The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1918-08-26


rarisou with eit'cr the Rcd Sox or
Cleveland Indians fer the purposes or
worlds series. yet 1t is surprising |"
observe how close they com" TO ralills
W with uutflcds which, nj first glance
almost any student Of baseball would
declare outclaS"c& them.
Either Fred Mitchell constructed a
ball team more cunninGly than we have
given him credit for doing, or there IS
much unSuspcctcd strength aud adapta-
hility lurking among the Cubs.
NJ one would. 1T first. venture 10 COM
pare any one OF the cub outer gardeners
favurably with either Speaker or Hoop
er. who, by the way. ar" lw" OF the
greatest that ever covered an outer
garden. yet, for the pup"sc of tn: series
this fall the Cub trio. men rated us
mrdiocrc and one rs an almost passed
veteran. figure close ur ~ their rivals
in spite of Ruth'S dangerous driving
power. which is largely reduced BY HIT
ing against Tyler and Vaughn.
The reason is that Speakers strength
In attack is largely reduced by the mere
fact that if the Indians and Cubs play.
hc will bat pract ically all tho time
aginst two corkinG left handed pitchers,
hlcS him most.
S7nakcr. Of course. hits any kind Of
pitching, even the good left handlers. but
some he cannot hit as wnll rs others.
Ruth. IN the other hand. often Is COM
plc;cly stopped by cunning left handed
pitching. and. in spite Of his tremendous
driving power at bat and the extreme
shortnrss of the right field fence NJ Chi
Ia tiTyn
dangerous nginst Tyler and Vaughn Us
might Ne suspected. Besides which. We
cannot figure Ruth in the out:cld for
The entire series. Il probably will be-
the strategy of Barrow to pitch Ruth
against ono or the other. and to use him
us an outfeldcr against Tight-handcd
pitching.
Hooper One of Most Consistent
Outfelders.
When NC started this doping I GER
tainly expected to tiud that Hooper
would shine high in the figures. Hooper.
| know. is one Of the greatest and prob
ably tho most consistent Outlleldcrs that
ever played The game. His figures. both
on seasons work and on comparative
figures in worlds series. nave shown him
TO bc tho best OF them ALL possibly with
ono or two scattered EXCEPTIONS ana,
over period of years. he ranks alone.
Yet the dope on the Cubs and Red SoN
shows him only slightly the superior or
Flack. who, while IL cnrking young frl-
low. fast. clever nj bat and almost the
equal Of Hooper as Il thrower. cannot be
classcd the same This Is detracting
nothing from Flack. but merely giving
Hooper what is coming 10 him. Yet This
year Hooper shows much lower figures
than he has ever done in dop" "u any
worlds series since he has been play
Sng-not that he is dctcri0rnted. but ne
loses on two counts. first. because he Is
against pitching which naturally cuts
his attacking average, and again because
the ShortneSs Of the right field In chi
cagu detracts from his fielding ability
The truth is that short right held
makes ono man almost tho equal OF an
other save when II comes to l~lnE
familiar with the angles ot tho wall. so
ns to judge the rebound quickly. and in
this respect F'lack will have slight
edge on his greater rival.
Joe Wood Figures High in Fielding.
II NAV be something Of n surprise
to note how high Joe Wood figures In
tho dope, especially in fielding. How
ever. it will not surprise those who
have seen Woods steady Improvement
in the fielding end Of the game. Sc
sides that. any fielder who plays either
right nr left with iris Speaker in cen
ter is additional points as fielder bt-
cause Iris can cover so much ground
that they are free to work closer 10 inc
four lines and thus cover more ground
and play better moro fcarlcssly. cs-
pccially when the batter has known
weakness Of hitting in any given dircr-
10 mi in n Observe
when il comes to the study Of some OF
the men.
Take for instance such rs Chick Can
Iii, of the Chicago White Son who hits
hard but practically all thr time to the
right field. He may hit the Boston or
Cleveland pitchers quite MS hard as NJ
does the pitchers of som" other teams
Vet he will get fewer hits because Hoop
or and Wood (thc latter helped 10y
Sncak), will catch a number OF drives
that otherwise would 20 safe. Cleveland
loses some points because Wood prob
ahlv will play first in two games with
Eoachcr in right
cleveland gains somewhat hccnuS" nt
Grancy's style IF hitting. making IL
likely that he can hit tn" l"tthhndc''
Cub nitchcrS and loses considerably h'-
cnuso Of the weakness Of Grancy'S arm
which has not yCt E'i''H o'""" '
proper condition
Strunk loses considerably. rs do inc
other Fed SoS outer gardeners because
the Cub pitchers have tn" kind nf d"ilv-
cry which cuts OFF some of his swat
ting value.
cannot figure that Mann or Task
crt possihly can hit tho worlds series
nitching anything like AS hard rs they
have been rapning tho National l"aEu"rs
mis- season. A study of their hitting
however. shows that both hav" been
hitting tn. good pitchers much better
mis- season than they figured I" do. rv-
IN though the bulk Of their gains m
hitting have been against weak rIlch-
crs. lraskcrt gains points on Er"a'"r
spcrd and condition than h" has shown
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