The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-09-17

They say figures don't lie. If this is
true and one can get reasonable basis
of judging the merits and dement's of
the two teams, man for man, it is posi-
Bile to arrive at a fair estimate of the
opposing ball clubs.
With this in mind I have sought to es-
tablish system whereby the individ.
uals of the Chicago White Sox and Gin.
cinnati Reds, contenders for the world's
championship this fall, may be conr
pared. First L will discuss the outfeld-
ers, taking for this article COMPARE
son of Jackson, left fielder of the White
Sox, and Roush, center fielder of the
Reds, and of John Collins and Gressler
and Magee.
The value of the outfelder, especially
in a worlds series, lies in his ability
to hit. His fielding can be taken for
granted. An outfielder in this day and
age, in the major leagues, can be &C
cepted being as nearly mechanically
perfect a human machine can be. 1t
is his business to make hard ones look
easy.
Though at least three instances come
to mind where a fielding slip decided a
championship it is still true that it is
much more likely that a worlds series
game will be won by somebody's hit
than that it will be lost by somebody 3
mechanical error.
Granting all this, the thing do is to
find some way of comparing the often
sive strength of jackson and Roush
and the others under conditions as near
ly alike as possible What is Jackson
likely to do when he faces Reuther, Ell
Ter, Fisher and the rest? Will Cicotte
and Williams be able to BATTLE Roush?
These questions must be answered.
BATTERS VS.. PITCHERS
These rival batters and pitchers have
not faced each other when in condition,
so no direct comparison is possible. Why
not, then, select a group of American
league pitchers who correspond most
closely in style, delivery and ability to
the pitchers Cincinnati will use in the
coming series and find out what Jack
son and the others have done against
these pitchers? And, in turn, take a
group of National league pitchers most
like Cicotte, Williams and the others
and find out what Roush and his COM
rades have succeeded in accomplishing
against them. I have used this system
for seven years with considerable sue.
cess. These operations will give us a
reasonably firm basis for comparing the
men. Now for the selection of the
pitchers:
The National league pitchers I have
chosen to represent the White Sox hurl-
ers are Adams and Cooper of Pittsburg
Vaughn of Chicago, Galore of Brooklyn
and Barnes of New York
Cicotte is so versatile a pitcher using
so many styles of delivery, that he re.
quires three pitchers to represent the
wide range of his ability-his speed, hi.
change of pace, his battling knuckle
all
together fail to represent Cicotte ade.
auately. adams comes cloest to repre-
senting him, although he does not have
the knuckle or shine ball. He has tn,
speed and the change of pace.
Vaughn, in style and speed, represent!
Kerr. Cooper is an acceptable repre-
sentative of Williams
Roush has been at bat in four game
this season against Adams-or Is times
to be exacr, and has made four hits,
single in each game. He has been a
bat Is times against Galore and ha
made one run and one single. Agains
Barnes he has been at bat IS times. ha
made two runs and four hits Two o
these hits were three-baggers.
Adding up his record we find he ha
made nine hits in 40 times at bat agains
these three pitchers, a batting avera g
of 209. If he runs true to the form thu
disclosed by the figures, his hittin
against Cicotte is not likely to be sensa
tional.
Roush has been at bat eight times thi
season against Vaughn. He has mad
one run and one hit. He has face
Cooper 10 times, scoring one run and get
ting four hits. Three of these hits wer
two baggers. Therefore his batting av
era..~ - inst Vaughn is .125 and agains
Cooper .307
ROUSH'S AVERAGE PIT
Roush's batting average this seaso
against the five pitchers chosen to repre-
sent the White Sox hurlers is PIT, h
having made IA hits in 81 times at ba
aaginst them.
The American league pitchers chose
as representatives of the Cincinnati slab
men are Shawkey and Thormahlen G
New York, Leonard and Bagby of Cleve
Player G. ABB r.
jackson ............. 1913 459 IS