Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-30

| being bright and good listener he
improved under the tutelage of Nit
chell and developed into the greatest
shortstop in the league. AS he start
ed off like n whirlwind it was pre-
+ dicted he would slump and prove
only a flash III the pan, but he has
not done so. He has kept up his
good work in every department of
the game and astonished the base
ball world with his batting. He has
been hitting at 800 clip since early
in May and has helped wonderfully
in winning games with his stick
work. 1t is needless to say much
about his fielding other than that he
is the class of the league.
Followers of the club were pleased
when Alexander and Killefer were
secured. The presence of these stars
on the club alone assured them of a
winner. When Tyler was obtained
in a trade with Boston for Larry
Doyle, Art Wilson and some cash,
their hopes took a decided jump.
When Dode Paskert was secured
from the Fhillies the fans did not
feel so elated, as they figured that
he was n veteran and would not be
great improvement on Cy Will
liams. Mitchell. however, knew bet
ter and Paskert has played better
game than he ever did for Pat Mo-
ran. His fielding and hitting have
. been immense.
The departure of Alexander was a
shock to the Cub fans. They thought
it meant the loss of the champion
ship. Manager Mitchell, while he ma
turally deplored the loss of the star,
did not think so. He retained con-
| fidence in the men he had and in
stilled into them the belief that they
were the class of the league. He
| handled them as wisely as any man.
ager could, and it is saying a whole
lot to assert that he got more and
better baseball out of his players
than any other manager possibly
could have done. His players imme-
diately realized the fact that he was
smart baseball man and followed
his advice with the result that the
Cub team played a superior brand
of ball all the year.
Old Players Improve
Although Manager Mitchell OBJ
tained Alexander, Killefer, Tyler,
Paskert and Hollocher to make his
ball team, one cannot overlook the
other members of the team, Les
Mann, Jim Vaughn, Claude Hendrix
Max Flack and Rollie Zeider did not
lose any of their brilliancy because
ers. If anything, they performed
with more dexterity than they did
III the preceding campaign. They
kept up with the spirit of the outfit
and contributed their share toward
winning the championship. They
were on their toes at all times and
| played the sort of baseball that Man
| ager Mitchell demanded from them.
Vaughn, of course, has been the star
of the twirling staff, and he has won
| twenty-one genes. Hendrix, too, is
deserving of credit. as he has won
nineteen frames and his pitching has
been surprising after the work he
did last year.
Manager Mitchell from the start
of the spring training trip knew
what his lineup would be. He had
it virtually doped out before the
players went into training and soon
after practice began, placed his men
at the positions picked out for them
Pete Kildruff was at second base at
| the opening, but he fell into a slump
and then joined the Navy, which
pressed Zeiders into service. The
club was not weakened any by the
change. After that all Mitchell had
| to do was to arrange his men in the
| batting order to get the most out
. of their hitting and speed.