Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-28

ChlCagOS CUBS do not Sn1ne III
comparison with either the Red SoX
or Cleveland Indians for the pur-
posed of a worlds series yet it is sur
prising to observe how close they
come to rating up with outhelds
which, at first, almost any student OF
baseball would declare outclasses
them.
Either Fred Mitchell constructed
a ball team more cunningly than we
have given him credit for doing, or
there is much unsupported strength
and adaptability lurking among the
Cubs.
No one would at first venture to
compare any one of the Cub outer
gardeners favorably with either
Speaker or Hooper. who by the way,
are two of the greatest that ever
covered an outer garden, yet, for
the purposes of the series this fall,
the Cub trio, men rated as medic
ere and one as an almost passed vet
eran, figure close up to their rivals.
in spite of Ruth's dangerous driving
power which is largely reduced by
hitting 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, he will bat practically
ali lHc IlIil6 against lWO SOi hiiiS3 lSIb-
handed pitchers, each a pitcher of
the style which troubles him most.
Speaker, of course, hits any kind
of pitching, even the good lefthand-
ers, but some he cannot hit as well
as others. Ruth, on the other hand,
often is completely stopped by cum
ming lefthanded pitching and in spite
of his tremendous driving power at
bat and the extreme shortness of'the
right field at Chicago, he does not
figure as nearly as dangerous against
Tyler and Vaughn as might be sus-
pected. Besides which we cannot fig
ure Ruth in the outfield for the en-
tire series. 1t probably will be the
strategy of Barrow to pitch Ruth
against one or the other and to use
him as an outfielder against right
handed pitching.
Hooper Most Consistent Outfielder
When we started this doping i
certainly expected to find that Hoop
er would shine high in the figures.
Hooper, I know, is one of the great
est and probably the most consistent
outfielders that ever played the
game. His figures, both on seasons
work and on comparative figures in
worlds series, have shown him to be
the best of them all, possibly with
over a period of years, he ranks
alone. Yet the dope on the Cubs and
Red Sox shows him only slightly the
superior of F'lack who, while a
corking young fellow. fast, clever at
bat and almost the equal of Hooper
as a thrower, cannot be classed the
some. This is detracting nothing from
Flack,. but merely giving Hooper
what is coming to him. Yet this year
Hooper shows much lower figures
than he has, ever done in dope on
any worlds series since he has been
playing-not that he has deteriorat-
ed but because he loses on two
counts, first because he is against
pitching which naturally cuts his at
tacking average, and again because
the shortness of the right field in
Chicago detracts from his fielding
ability. The truth is that a short right
field makes one man almost the
equal of another save when it comes
to being familiar with the angles of
the wall so as to Judge the rebound
quickly. and in this respect Flack
will have slight edge on his great
er rival.
Joe Wood Figures High I'm Fielding
1t may be something of a surprise
to note how high Joe Wood figures
in the dope, especially in fielding.
However, it will not surprise those
who seen Woods steady improve
ment in the fielding end of the game.