The Washington herald., 1920-07-24

weakness in the outfeld Speed.
grace, balance, sureness, judgment.
skill-all qualities were considered
| in detail.
I Naming Number Two took no
great amount of time. The main
vote went to Bill Lange. the great
Chicago star. who is now, rounding
! out his career in the insurance field
| of San Francisco.
Lange at SO looks to be a husky
citizen of "a. He was close to
| Speakers standard in every way;
a brainy, skillful star, who had
| about everything that a great out
! fielder could use in the practice OF
his chosen profession.
Lange could go get 'em-in or
back, right or left. low or high.
| Speaker-and Lange-and then
Naming Number Three!
Naming Number Three was not
nearly so serene a process. Jimmy
McAleer's name was brought up
! quickly.
His supporters were considera-
bly, wrought up over the idea OF
naming any one elst.
/ But those supporting Fielder
Jones were equally insistent. At
which point a delegate in the Fan
convention rose to put in nomina-
tion another name that started in
slant cheering. This name was Jas.
| Tilden Sheckard. of Brooklyn and
| Chicago, a wonderful power upon
defense for over a decade.
Crowding Sheckard out of third
place proved to be a difficult under
! taking. Fast and brilliant. sure
and steady, wonderful Judge of
the fly ball. a star on ground balls,
a man with a fine arm and a keen
eye, Sheckard undoubtedly ranks
with the mighty.
He probably has a slight edge
over McAleer and Jones.
And Others.
Cobb's only passably fair arm cut
in upon his chances. His fielding
also was badly OvershadOwed by his
far greater offensive play
| Clyde Milan and Dode Paskert
were another pair named for dis
cussion. George Burns received eA-
tremely favorable mention. and the
same applies to Harry Hooper. of
the Red Sox. Hooper ranks among
the best The combination of Speah-
er. Hooper and Lewis in the old Red
Sox days was the strongest defen-
sive combination ever out upon a
ball field. 1t has never been equaled,
much less surpassed.
The Clan of Today.
The list of great fielding outneld-
ers today is none too long. Speaker.
; of course, heads the procession with
few laps to spare.
Harry Hooper, of the Red Sox.
and George Burns, of the Giants,
are closely punched, with Milan still
star.
Rousch. of the Reds. and FeIscu,
of the White SoN. are types in
clined to be brilliant but erratIc
The exhibition which Felsch gave
in the last world series will lower
his average a good many notches.
1t was very bad. Rousch in that
series had brilliant plays. followed
by few far from brilliant.
. 1t has fallen to the lot of Harry
Hooper to make the greatest play
that ever saved a big series. This
was in the final world series game
of 1912. Mathewson had the Red
SoX stopped when around the fifth
inning Doyle came up with a rum
OIl uTSl- Tdpptu
sounding blow into deep right field
for what looked to be a 200 per
cent home run. The ball was just
in the act of dropping over the
eight-foot wire fence when Hooper.
rushing back, jumped high enough
to reach one backward flung hand
for the ball, after it had actually
crossed the fence. This miracle
catch saved the series, for IL shut
| off two runs and gave Boston
chance to win in the tenth.
| When II comes TO the outhelder
of greatest all-around value to-day
ii is a nip and tuck affair between
: Speaker and Ruth. Speaker is the
better outfielder. although Ruth is
very good, but the Babes" mighty
blows and his run-making qualities
, not counting in his drawing quail
/. tiles at the gate-lift him to for
!, midable heights. He will score
more runs himself and drive in
more runs than Speaker Will in
, the course of the year-a feature
not to be overlooked in the hnal
summing up.