Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-06

cuSSion among Yankee fans. New
York has always been shy on outfield-
ers That has been one glaring weak
ness of the team for years. Lewis is
certain to be the idol of the left field
fans.
Lewis. as I have said. is sure to be
a prime favorite with New York fans
but there is young man on the New
York roster. who is being overlooked
and who. I believe. will make New
Workers sit up and take notice next
summer. The young man is George
Halas. recently signed by Scout Boil
Connery. Unless ! am mistaken, Con-
merry earned his salary for the season
when he secured the signature OF
Halas to New York contract. ] was
led to believe the Chicago Americans
had a strangle hold on Halas, but
| Connery seems to have gotten the de-
cision
, I am inclined to think that when
! the New York Americans take the
! field for the opening game of the 1918
| season HalaS will be in center field
Only lack of experience will keep him
! from landing job. because he has
| remarkable ability in all depart
ments. In having Duffy Lewis in left
( field. Halas is fortunate. Lewis is as
| fine a fellow as he is a ball player,
| and Halas will receive every atten-
| ton toward developing him into a
| major league player. Lewis knows
American League batters we'll: knows
every angle of the outfielding game.
| and he is of the type who will i'm
part his knowledge TO Halas, and re-
gard it as a pleasure, rather than an
enforced duty.
! Halas is graduate of University
of Illinois. That means Halas has a
| pretty good idea of how base ball
! should be played, because no college
| coach knows more base ball than
| George Huff, or knows better how to
| reach his players. At Illinois he
| played varsity base ball, basket ball
and foot ball. He was a star i'm each:
| For nearly a year he has been at
| Great Lakes naval station. He played
on the Great Lakes base ball team.
| made up almost entirely of big
| leaguers and was a star performer.
| He was a brilliant performer on the
foot ball team that represented the
Great Lakes.
Halas Is big fellow. standing
nearly six feet, and weighing about
! $50 pounds. He is fast and a daring
slider. He hits the dirt much after
the style OIL JACK murray, LOT years
with the New York Giants. He hits
the turf hard and at full speed. and,
| on reaching the bag, is instantly on
/ his feet. He throws Tight-handed.
and has a great arm. 1t Will rival
that of Duffy Lewis. and every one
who has seen Lewis in action knows
he can hurl the pill. He hits from
the left side of the plate, but usually
shifts to the right side against south
paw pitching. and does it without af-
fecting his hitting ability.
Il have talked with a number of the
big leaguers who played with Haias
at the Great Lakes. and they all in
sist he is ready to deliver. They say
he has one kness-over-funning
fly balls. ] hardly call that weak
ness, because il is fault all fast
experience than is usually the portion
of a college or semi-pro. player. Ty
Cobb had such a weakness when he
came to the American League. but he
soon remedied it,. / feel the outtelder
who shows to better advantage than
Halas is certain of regular job.
Temperament of the proper sort
means much to the successful ball
player.
GIVE me the fellow with the av-
erage ability, enough brain to put
that ability to the best possible use,
and an even temperament. always IN
preference to the rattle drained star,
who believes the universe revoives
around his efforts"
That is the answer ! once heard a
major league manager make Wheh
asked for an opinion concerning
temperamental athlete, who had re-
pulling something that detracted from
his work He really made no direct
reply as to his opinion on the player
in question, but much could be in
ferred from his answer.
IT has always been a source of re-
gret to me to see some player, en-
| dowed with much natural ability,
throw most of it away, simply be-
cause he never quite got the right
| point of view. There are score OF
pitchers in the American League who
would be 30 per cent more Vaiua pie
| to their ball club If the Lord had
endowed them with a more congenial
disposition There are perhaps that
many outfieIders who, would show to
better advantage II they were OPP
| timists instead of pessimists. 1t is
game only it has always seemed to
| me that the pitcher was put to the
| acid test more often than any other
! player
Base ball to practically all the men
| in it, is their chief source OF income.
| 1t is to their benefit that they always
! play the best game possible, for
/ financial return in great measure
! is based on the showing made on the
| field No player exer got any par
| ficular Joy out of making an error.
| The player who pulls boot feels
| the mistake keenly. 1t never i'm
| proves his mental condition to be
| ridden because of a misplay. That is
! one reason why most managers sell
| dom comment one way or the other
| on a misplay regarding il as one of
| the things that can come up at any
! time in ball game. A manager,
! however. will take a player to task
for pulling bone
| / can recall about half dozen great
! pitchers who are disliked by their
| team mates. In many cases an exag-
| gerated ego is the base of all the trou-
| BILE. The pitchers ] have in mind re-
I gard all victories as due to their mas
| terly pitching, while in defeat they
| always find an alibi at the expense of
one or more of their team mates /
| recall one game last summer where a
! pitcher was sent in to save game,
with two on bases and no one out.
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