Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-03-05
bush H|TTERs IGNORED
FEW SKATERS IN MINORS
PICKED FOR MAJOR TRIALS
S1uGclders Furnish Greatest supply 0f
Spring Try-0uts-ManS Former DtG
LcnHucrs Get Another Chance.

LcRHucrs Get Another Chnncc.
The small number Of minor league
batting champions who arc To hc given
n trial In fast company this spring in
: dictates that the majors aren't very
= strong for last seasons bush league
slugslng talent.
s% OF the five minor league swat cham
q pions purchased for the big show. thu
st. Louis Americans grabbed two
Y kenworthy. the Pacific Coast League
i batting star, and jacobson. champion
3 slusgcr of the Southern League" Both
: of these FASTENERS have been up be
fore, Ecnworthy. former Federal
League PLAYER. having been tried ont
by the Pittsburgh Pirates. and Jacob
son blythe Detroit Tigers. Their fail
uric to show consistcn, stickwork sent
both back L. the minors.
Last season Jacobson played center
s field for the little Rock team. and hit
for .3tG in Is? games kenworihy per-
formed At second base for the oakland
team, and stunS thc pellet for .3li In
cuo games. If they can continue their
brilliant work Of 1915. lake and Ken
are certain To become fixtures with the
] Browns
The other batting wizards from the
+ short "trip circuits who are 10 show
their wares /" hiG-time managers are
: Ellison. champion Of tho Central Assoc
citation. who goes 10 tho Detroit Tigers:
Mathes, tho Central League leader, who
has been cnpp"d by the Boston Braves,
and fIolkc, king Of tho Internationa
= League hatsmcu. who is already u mem
Der Of tile New York Giants. having
performed brilliantly for McC;raw tho
latter part Of last season.
Central Association averages show
: that Ellison. the Muscatinc inii.ldcr.
"a
Alathes. who played second base for
:, Terrc lant". had u batting mark cf
, .!5i in Scvcnty-toir games, and llolkc's
: international League batting figures
show that he hit for 3it in l@2 games
while holding down first base for
, Rochester.
Many InacIdcrs Cct Trinl..
Rather out Of the ordinary is the fact
that four Of these five champion bats
& men arc iniicldcrS. jacobson being the
'aonly outfisldcr Heretofore a big ma
jority OF the star cloutors gathered an
nually by the major leagues from the
smaller circuits have been outticldcrS
Now IL would seem that tho iutoldcrs
arc fast developing the art OF hitting.
: and are TO give the gardeners = good
Z run for tho bnglo hcnors. Tho same
Improvement in hitting by the in
folders is noticeable iii tho major
leagues, especially ia the National. in
which organization eight OF the dozen
atoms.
The fact that 50 many az tho minor
league batting champions arc veteran
FASTENERS and former big lcaguers may
account for the small number Of minor
league leaders coming up" this Year.
:, Nowadays major league managers pre-
fer taking chance in developing IL
younSster.
Among the veteran players who led
their respective leagues III batting last
season were BcalS Becker. Of the Kan
saS City American Association team i;
Hank Butcher Of the Denver Western
. League team: Bill Kay OF the Bins-
hamton. New York State League team,
and Howard Wakefield Of the Rock
Island Three-I League team. Butcher.
who was sent 10 Denver from Indian
apolis because he failed dismaliy as a
batsman with the Indians. heads tho
list of veteran sluggcrs with "a batting
average OF .317 for i+5 games. Kay
look part in l24 games and hit for
$50. Wakefield hit for 49, In 1874
games. and Becker had an average OF
.3i3 for 1873 games.
Other minor league batting leaders
include kippert. I'll Butte. the North
western League Champion Maloney, Of
Worcester. champion OF the Eastern
League: Bittlc. or Waco. who led the
Texas League, and Flynn OF Newman,
the Georgia Ala hama League leader
Bittle is 10 bt tried out by the Mobile
Southern League club next season. and
Flynn liz TO GO In the San Antonio team
Of the Texas Lca.u