The sun., 1919-06-22
PECKINPAUGH KING
2f OF SHORTSTOPS
Rogers Great Batting Leaves
Him without Rival In
Major Leagues.
ALWAYS GRAND FIELDER
Yankee Captain Has Uncanny
Ability to Glue On to Bad
Bounding Balls.
ALWAYS GRAND FIELDER
~ sHORTsToP.

~ sHoRTsToP.
.swhat n shame he can't hit" TT
ne only could bust the ball he would
be the greatest shortstop In the game.
That Is what they used to say OF
Roger Peclxinpaugh. captain and star
shortstop Of the Yankees
Now that Peckinpaush IL srnacking
the ball at $50 gait no one can
take his honors from him. He IL base
balls greatest shortstop. and II he keeps
hitting at his present pace he will have
no rivals.
At fielding Peclinpaugh never had
superior among the great shortstops now
playing this position in the major
leagues Bush. Maranville, Chapman,
Scott. Fletcher, Hoilocher and Hornsoy
have played grand ball in recent years,
yet none OF these stars can go into
deep short for hard hit balls and get
them over to first as frequently as does
PecGinpaugh.
~ When Buck Weaver. now cavorting
around third base for the white Sox.
was playing short he could 60 into deep
short for some Of those left neld hits.
= but Buck never was as steady as Peck
He was too prone to follow up 4 grand
! stop with a peg high over the first base
4 mans head.
A Wonderful Arm.
Peckinpaugh combines one of the most
remarkable pair of fielding hands In
baseball, with an arm that would make
many vaudeville strong men green with
envy. Many men marvel at Peckin-
paugh when they see MIN stripped for
the first time. He has q right arm
that is an arm! 1t may not be symmet-
rical for the size of the man. but 1t
contains few pounds of muscle.
1t Is this arm which makes Peck such
q great thrower and also enables him
to hit O ball SO far. Even while Roger
was a pygmy batter he always could
be depended upon to chase the out
1ielders back to the fences for his long
fiies.
o Peck has the fielding hands" requi-
site for n star big league infielder. But
more than that, he has an uncanny abil-
fly to get bad bounding balls. Few
shortstops possess this intuition in the
same degree with Peckinpaugh. Many
good shortstops are gone once a ball
comes on a bad hop. but with Peckin-
paugh 1t Is an INSTINCT that his hands
Invariably are set for the ball no matter
what kind of a bound 1t takes.
rs- Several years ago, coming north with
the Braves the Yankees played on a
wretched diamond In Dixie, and Peckin-
paugh had a busy day at short Most
everything came down to him and in all
sorts OF ways some would bound high,
80 A~A Ia. H. Lii
on diagonally. But Rogers hands would
sstay" with the ball, whether he had to
go over his head for 1t or far to the side.
Even the players on both clubs said Il
was one Of the greatest fielding exhibit
tons they ever had seen. When you get
ballplayers going into raptures about
rival players fielding 1t Is out of the
ordinary.
A ballpiayer will talk more about
one home run hit than he will about
dozen fancy stops.
Finds Batting Eye.
Everybody knows that Peck Is and
always was a fielding marvel. 1t is his
recent hitting ability that has brought
him go strongly to the front and has
started people talking about him more
than at any time in his career
Peckinpaugh has been fair hitter
before this season. but he never has been
a great hitter. During the best part Of
his career he has been a mediocre batter.
HIS highest average was 1858. made in
1918. the first year he came to the
Yankees. while he has Ave American
League averages below asa Against
the obscure pitching that prevailed in the
American League during the war last
year he hit only .231.
Up to this season Peck did his great
- IL NJ hat 10 h. h.
fanks were headed for a pennant, when
an unprecedented bunch OF injuries
knocked them out OF the lead and later
out of the race in the latter part OF the
season. While the Yankees were going
strong that year. a favorite song on the
Polo Grounds was, And then Peckin-
paugh doubled to left" Those hetty
doubles down the left field line came in
The pinches, too. and won game after
game.
Whether Peckinpaugh can keep at his
present high gait remains to be seen.
He certainly has his eye on the ball and
In slamming all kinds OF pitching. Peck
had a 800 squirt once before. It was
in 1918, shortly after Chance got him
from Cleveland in trade for Lellvelt
ard Stumpf He was booming along
well over 900 when Chance stuck him in
his cleanup position. The change didn't
work well. Peck failed to get a hit In
an entire series. so Husk put him back
TO sixth place again.
Left Field Hitter.
Like Sturry McInnls of the Red Sox
Peck hits invariably to left field Bat
ters have played for years for McInnis,
but Stuffy usually Is above the 800 mark
when 1t is over. Peck is following the
same system 1t is natural for him to
hat to left field and he hits that way.
II is true of Peck, however, that many
or his hard drives to left and left centre
are caught by smart f1elders who know
just where to play for him.
Though Peck had his first tryout with
the Cleveland team In 1909, he is only
twenty-eight years old, and should still
have the best part OF his career In
front OF him. In 1910 he got into fifteen
games with Cleveland and hit .1s9. The
same year he was farmed to New Haven.
II 1911 he was farmed to Portland in
the Pacific Coast League In 1918
Cleveland again tried to send Roger to
Portland, but the Yankees repeatedly
refused to waive on the player.
trade then was framed by which
New York got Peck for Lelivelt, a hard
hitter but poor fielding outhelder and
6tumpf. an innelder. who could throw
them as wild as any one. 1t was the
best deal the Yankees ever made
II 10 interesting to look over Pecl,.s
American League record Heretofore he
has broken no batting figures.