The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-04-02
By HUGH s. FULLERTON.
The First Basemen.
National League.

~ ,hr nrur"s and In one case the return
fran, ,vrr,rn, IF one Of TIA" h"r".'s may
adj .,.nnii.rnt.Iy I" ,lrvrihut's aIr"iAth.
40 far 80 evenly balanced Atr"htili l"
! this Important department G""N III"
American, iraEun hnn all tho bate OF
/ tho oruu,ntnl ia" forI"nnl las. rI'h
,ll, ih.. beet nrnI h"n"r""'' IT ih"'" all
! II, .hnrr niIir,urh have. l'..o" '''r"I"iI
| r.l T., ,lu.I,.I - ,.,uni'i. r"l'l" nI"'!"' 81
points r,..m hia vnI"" l."'"na" = TAI"
! I,nuIlr during Ihr lnGi winter. "nl TIA"
! rrnl,,lIo .Ii.,I "f III" "i"nrling IL" la
r crInIu To- p,t rpu"'inllr hn f''r"iEn
nul,ts I!o-i.l"r TINT. hnv" boo" deduct
jng ni"n,lliy FROM Ihne"'r vWu' mn
tesIu player Tor ""v"rnl y"nrn. u" !"
| 20 now nnl certain /" r,'a%"GH l'Gn '',"'d
nnI fire. every yrar aH II" nE"". VA ~"
other hanl. have not deducted my
points from hia standing In that regard
this yrnr. for tho rrnH"n hat tln"n,
whenever Ia. changes t"ain". i'n"w% III"
speed for tn" time being Mt least. and
this renewal of activity md ms r'i ~
10 New York ought to add enough ~ hla
ambition to offset tho ravaEcs ri wear
and tear.
Tn" other National league first hnSn-
! mon have not the class of the American
! l"aru"rs. TIL" figures Indicate that thy
are almost rs strong IN their own
lTaru" ~ tn" American lcncu"rS are III
| theirs. but you must remember thii
| thcs" ''Iop"" figures are not Compnrl-
, aoua of mrn or OF leagues. They repro.
| sent the position values OF players with
! their own teams. !or instance. surpo"n
| tn" figures showed that Speaker ranks
higher than Cobb 1t would not mean
| that the figure" Indicated th:tt Speaker
| I,,.tt l,.,n
! that Speaker. with the Cleveland team.
| f. more v:Iuahl.. thun Cobb IL with de-
| trviI. ror IN" aimpl" reason that Cobb
must bat In twenty Enm~a against
| tlrvrlanh'a strong pitching stan. whlS
! SPEAKER will H"t twenty rrnckg nj lE--
, tr"il'a much weaker pitchers l do not
| know that II" Ni:ur"H show this. hut u"
! il To- illuatr rate Tia" point. W" must AR
urr the Individual ability Of players
| this way The strength OF any player Is
| In inverse ratio To tn" strength OF the
| t"am against which h" plays.
Remember that In considering tn"
i! dope and also the fnct that tho dope
valu" Of n player may depend not upon
himself. but upon the men on the team
with him. His position on the batting
rrd-r may change his value and. moro
than that. his team mates mny help or
! hurt him. For instance. right handed
batter with the Boston Rcd Sox figures
higher on that team than he would on
almost any other. because OF tho fact
that opposing teams, will use LETT hand
ed pitchers to stop Ruth. Hooper and
others and thus help the right handed
battrrs. as they did Shean and White
! man In tho worlds series.
Burns OF the Athletics shows the
greatest Increase this year Of any OF
III" first basnmen. His hitting last sea-
son was great and timely. It will not
do, Of course, to give him full credit for
his batting. for the reasnn that 'hs
pitching was weaker last year than X
has been In many seasons. He is not
liable to hit as hard again this season,
but there is no contradIcting the fact
that he was greatly improved batter
last year. and a study Of his hitting
against good pitchers shows tina; he
was slanmtng the good pitchers harder
than he ever has done during his major
, league career.
with the probable Improvement OF
| his team end cf It's chances to win. he
can be figured upon helpful hitter
/ again.
Cleveland probably ~,h open tho sea
son Ta,hor ncartly hadIcapped at FIRST
| base Tho Cleveland figures would IN
! considerably higher than they show IN
tho table ut tho hcad ~ tho column were
; L a certainty when iinrria Will return
| 20 the club and what condition ho VIII
! be- In. II Is believed certain that ho will
get back from Franco IN ttn1n 10 DO with
| tho club Mt tho start or IN" senno'i. a-I
! thnre Is a chance also that Louis Giustn
! will rrIo!n carly IN III" srnHnn. titu"to
| Was gnssod bu, not srroUsiy.
| johnson VIII play III" hnS anil on" or
! Tho o,hnr Of the Anldl"rM rrtCr: 10 No
work. Harris hnE Developed rapidly. rnd
(, "a a problem 70 whether h!>' nrrNy
) experience set him back any. 'rh~ trnfn