Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-16
NF|ELD PROBLEM
GR|FF MUST SOLVE
Shotton-Lavan Deal May Be
! Followed by Another A.
fecting Base Guardians.
RAY MORGAN FOR MAIsEL?
BY DENMAN THOMPSON.

With one OF his principal prob
lens-that of the outheld-taken
care of by the acquisition OF
Bert Shotton from the Browns,
Manager Griffith now is expect
ed to devote his attention to
rounding out the inner works to
the end of placing we'll balanced
club in the field when the gong
rings Tuesday, April 10, for the
start of the next campaign. With
Shotton and Rice to flank Zeb
Milan in the garden Crit will
boast of a trio OF gardeners pos
sessing both speed and hitting
power as we'll as the ability to
take care of all the fielding
chances that may come their
way.
With the addition. Johnny Lavan.
who comes with Shotton in the deal
whereby Washington shunted Bert Gal
liza and $4,000 to the st. Louis club,
Grif has made a step forward in his
effort to mold an infield of high caliber,
but he is not expected to stand pat
with the material he has.
Assuming that Joe Judge will re-
cover from the injury to his leg which
he suffered near the close of the sea-
son recently ended. the first base po-
sftion will be well taken care of. Judge
was putting up the best fielding game
of his career when he had the mis-
fortune to fracture his leg and was
battinA at a more than 800 clip Joe
Leonard who subbed at first for Judge
SO successfully. has enlisted IN the
Morgan. Foster. Shanks and Mcbride
of the men who are expected to be
available for duty. Crane and Murray
both are likely to be serving Uncle
Second and Third Doubtful.
With Lavan stationed permanently
1t short. as is believed to be Griff:s in
tention, and Judge covering first. the
question of what athletes will be as
signed to second and third will occupy
the pilots attention Mcbride I'M
doubtediy will be retained in an al
visory capacity. but his playing days
generally are regarded as ended.
Shanks'. great value as utility man.
avaiiabfe for use either in the garden
or infie1d. probably will result in his
being cast for this role, leaving Eos
ter and Morgan for the hot corner
and keystone sacks. it is in these posi-
tons that changes are likely to be
effected.
There Is little doubt that if it came
to question of disposing of one of
this pair Foster would be the player
retained. His ability to play either at
third or second and his superiority
over Morgan as a fielder make him the
logical choice. Morgan. while good
ball player and better than ordinary
hitter, has not seemed able to do him
self justice in recent seasons. Re-
ports that he was due to figure in
Trade have frequently been heard in
the last couple of years. The fact that
nothing came of them is believed to
have been due to the fact that he held
an iron-bound contract calling for
$4,000 year. which clubs willing to
take him hesitated over assuming.
Bill Donovan when he was plotting
the Yankees thought highly of Nor
gan's ability, but baked at the figures
deal for his services. Morgan's con-
tract expired with the close of last
season, however. and with this OBJ
stacle removed 1t is believed Grin
him. 1t il just as necessary that Mil
Ter Higgins, the new helmsman OF the
Yankees, should effect a swap to in
fuse new blood into the team and
strengthen his infleld as it was for
Donovan.
Yanks Might Take Morgan.
Norgan's hitting ability might in
duence Huggins to take chance with
me Baitimorean. who. in new surround
.ngs and with greater incentive for
hustlfng. probably would demonstrate
the ability he Possesses to plug the
hole at second for the Yanks.
duggins is said to plan a thorough
housecleaning for the New York club
ana among the players he is willing TO
who Is cracking good third baseman,
although only a very ordinary per-
former at second or in the outfield.
Just what esteem Manager Griffith
holds Maisel in is not known, but the
records show that before Maisel was
disiodged from third base by the ac-
QUESTION of Frank Baker he ranked
with the fastest fielders in the league
promise.
At third for the Yankees in 1915
Maisel had a fielding percentage of $40
and cracked out 149 hits in $50 times at
Dat. an average of PSI. in addition to
scoring II runs and stealing 81 bases
When Donovan began experimenting
with him in 1915 his batting fell of, but
he was out of his element on the other
side of the infieid and in the garden
Third base Is Maisels natural position
and II is believed that IL installed there
he would quickly regain the form that
made him one of the most-taiked OF
youngsters in the league three seasons
back. II GrifIith could land a player as
competent as II is thought Maisel would
be for the third basing job he could
shift Foster to second and present a
well balanced quartet for the inne,
works.
Other Deals Are Expected.
1t may be that Grin has some such
deal in mind, but the local pilot is not