Evening star., 1918-04-14
HOW TEAMS SIZE UP FOR
PENNANT RACES WHICH
WILL OPEN THIS WEEK
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page)
as Bert Ellison. former Tiger. is back
in the fold after serving season at
St. paul. The outfield again will be COM
posed Of Veach, Cobb and Heilmann
Boston.
The enlistment of players and the
| trades made during the past winter
leave the Boston ton .ertan american onsatity mensty
| at the beginning of the 1913 pennant
season. Much depends upon the aoiity
| of Manager Ed Barrow. the new nelo
| general, to build up a smootn Work1ms 1he
machine. particularly in the infield: the l
| Red Sox have two in,feld stars, S.uIy
| McInnis and Johnny Evers, but Mcin-
! mis- Is being tried out at third nase IN
place of his regular position a. Ine I'M
Evers ability to regain the form Which
| made him the best known Of all sec
| ond basemen few years ago Dave
shean. formerly of the Cincinnati team.
will be available, however, as result
| of the trade which sent George roster
| to Cincinnati.
The club officials apparently are not
| sure of the outcome OF these expert
ments and are both loath to make any
ante-season predictions regarding the
| play of the team during the six months
chase of the pennant. The problems
| r.,
entirely, for George Whiteman and Paul
Smith outfielders from the Information
al League. new members of the Red Sox
squad, are being tried out in Lewis
| Pennock Gainor. Shore. Barry. McNally
Janvrin. Bader and Jones, has entered
war service.
New York.
| The prospects of successful year for
York AmerfcanS from the
| standpoint of a pennant factor hinges
apparently upon the ability OF the
| pitching staff. In every other depart
ment the Yankees appear far stronger
| than was the case one year ago. Both
| the infield and outfield should be more
| effective in fielding and batting than
last season and the catching end of the
batteries is fully UP to the standard Of
the past.
The determination of Bob Shawkey
to enlist proved severe setback to
the pitching prospects, as the former
Athletic player was one of the most re-
liable of the New York teams pitchers.
Caldwell, when he is right. is the best
twirling prospect at the present time.
| with Love. Mogridge and Russell next
| in line. Monroe. McGraw and Thor
mahlen have shown we'll in spring prac-
tice and may win place for them
selves among the regulars. At the
receiving end the team has three
catchers of promise in Walters. Ruel
ana Hannan. Inc Trio are coHpara-
lively young, but their work in both
| the major and minor legaues stamps
the backstops as catchers of real
caliber.
| With the infield composed of Pipp,
Pratt, Peckinpaugh and Baker, the
extremely hard hitters and excellent
| felders which should show to advan-
tage under all conditions. The outffeld
will prove stronger than twelve months
3At~ L. -.<~It
Bodie ranging in the outer garden with
Marsans and Gilhooley. and there are
plenty of substitute and utility men
for all these positions.
st. Louis.
A rejuvenated club will be ST. Louis
in the American League baseball race
this season. Among the several con-
| tributing causes to this condition are
the lack of harmony among the players
| last season which made imperative
rearrangement of personnel, demands
upon the players for Army service and
a disposition by the management to
see what new timber 1t might find
through the medium of trades.
| Manager Fielder Jones sent out opti-
mistic reports after the spring prac-
| tice at Shreveport, La. He declares
absolute harmony exists on the team,
that the new acquisitions are proving
of great value and that he Is perplexed
| to decide who shall be named the team 5
regulars.
Positions on the infield with the ex-
ception of first base, which is conceded
to Sisler will not be given to any one
man until the season is we'll under
way, he says.
The war was not the disturbing ele-
ment with the Browns that 1T was with
| the other major league club in st.
| Louis. Aside from Koeb, Jacobson and
Sloan were the only ones to leave for
+, military reasons. SEVERED has been
classified as Ia in the Army draft,
| but does not expect a call until the
season is over.
| Philadelphia.
! Despite the fact that the past winter
saw the last of the regulars disappear
from the club. much is expected by tie
Philadelphia fans of Connie Macl's
Athletics this season. Nothing but op-
timism pervades the team. and, while
! no pennant aspiration is clAi5s'ed The
followers of the club expect to see
greatly improved club, one that will
make far better record than those of
the preceding three years, when the
Athletics finished at the tail end Of the
| procession.
| With the exception of Rube Oldring,
who has returned to base ball after
spending two years in farming, and
several veterans received in trades for
his remaining regulars, Mack has vir-
itually new team of youngsters.
| The catchers include Forrest Cady. re-
| cefved from the Red Sox in trade;
,McAvoy. once with the Athletics and a
Baltimore player last year. and Per-
lkins formerly with Atlanta.
| George Burns, with Detroit last year,
will play first base. Joe Dugan, Mack
ipupil in 1917. has been holding down
the middle bag in the spring training
period; Morris Shannon, Baltimore
Iplayer. has been at short, and Larry
iGardner. the veteran from the Boston
Americans. is probably a fixture at
THIRD.
In the outfield Oldring will be found
lin his old place in left field; Clarence
Il Walker, another former Red Sox. will
tbe in center field, while Mack has also
lJamieson of last years team and Mar
lin Kopp. . member Of the 1917 Buffalo
club, for right field S