had
n