The New York herald., 1922-01-15
|INFIELD OF GIANTS
HAS GREAT POWER
Kelly, Frisch, Bancroft and
Groh Compose a Stellar
Quartet.
BY WILLIAM n. HANNA.

mats q rare 1nheld John McGraw
will have for the Giants next season
the tall Kelly OF the high powered bat
and wonderful arm; the three little
men, well matched in size-Bancroft.
Frisch. Groh, swift OF foot, expert
throwers, covering ground until there's
little uncovered, spectacular. and two
of them, F'r!sch and Groh, the most
acrobatic infielders in the game.
All that won't win a pennant with
out good pitching: but it will be the
dickens Of job for opponents to sift
batted ball through that infield, and
every man of it can attack with 300
striking power and it's a rapid galaxy
Of base runners.
A picturesque infield, the most so that
has been assembled since Chance, Evers,
Tinker and Ste!nfeldt roamed the inner
plot in unison and played ball as effec-
tive as 1t was picturesque. 1t is an in
color An infield inspiring one to WIN
ter rhapsodies. one, indeed, of sterling
practical worth; but winter visions
sometimes fade before summers search
Ing sun, and there may turn up in 1922
infelds with less glitter but more work.
able and productive. though none at the
moment Is in sight.
Cleveland and Yankees Good.
Cleveland's, with McInnls, Wambs-
ganss, Sewell and Gardner. is good, even
first class. and the Yankees. With Pipp.
To rI nd IL h,,t
neither is as well balanced In hitting
and fielding as McGraw's. These three
are the best. Washington's. on the right
side. is as good as the best. Pittsburgh's
has possibilities. big possibilities. il
young Traynor comes up TO expectations.
Fohrs infield is better than it looks on
paper. Fred Mitchelps Is we'll balanced,
one likely to be better on the field than
on paper. and with a lot of dash and
earnestness
The Red Sox new infieid hasn't enough
nimble footwork to suit me. Dugan is
the only high class workman of the lot.
1t can hit. however. The Athletics have
a young quartet who may stumble along
or all OF sudden find themselves and
as unit. flash into briliancy. They've
reached that pofnt under Mack's patient
experimenting ana tuteIage. The Phillies
have a good way to go to become first
class
The Detroit infield needs a shortstop-
nothing else and will be below par
until one Is obtained. A better infield
than it gets credit for being is Gleason's.
r@fl L. L..
members are plucky fighters and have
lots of ability without the glamour of
reputation.
With two such proficient men in the
heart Of it as Terry and Hollocher the
Cub infield ought TO be stronger organ
ization afiold than II is. and would be
with added heart. energy and confidence
The Cardinal four are OF sufficient skill
in three places TO be OF pennant quality
IL they can keep up their spurts all sea-
son. in which spirit they can carry a.
fourth member who Is in a class below
them I'm speed and alertness Brooklyn.
with schmandt at first. is likely to be
more effective than last year.
The Best InneId.
The writer thinks, and probably will
so think TO the end OF the chapter, that
the best infleld since baseball began was
composed OF Tenney. Lowe. Long and
Collins. Tenney was the games best
baseman. all physical points of play
being considered. bar Chase, Sisler.
Jlggs Donohue and McInnis. Any Of
these were more valuable than Chase as
moral factors. Hugh Jennings was a
real first base star the short while he
played that position. We've never had
better man OH thrown ball.
The Tenney- Lowe Long Collins en-
semble had n combination of morale. ex-
ecution and brains I've never seen
equalled In an inheld. and that with all
due respect to Chance. Evers. Tinker
S;einfeldt. 20 Bransfleld. Ritchey, wag-
rer. Leach. TO McInnis. Collins. Barry.
Baker. TO McGann. Gilbert. Dahlen, Dew
lin. 20 Tcbeau. Childs. McKeon. McGarr.
McGraw's infieid this year is the best
he's ever had except the McGann-Gn-
bert-Dahlen-Devlin Gordon OF brains.
adroitness and nerve
II Is faster than the famous 1908 IN
field. but neither Frisch nor Groh IL as
good a third baseman as Deviin. neither
II a better second baseman than Gilbert
though each Is n better hitter--and ~
the 1922 inheid has the collective ability
OF the 1905 QUITE In baseball intelli-
gencc. rugged fighting. every day get
there mastery OF every detail that roes