New-York tribune., 1918-01-29
OMara Enhsts in Manu.;
Big Loss to the Dodgers
Squire Ebbets Must P,t
Seventh Star in His u. S
Service Flag
By Louis Lee Arms

o"Fer T.. o'Mara, 'Hho until reccntjv
mas received his mail at Kerry Pa.c,
st. Louis, No, stepped over n 49,
Brooklyn Navy Yard yesterday and =.
Iisted. He makes the seventh of Sor;~.
HDoets's we'll known Dodgers to be- Or
cepted for national service snd -,
monarch Of Flatbush is beaming with
pride. He also IS having another 90,
wee star embroidered for the fac tbo.
now hangs in the BROOKLYN baseh.,,
Office.
The other Dodgers who have alread,
joined the army or navy arc rog
Pfeffer, Leon Cadorc, Sherrod Smith
John Fltzsimmons, John Kelleher and
Lou Malone. Each one of these mon
was potentially valuable to tn. ,o,s
Dodgers, the three first named he;na
pitchers of whom it was reasonable -
expect much.
Now that O'Mara is gone. it shoots
another hole into the tentative infieId
that the sharps had rigged up for tha
Squire OF Flatbush. 1t was eynectad
after the great season OMara had ~
Atlanta, where he was instrumental in
bringing the pennant to the Coco-Co1a
City, he would fit in the hole torn in
the Brooklyn infeld by the exchange
that took George Cutshaw to Pitts.
burgh. Cutshaw has long presided over
the keystone sack for Squire Ehbets.
and O'Mara was expected to take I'D
the knitting where he left off.
One of the Gamest
The prospects wero that O'Mara
would come through this season. We
know Of no gamer young fellow in
baseball than the blond intielder from
st. Louis. He failed in Brooklyn in
1916 because he got an absurd notion
into his head that he couldn't play
ball in the Flatbush yard. 1t per-
sisted IN staying there, and after being
victlmlzed by untoward chance on sew
eral occasions, the young shortston
lost the pep" and dash that constitute
the difference between a confident bali
player and an uncertain one.
On the road in 1916 O'Mara plaved
ball that would have held him his iob
on any team. But he couldn't do it in
Brooklyn. Olson came through uney.
pected!y we'll, helped win a league
championship, in fact, and O'Mara Vas
snlpped to the sanatorium for ball
players suffering with his affiiction-or
the minors.
He proved quickly enough in tho
Southern League that he is a ball play.
er on the way up. rather than down. He
mt better than 800 and was a fielding
nash around his favorite position. Some
Atlanta writer n;med O'Mara as the
most important cog in the Southern,
championship team.
For that reason there is no doubt
that O'Mara would have come into his
own as a staid and settled major
league this season. There arc few that
handle baseball with more grace
and skill than Oliver t., and he is a
boy of excellent habits.
FITTING IN at second base would be
precisely the medicine necessary to re-
establish the young St. Louisan. 1t
would give him more time to make
ms plays; the throws would be short
ened and the feel" in a new field
would be an aid to his regeneration
rather than handicap.
One OF Year at Bat
O'Mara meets a ball prettily and is
fast in spite of the fac. that he has
broken an ankle. His first year with
Brooklyn he slammed the ball for an
average of .263 in 67 games, which is
considerable batting average for
shortstop. In 1915, or his second year.
he came back with .244 average on
season of 149 games, and that also is
stylish hitting as infielder hitters are
rated these days. In 1916 he dropped
to POP, and it is our humble opinion
that in so doing he was hitting a full
fifty points under his normal batting
stride
O'Mara is unmarried and is twenty
five years old. He enlisted quietly, and
while the Brooklyn club has lost the
makings of star second baseman dur
ing his absence its loss is Uncle Sans
gain. Ollie will never pull away from
the plate IN any game.
The chances now are that the recon
structed Brooklyn inteld will find Hi
Myers on second base and Chuck Ward
at shortstop. Myers is by choice and
instinct an outfelder, but he has done
some closeup work for the Squire
that has been acceptable. Ward is
Young and active and will fit in at
shortstop If he gets started. Olson,
who IS slowing down, probably will be
moved into the bailiwick of the
esteemed Harry Michael Mowrey. who
las gone West" as a major Lacquer.
In the outtield the Squire will have
heat, Jimmy Johnston and James
hickman. the demon kid who specializes
n triples and home runs.
For the present the Brooklyn club
VII add another star to its service
lag.