The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-25
NEW YORK'S HIGH MOGULS PREPARE FOR NEXT SEASON
Gotham Bosses Realize the Weaknesses Their 1921
 Teams Had
By GEORGE CHADWICK Special Correspondent of The Age Herald Copyright. 1921. by The geHerald)

Special Correspondent or The Age Herald
 Copyright. 1921, by Tho Axe-Herald)
 New York, December 24.-Behind the big baseball deal put through this week whereby Roger Peckin- paugh, shortstop and captain of the New York American league cham pions, goes to Boston in a trade of players was the fear of the owners that the Yankees were not good enough to repeat, as they stood. The worlds series convinced them that they must at least have one more "a pod pitcher, and since this deal gives them Jones and Bush in addition to Scott, shortstop of class. the com ing campaign should not require Mays and Hoyt to bear the brunt of the pitching burden.
 Just as the Giants took a chance with their outfieId in trading Burns for Groh. that the infield might be strengthened so the Yankees gam bled with the shortstop position in order to bolster up their pitching staff. From a fielding standpoint. the Tanks will be as well off with Scott as they would have been with Peckinpaugh. There are many who think Peckinpaugh was beginning to show signs of. slowing up. It did not seem that he was as fast in the field the past season as he used Q be, and even in d year of free hitting he did not demonstrate that he was more than an ordinary batter. Scott has not missed "a game since 1916. and he makes up in endurance what he may lack in some other respects.
 Jealousy Charged
 While it was not the deciding fac tor in the exchange, the discord be- tween Peckinpaugh and Manager liuggins doubtless had something to do with it. It was an open secret al season that Peckinpaugh was the leader of the anti-Huggins faction on the team. and since the deal has been announced Peck has openly charged Huggins had him traded because he thought he was after Higgins job.
 The Yankees, afraid to stand pat with what they had, played their hand smoothly. They got an in fielder who is about as good as the infilder who goes, but they also se- cured two pitchers, of whom one, at least, should prove to be winner for the team next year.
 Jones started the season in Bos- ton in 1921, as if he were about to be one of the best pitchers in the United States. He did not finish bad ly. by any means, although he was being batted rather freely toward the end on account of the way he was overworked. Bush began the season poorly, but was going better as the summer passed. Both Bush and Jones should come through for the Yankees with winning percentage of 667 and it will take the best that Cleve- land and St. Louis can produce next year to pry the championship away from New York, because good pitch ing is going long way toward the success of any team in 1922. The ex- perience of last season told that.
 Yanks' HurIing Corps
 With Mays and Hoyt travelling fairly well, with Bush and Jones win ming two thirds of their games and with Shawkey and O'Doul thrown In for good measure, the Yankees will keep the other teams guessing all year.
 The Detroits, the Chicagos and the Washington have hopes of gettnig something which will add to their strength. and the Boston management believes it will have a better batting club, in spite of the storm of crit icism raised among Boston fans.
 So far as the National league is concerned, some managers already have conceded the Giants the pennant as the result of the Groh deal. That trade, together with Peckinpaugh- Scott exchange, demonstrated that the managers of the two champion ship teams of the big leagues were none too certain about their clubs as they stood.
 The InficId Proposition
 Why did the Giants need to strengthen their infield? Because Frisch is not a good third basemen and Rawlings is not a top-notch second baseman. That may sound funny to some after their playing last season, but every experienced base ball man realizes that statement is true. Frisch gets almost everything at third, and he is so young and fast that he Is the handiest kind of a player to have at third base, pro vided there is no regular. third base men available. But if there is a third sacker to be had. it would be better to put Frisch back at second. where he is much more at home and where he will be much better player than Rawlings would have been if he had remained for five years or so. That is the theory of the New York club The Giants played to strengthen an infield that needed strength, taking chances on an outfield that is not overstrong, but which seems that it can be patched up better than an in field.
 The Giants of 1921 were not good as the Giants of 1917 and the Giants of 1917 were not as good as the Giants of 1912 Yet the Giants of 1921 won the worlds championship. where two better teams failed simply because of the weakness of their rivals in the box. If Groh fails to come up to ex- pectations, well, keep away from the scene of wrath. Of course, the Giants still have Frisch to play third. and Rawlings second, but 1t would not be the same team.
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