The Washington times., 1921-01-22

tr" fans will demand the surprise
Right now the White Sox don't iool,
like much. Their outheld has been
smashed, the infield cut in half and
their pitching stan handled roughly,
First division ranking should suit
Chicago fans.
From another reason the Boston
Red Sox have been fearfully man
handled. Harry Frazee has rid him
self OF about all the good players he
had on his club, though the wonder
fui Harry Hooper will be with the
Boston entry next summer. The Red
SoN seem weaker than ever at this
writing. No wonder Boston fans are
sore on the world and hoping that
Frazee falls into well or something
so that new owners may start build
ing up the club again.
COBB MUST EXPERIMENT..
Ty Cobb must do a lot of expert
menting In Detroit. In the first
place, Ty may make some mistakes
through sheer inexperience. In the
second. the Tigers. as they took the
field last year, are an aging gang.
Now blood is vitality necessary to the
upbuilding Of the Tigers and new
blood calls for experimenting all the
time.
The less said about the Mackmen
the better. They might as well be
In some other league as for all their
chances OF finishing in the first di-
vision next fall.
Therefore, the Indians must get
most OF their troubles from the
Yankees, the Browns and the Grifrs.
That's the way 1t dopes out now, any
way.
hA
ened since last season. Bobby Roth
has added some needed speed. Wally
Schang will help out behind the bat
and with the stick. But the best i'm.
provement should be seen In the
box. Waite Hoyt and Harry Harper
should deliver the goods in New
York. From where we sit. the
Yankees look like the club to give
the Indians. their hardest tight for
top honors.
THEY NEED TWIRLERs.
The principal need of the st. Louis
Browns is pitching steadiness. Jimmy
Burke got about as much out of his
hurlers last year as they had In them,
which wasn't enough. The Browns
hit the ball on the nose all the time.
They had five regulars in the 800
class, including George Sisler, with a
mark Of .f07. yet they failed lament
ably in the hunt for the flag. 1t was
largely due to box weakness.
Lee Fohl liz the Browns new man.
ager. He will have to find a sue
cessor to Joe Gedeon at second base
and scme pitchers able to go nine
innings. If he is successful, the
Browns may be hard customers They
can hit. They can run bases well
enough hou hnl =.
other fellow down, they can never get
anywhere, not with a thousand Fohls
in charge.
And SO we come to the Griffmen.
Like the Browns the Washington
clubs 1921 chances hinge largely on
what the pitchers do. There is plenty
of speed in the team. Rice, Judge
and Stanley Harris are all fast men
on the bases and in the field, but they
can't win by themselves. Manager
Mcbride Will get support from his
players and the fans, that's certain.
but the fans can't cheer madly when
the best the players have is shy OF
the real thing.
JOHNSON AND JIM SHAW.
Johnson and Shaw were disappoint-
ments last year. Johnson hurt his
arm in that chilly training trip end
ing In Cincinnati. when he had
finished his no-hit no-run game in
Boston, the Kansan was through. The
morale of the whole team was az
fected with Barney out OF the game.
Jim Shaw took his time about re-
porting, having some strange ideas
as to his value to the club. Then,
with his shine ball hors de combat.
the Pittsburgher had to develop his
old curve ball all over again. BY the
time he found II, the campaign was
approaching it's end.
Injuries hurt the Grlffmen last
year even more than the failure of
johnson and Shaw to come through.
A more brittle gang of players was
never found on one club at ono
time. IL Shannon or O'Neill wasn't
on the bench. II was Harris or Judge
or, Ellerbe. Sometimes two or three
would be out at the same moment.
George Mcbride was compelled to
play shortstop for q spell. O'Neill.
shannon and Ellerbe being on the
injury list
Opening tho season, the Griffmen
should look fully as good as the st.
Louis Browns, but not as good as
either the Yankees or the Indians
OF course. this does not mean that
the pennant 10 certain to fly in
Cleveland or New York. but Il does
mean that both the Indians and the
Yanks have something on the other
clubs in this coming pennant race.