Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-10
MAJORS DEFENSE
WORK IMPROVES
Record Shows All but 1875 OF
52,196 Chances Offered
Cleanly Played.

The official fielding records OF the
National league for the season OF III
show substantial improvement In this
department by comparison with the
l1si6 ratings. The total fielding
chances offered the past season were
52-l96, Of which unusually large total
all but 1875 were cleanly played. In
the season of 1916 the total chances
offered were 1872 and the misplays
il,9S9. The Boston, Brooklyn and Cin-
cinnati clubs increased their respec-
tive error totals over their 1916 fig
ures, but these lapses We're more than
offset by the improved defensive work
of the five other clubs.
The Champions led the league in
FIELDING and were charged with the
lowest number of errors-2OS. The
New York catchers also marked up an
unusually low record of passed balls,
with seven for the 1853 games. st.
Louis had the greatest number of
fielding chances, namely. $3.50; Pitts
burgh the lowest with 6,46O.
New York played 45 errorless
games; Philadelphia AZ; st. Louis 81;
Boston and Pittsburgh 35 each; Gin
cinnau and Brooklyn "a each. and
Chicago 33.
In Individual play, John Miller led
the first basemen with an average or
.y9S, with Holke credited with the
81 eatest number of chances offered
LIZA. Miller's record of one error in
545 chances Is noteworthy.
The second basemen were led by
.;ohn Rawlings, of Boston, new
conner, with 467 accepted chances out
OF AIS offered in 96 games. Dave
Shean had 774 chances-the top fig
ure--of which he missed 80.
Henry Groh played In 154 games at
third and headed all others in that po-
sition with an average of .s66, he maxi
ing but 8 errors in more than half a
thousand opportunities. Baird had
most chances offered $500, followed
by Zimmerman with 525.
At shortstop, John Rawlings. again
appears in first place. The honors,
however. belong to Arthur Fletcher,
with Maranville following The first
named had $50 chances offered. of
which he accepted all but 80. Will
liam Kopf. playing his first complete
season, had 814 chances In las games.
Charles Jackson of Pittsburgh
heads the outfielders, being charged
with but one error in SO games. George
Paskert, having played in 1873 contests,
Is entitled to the leadership. Max
Carey had the unusually large total of
AIS chances. of which he accepted all
but 10. Charles Stengel is first with
80 assists from the outfield, Carey fol-
lowing with 2S.
The catchers We're led in fielding by
John Adams of Philadelphia. who mis-
| played but one of the III chances
offered. William Killefer and Ivey
Wingo each caught 120 games, the
former ,having the greatest number of
char ces-765. Lew McCarty had but
one passed ball in 54 games: Hank
| Gowdy one in 40 games, and George
Gibson one in 35 games.
The pitchers were led by Eppa Rixey
and Al. Demaree with perfect field
Ing In 80 games each. the left ha nder
being credited with the post of honor
by reason of his los chances as agains,
pcmaree's ~. Alexander had most
chances G33). with one error: fol-
lowed by Barnes of Boston with one
misplay in l5 chances.
| Harry ii. Myers of Brooklyn secured
records in four different positions
| outfield, and at first second and third
base. Ieider of Chicago is rated In
the second and third base and short
stop standings. and Fitzpatrick OF
Boston appears among the outfielders
and second and third basemen.
John (Honus) Wagn'er's 1917 record
showed he played in AZ games at first
where he accepted 455 out of 462
chances. He also played in IS games
at third, where he made three mis-
plays in 5S chances.