The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-07
EDITED BY JACK BETHEA

work the battle and it was hoped that he would free his system of a first class ball game such as everyone knows he is capable Of hurling. The appearance of the Birmingham club impressed Look outville very favorably Monday and w. G. Foster has the follow ing to say in the Times about the machine of Molesworth:
 ''The Barons must not be under estimated.
 They played like a real ball club yesterday in all departments. One of the best that has been seen here.
 Its going to be decidedly hard to keep Moley and his men in the second decision.
 "The Lookouts will have to travel hard to win these next two games, for they will face two corking good pitchers whoever is sent in against them.
 That's where MoIey has it on any other manager in the league. The Baron boxmen have not done so we'll to date, but when they are strengthened out, Moley has not less than five winners on his staff. No other pilot can say as much.
 "In other departments, how ever, the team doesn't stack up as well IS in previous seasons. It lacks in consistent hitters. It has fair infie1d Caton, who has Just replaced Lindsay at short, be- ing somewhat of an improvement over veteran Bill: the latter is manifestly not at home in the out field"
 It increases our self-respect con- siderably to find that others think so highly of us. Never mind about the hitting, we're leading the league right now. It's the pitching that we need.
 Alibing for the easy defeat of the Lookouts Monday, Foster con- tinues in this strain:
 Lookout disaster in the open ing game of the series with Bir- mingham was not unexpected by those who watch the ins and outs of the game.
 '1t hurts any tsrong team to play a weaker team in a series-for awhile at least. The Lookouts en- tered the game full of the confi- dent nonchalant feeling that char acterized them in the Mobile games and when they regained their fighting spirit it was too late to win.
 "It was we'll that the poorly pitched game of the series should coincide with the poorly pitched spasm. Any team is lucky that can bunch good hitting and good pitch ing and when they are bound to lose do the whole thing at once poor pitching and hitting, not to mention cratic fielding
 "The Lookouts should be back in their usual stride behind Marshall this afternoon. The rube was an easy victor when he tackled the Barons in Birmingham, bur is hardly likely to be favored with a seven run lead today.'
 Cecil Coombs, the star Baron slug ger. returned to Birmingham Monday afternoon from Memphis, where he left the remainder of the team. Coombs is now on the ineligible list, being placed there by Manager Molesworth when Jimmy Eschen was added to the team.
 Coombs is not limping nearly as much as he was when the team de- parted from Birmingham for the road NAiPt ihSA io WELLS SOASlooCo III SHdL- tanooga today. Cecil is of the opmfon that his leg will be in fine condition when the 15-day limit expires, which Is some two weeks off.
 Commenting upon the shifts in the Baron lineup recently, and the way the team was playing, Coombs talked freely and gave the impression that nothing but hard luck was depriving the Barons of victories.
 ''The team is playing good ball." said Coombs. "The whole bunch is hitting like fiends and hardly game passed without the usual collection of healthy safeties.
 ''The shift that Moley made is work ing fine, and it meets with approval with the fans over the circuit. This youngster, John Caton, is proving to be about the biggest drawing card I have ever witnessed in my career on the diamond. Out in Little Rock dur ing the past series, over 800 fans came Out especially to see the little won der as they termed him, perform. He's one of the best shortstops I have seen in this league. He plays from third to first and whips them to Der rick with deadly accuracy.
 After the machine begins to work little smoother and the pitchers con- tribute their share of grease, ] think it is safe to predict that the Barons will be pennant contenders. The boys are in fine spirit, although the los ing streak is a little disheartening. With the opening of the home stay Thursday, you can count on the Barons to annex a few old ball games. My leg is fast gaining it's old strength and I think that it will be entirely xrya11 ,F nly