The Washington times., 1917-10-01
Center FielderS

of play, especially in getting into the
team attack.
He seems not to learn very rapidly
but what he learns he never forgets
and he is one of the few meen who
rarely, II ever, repeat q mistake. He
finished making his mistakes before
the middle of the season. He made
them all, and pot being a repeater,
he now seldom makes any.
He can cover more ground than
Ksufr can, he hits left-handeo 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 a dickens of a way
to talk about the great Kauff, but
the figures prove each assertion and
the figures fail by many points to
show what a good ball player Felsch
has become. He is so good that IT
ought not to be harmful to give him
part of the press agenting Ksuff got.
Truth is, FeIsch does his work so
easily that he never has been praised
much. He is almost as good as
Speaker in going back after long
drives, he moves either way with ter
rife speed, and works well with the
other outfielders. He has learned TO
switch and to play batters. He is one
OF the closest observers in the bust
ness of what his own pitchers are
doing, and makes his shifts back and
forth, in and out, in accord with their
style Of pitching, which is a thing, so
far as l can see, Kauff has not yet
mastered.
Whales the Ball Hard.
At bat Felsch is q bear. He hits
good balls, he hits them hard, and he
takes all the distance possible. He
runs the 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. In other words, when he
starts he gets there.
In looking over Rauff's record It
seems to me he has been caught quite
as often as he has succeeded In steal
ing, 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 prac-
tically the same numDer Of bases.
You must credit Kauff with more on
that account, because baserunning is
not one of McGraw's favorite systems
of rungetting, and his men are given
fewer liberties in the running line
than Rowland grants to his men.
In one respect alone Felsch falls
behind Kauff-he cannot sacrifice as
well. Sacrifice hitting, you will find
Is one Of the weak spots in the Row
land scheme OF things, and his men,
who may be skillful, have had little
practice at laying down bunts. The
majority of Felsch's sacrifices this
season have been, long drives to the
outfeld.
Company Makes Difference.
In this comparison l do not mean in
the least to belttle Kauff. lie is a
good ball player. but not the player
we imagined he was when he was
burning up the Federal League. Last
season he looked a joke for a long
time, because he was trying to get
away with stuff he put oyer on the
Feds. and being laughed at most Of
the time.
He was placed in a position where
he had to change his system of play
ing ball, forget q lot that he had learn
ed, and learn the McGraw style OF
playing the game. 1t is not an easy
thing for any player to swith systems,
and II Is q testimonial to Rauffs
ahfiffv that he aucceeded In doing II