New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
Pittsburgh Hockey Player
Facing Stronger Opponents
Than Princeton Star Did
By Fred Hawthorne

Well, the hockey team of the Pitts
burgh Athletic Association has come
and gone, and lot of doubling Toms
have been convinced, much against
their will, that the Wanderers are only
runrers-up when it comes to chasing
But if the question of the superiority
of the Pittsburgh seven has been def
nitely answered by the two stirring
games at the St. Nicholas Rink last
week, far greater storm of dissension
has been aroused by the controversy
over who is the better hockey player,
Hobey Baker or Herbert Drury, the
Pirate rover. Drury happened to be
Baker because ne plays the same posi-
ton that the brilliant Hobey used to
in the days when he was the sensation
Of the local rink.
Such comparisons in cases where one
man has quit certain form of ath-
letics. to be followed the next year by
another who ranks in the same class
with his predecessor, are always bound
to be unsatisfactory, as in this case.
The only true test would be to place
Baker and Drury in the same position,
rover, both on the Pittsburgh team and
playing against it, allowing them to
alternate in different periods.
One Essential Test
This would put each of the players in
question up against the same kind of
opposition, and also give them the same
kind Of team assistance, and only upon
such test could they stand or fall.
The chances arc a thousand to one
against against any such thing coming
to pass, for Baker is flying over the
battlctields of Europe and Drury is
here in the United States. But they
can't hang.a man for thinking, and this
is the way We feel about the matter.
There is no one who will dispute
Bakers remarkable speed on the steel
blades. His dashes down the ice at
the st. Nicholas Rink are still too
fresh in our memory to need much re-
calling. Probably there has never been
faster man playing hockey, under
certain conditions, than the great
Hobey.
But we all remember this about
Baker, that he always had to start his
mad dashes after a wide swing back
of his goal, to get up speed, and he was
not player VINO had such command
OF his stick that he could shoot for
the goal from any position. More than
this, when Baker was playing the game
there were no teams in the Amateur
Hockey League to compare with the
four aggregations that are playing to-
day in the national inter-city series.
1t is extremely doubtful it seems to
us, whether Hobey would ever have
been able to get away for his spectac
ular dashes down the ice when playinp
against the Pittsburgh seven, the
Wanderers, the Boston Navy Yard, or
the Arena teams. Nor was Baker wise
to the finer points of hockey lore. All
tn possibilities we're there in the man.
but Hobey never had the opportunity
to develop and round out his game.
1t has often been said Of Hobey. that
had he been able to play with one Of
the great Canadian professional teams
for year or two he would probably
have developed into the rrentest
PLAYER Of all time, and we believe there
is sound reason back Of that state
mcnt. But, as it was, Baker was lack
ing IN many of the finer points of the
game, morc's the pity.
Not Quite So Speedy
Drury, on the contrary, even if he
is not quite the equal Of Baker in
StrAlghtawsy speed, is q far more an