The Washington herald., 1917-04-13
FIRST BASEMEN KEEP
MANAGERS WORRIED
At Least Eight Team. VIII Jockey to
Find Right Man.

neW9on would not have worry In
the world II the Reds were team Of
Vile lads would probably gum up the
National League race by clinching the
pennant about the last Of August.
Hal Chase Is somewhat of a Ium-
mary In his field. for he ranks as the
best frst sac<er In the National League,
IL not the best In baseball. and Q team
Of players with Chases's ability would b..
q world beater. Chase can do anything
that Il demanded Of first baseman. He
can field, throw and hit and he Is not =
slouch on the base lines, either. Last
year he led the National League IN
batting with an average Of $50. and his
chances Of holding on to his laurels both
! as a first sacker and batsman are
very bright indeed.
There are two hrst sackers In the
majors who are compared with Chase,
and they are both In the American
League. Yes, you guessed 1t an the
and George Sisler, of the Browns. Sweet
performers? Well, rather. And 1t ap-
pears that unless Fielder Jones uncovers
some one who can shine as q phenom at
first and give him the opportunity to
use the versatile Sisler elsewhere that
George will do regular duty on the
initial sack this year. Mcfnnis has his
job sewed up tight as drum
Take these three initial baggers. line
, them up against the rest. and they stand
out in a class by themselves. Gandil,
Burns. Pipp. Hobntsel, Fournier, Holke.
Daubert. Merkle, Luderus Konetchy and
Ness are all good first basemen. But
they don't rank with the Chase-sisler-
McInnis set by Q whole lot.
Every year when the major leaguers
hike for the cotton belt to bask In the
soft. Southern sunshine at least 30 per
cent Of the managers have first base
ton.
Many Of the big league clubs are look
ing over first sackers this spring. and Of
the lot three stand out as lads who have
the makings. Two of these three wound
up the season OF 1915 with the majors
Hawk Holke, of the Giants. is one and
Louis Guisto, of the Cleveland Indians, Is
the other. Both have apparently made
good. McGraw is depending altogether
on Holke to deliver the goods. and when
Cleveland sold Chick Gandil to the
White Sox it was apparent that Guisto
was being counted on to fill the shoes
Of the departing player. John McGraw
Is SO enthusiastic over young Holke that
he can talk Libraries full of Info" about
him. Jawn figures that he will be the
leading first sackerino in the National
League this year. So Chase has a rival.
and in all justice to Holke he looks like
the goods.
Guisto, who was a stellar fielder and
a .2s6 bingler with Portland. has a mans
sized job on his hands II he makes
Cleveland forget Grandil. Chick wasn't
a wonder with the stick last year. hitting
only .259. but he fielded. just five points
away from perfect average in 1A
games.
Fielder Jones, so ST. Louis scribes tell
US, Is delighted with the way Gene Pau
lette, his new first sacker. is showing up
this year. But Paulette must make good
with a terrible wallop IL he persuades
Jones that he can afford to use him at
first base and move Sisler to some other
position
Miller Higgins thinks he has discovered
a second Chase in Dave Williams, a
youngster from Charleston. of the South
Atlantic League. Williams, so they tell
US, Is a bear He takes all the pegs,
high, low. wide or Indifferent with per
feet ease. But can he hit big league
pitching. That's the question. Besides.
Roger Hornsby Bids fair to prove to the
baseball world that he Is almost as
versatile as George Sisler, and Higgins
still has Jack Miller.
Clark Griffith Is going to experiment
with Judge, shanks and probably one or
two others at first base But Griff hasn't
anything in the -McInnis
line.
Chick Gandil will probably start the
season at first base for the White Sox,
and stick there. which will mean that
Jack Ness will be on his way to some
other club. Rowland will probably keep
Fournier.
OF the first sackers not mentioned 80
far, the following are sure Of Jobs this
year: Burns. with Detroit; Pipp, with
New York; Hoblitzel, with Boston; Dau-
bert. with Brooklyn; Lauderus. with
Philadelphia, and Konetchy. with the
Braves. Other clubs may make switches
for Washington. Pittsburgh, the Cardi-
nails and Cubs are experimenting with
the first base problem.