El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-09-29
TIE CENTER FIELDERs.

Strength. Strength Strength.
White Sox- -921 81 1z5=
Giants -.--.ssl 505 1lS4
TAPPT FELSCH. OF the Chicago
II White Sox. is one Of the great
= 4 est ball players in the business
and one OF the greatest hitters OF
his style Of all time With the eE-
oeption OF Cobb and Speaker. he is
the best outheIder in the American
league. and some refuse TO admit
that even the great Iris is better.
II need not, therefore. offend New
York fans much TO discover that
Benny Kauff rates quite a distance
below Felsch in the comparative fig
ures, and that he is second TO the
ChicagOan in all departments OF play,
even base running. at which Felsch
never " as supposed 10 shine.
In center. Tor purposes OF a world S
series. the White SOx have a big edge
on pure dope. Felsch figures 20 be
one OF the hitting stars Of the series,
and II I were predicting instead OF
figuring pure dope, would pick
series. From the present outlook
every bit OF Eeneralship. all OF Nc
Graw's care in selecting pitchers TO
hamper Collins. Jackson and others
OF the " mite CO4s VIII play 6LldAE ~
into Felsch's hands.
slow to Learn, But sure.
/ have an idea that large number
Of National leaguers do not realize
10 the 1ull extent what a good ban
player Felsch has become. They have
the opinion that he is a slow thinker
and not a finished man. They are at
least a year behind the time II they
stick TO that belief. II IS true that,
for quite a time Felsch seemed ter
Ill. ell
Of play especially in getting into the
team attack. He seems not to learn
very rapidly. but what he learns he
never 4orgetS. and he is one OF the
few men who rarely, II ever. repeat
a mistake. He finished making his
mistakes before the middle OF the
season. II made them all, and not
being repeater, he now seldom
makes any.
He can cover more ground that
Kauff can. he hits left handed pitch
ing better. he hits the ball harder, and
he can hold his own with the ex Fed
star on the bases.
That sounds like dickens Of
way to talk about the great
kauffs but the figures fail by
many points 10 show what n good
ball player Felsch has become.
He Is - good that Il ought not
to be harmful TO give him part OF
the press aEentinE Knuff got.
Truth is, Felsch does his work so
easily that he never has been praised
much. He is almost as good as Iris
Speaker in going back after long
drives. he moves either way with ter
other outfielders. He has learned 10
switch and to play batters. He is
one OF the closest observers N the
business OF what his own pitchers are
doing and makes his shifts back and
forth, in and out. I'm accord with
their style OF pitching. which is a
thing so far as can see, Kauff has
not yet mastered.
Whales the Ball Hard.
At bat Felsch is a bear He hits
good balls, he hits them hard, and he
takes all the distance possible. He
runs bases with the same ease that
he catches long drives, and his steals
are masterpieces He has stolen an
extraordinary number OF bases this
season in proportion to the number
OF times he has started to steal I'M
other words. when he starts he gets.
there in looking over Kauffs rec
ord it seems to me he has been caught
quite as often as he has succeeded in
stealing. although he is one Of the
leaders Of McGraw's FLYING squadron
on the bases. I think the records up|
TO date show that the men have stolen
practically the same number OF
bases. You must credit Kauff with
more on that account. because base
running is not one OF McGraw's IA
vorite systems OF run getting and his
men are given fewer liberties in the
running line than Rowland grants to
his men.
In one respect alone FeIsch falls
behind Kauff-he cannot sacrifice as!
we'll Sacrifice hitting. YOU viii find
is one OF the weak spots In the Row
land scheme of things and his men.
who may be skilful. have had little
practice at laving down hunts The
majority OF Felsch's sacrifices this
season have been long drives 20 the
Outfield.
The Company Makes n Difference. I
In this comparison I do not mean T.
in the least to belittle Kauff He is
a good ball player. but not the
player we imagined he was when he
Continued On Next PHEe.)