The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-10
HAVE BOXMEN IN NATIONAL LEARNED
 SAIER'S WEAKNESS

league pitchers discovered Vic Safer s weakness, or is he merely in a, batting slump? This is a question the Cub fans have been asking frequently the last three weeks, for they are at a loss to solve the cause of his inability to hit in the pinches and drive in runs as he did last season and the year before. His work to date~ has been somewhat of a, disapp ointment to them, for they expected him to be sluggers. Instead he has let Cy Williams, Heinie Zipmerman and Frank SchuIte get the glory and praise:
 Fans are not the only ones who are keenly disappointed in the work of the young first baseman. Manager Tinker and President Weeghman are also wondering what ails him. They heard so much concerning his. prow- ess in the ranks last season that they really looked for him to surpass Will Hams, Zimmerman, Flack and Schulte in batting. Now that he has failed to live up to their expectations on his exhibition and declare that more games would have been won had he batted as he did for Roger Bresna- han in the 1915 campaign.
 To one who has been watching Safer for years it appears as if the fingers
  from hitting the ball with his usual power. They have been pitching to him with exceptional caution, with the result that he has been given few balls to pull to right and center fields. The pitchers have been keeping the ball low and on the outside corner for him and he has been hitting to left field for easy outs.
 That the opposition hurlers are making a left field batter out of him is apparent by the way the f1e1ders play for him. The left fielder, in stead of coming in for a 1eft-handed batsman, plays deep for him and in variably is right, for that is where Safer hits eight times out of ten. It may be that Safer is only in an early slump, or that he has not fallen into his stride of swinging properly and is hitting late at the ball instead of stepping up and meeting it sooner. Generally he pulls a ball to right and right center as wickedly as any play+ CT who stands on the first base side of the plate. He may fall back into this | habit soon, and when he does it is not l unreasonable to predict that the Cubs 1 will win more games than they have | to date.
 1 Manager Tinker has been coaching | Safer and striving to make him hit | earlier at the ball. He does not seem 
 pilot cannot account for it, for Safer does not pull away from the plate. FPoSsibly it is due to his -overanxiety to do too much. He is getting fat Salary of $5,700, and it is likely that | he is endeavoring to prove that he is worth it and ought to continue getting l it. His contract expires this season, and therefore he may be working to l get the same amount. If he fails to | get a high average he probably fears that his stipend will be diminished. | One has only to glance at Saier's | 1915 and 1916 records to ascertain | that he is not doing as well for Tinker l as he did for Bresnahan. He has not scored the runs, made the hits nor 1 driven in as many When a player l of Saier's type falls down in all these departments the absence of his skill | and ability is felt
 In the first 40 games played in the t1915 schedule Safer was credited with g. mark of .319, while this spring ir | the same number of events he has ar
 average of only .295. This is not SC | costly to the Cubs as his inability | to get on and score runs- He was l credited with 32 runs in 40 games last 1 year, while in the present race he I has just one-half many. He stole
 IA bases last year and has only sever now, while he drove in IS runs in 191 and only 10 this year.
 The extra base blows he made last
 year prove that he is not swinging | properly and meeting the ball with | his usual effectiveness. For Bresna- l han he made 16 doubles. seven triples
 and five home runs. while for Tinker | in 40 contests he has rapped out only l eight tWo-baggers, no triples and two | home runs The difference is felt by | the Cubs, and Manager Tinker is hop. ing that he picks up soon and hits. Safer is not playing his usual game 1 at first base. He is uncertain on low
 thrown balls, and has missed more this year than he did throughout the | 1915 schedule. It seems almost i'm possible for him to make a fancy pickup. He is covering lots of ground and certainly will do better in f1elding g as he is young and is getting better
 instead of going back.