El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-04-12
NATIONAL LEAGUE
By Tad

. that he did the same thing that a
I score Of other ball players did. but
/ he was the most advertised and the
| dislike OF all the Paint and Putty
| patriots IS liable TO be vented upon
[ him Ny opinion is that II he is brave
enough TO stand the gaff he viii prove
that he did not dodge army service
through c0Wardice.
Crowd on job.
however, It Is certain that the con-
slant abuse OF the crowd will affect
his work TO some degree How much
is the big problem OF the White Sox-
/ have taken 6 per cent off his figure
values as an estimate Of how much,
but the chances are 1t viii be greater.
In fact, the crowd either viii forget
the incident entirely or drive him
out OF baseball
The other feature IS the low rating
OF the New York Yankees Higgins
has two outfielders neither OF whom
can play as well in any other field.
He has Ping Bodie, who Is a fair sort
OF plugging, hard working and &C.
caslonally hard hitting man, but Ping
never could play as well in any other
field as he has done in left
Dug Lewis f. n really great bah
player, but he has spent most Of
his life in left field and r. not a.
good anywhere else
have figured Bodie to play the
field, and viii figure Lewis else
where, reserving the right 70 change
IN the final figures II HuEgins
switches the two. I have been forced
TO do the same thing with the St
Louis Browns and with the Athletics
until the managers finally assign
their outfielders 10 regular positions,
but in both cases have figured the
culating that each viii play.
Mood gu1nnv TrTeIder
Some may argue that Cleveland's
leadership in the left field division
is undeserTed, but It IS not Figure II
yourself, as I did, that Joe Wood viii
play two-thirds OF the games in LETT
and Jack Graney the others. and the
result is inevitable. Wood has de-
veloped into a remarkable outfielder,
and is improving all the time Coached
by Speaker he has grown out OF the
filler in stage and become almost as
great as an outfielder as he was as
a pitcher
The idea that he Is IN only to hit
/ Is q mistake. He can field and throw
far above the average OF outfielders
and he plays batters with the lnowl-
edge gained by long experience as
Another freak ofthe dope Is to find
the left fielder OF a championship
team ranking next to last in his cir
cult Yet, after examining all the
statistical evidence, that is where Les
Mann belongs In fact, Barber
figures are only a few points lower.
could not give Mann credit
for all he did last season. and
after examining the hitting rec
Ords. found that his additional
average was largely due to
punching vyalIops off weak pitch
ing and in lOpsided games.
whether Barber can hit up close
to Outfield requirements f.
problem
He never has had a trial over
long extended period and he has been
hitting this spring harder than al
most any one on the squad, accord
ing to coast reports, which, however,
must be shaded somewhat because
they may have been colored TO scare
Mann Into signing a contract Mann's
actions this spring in holding out
and stirring up disseusion among
others have not added any TO his
whftted is Back.
The return Of George Whitted viii
give the Pills a much steadier out
field than they showed last tall-
Whitted Is rather an moderated bail
player. He is smart capable leader
and a valuable man beyond his indi-
vidual performances, helping others
and getting into the team work. The
veteran Jack Wheat still remains high
in the lists because he can nit he
showed more life last season after he
finally Joined his team than he
usually does and hustled more.
Stallings has a terrible problem IN
the outfield- AS usual when any one
tries TO dope a Stallings outfield he
IS comuSlled TO figure a composite Of
at least three men. In this case ]
have figured Wickland, Powell and
Kelly, and neither as individuals or
as a composite do they rank up well.
Powell and Kelly had bad years last
year and slumped wretchedly in their
work.
The center fielders bring out more
stars, and their figures will be con-
sfdered in the next artlcle--(Copy-
right, 1913, by The Bell Syndicate, /
Inc)
MITCHELL IS VICTOR