Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-08

The picking of an All Maine Nine
is job that would puzzle the most
experienced. At the first Of the sea-
son Bowdoin was slated for the Gel
lar position by the majority of the
State sport writer's, and indeed 1T
looked as though the White might
have q good bid for that corner Of
the series after her first few games.
Houser however, must have obtained
some sort of tonic that filled his pro-
tegees with vim and confidence. They
began to win. In the first game
which they played with Colby, they
lost by a score Of SIS, and to make
up for their poor playing ability in
that game they turned the tables on
the Blue in their second clash to the
tune of 1915. The baseball fans of
Maine were astonished. and well
fore bungling record. Bowdoin COM
plctcd her end Of the series without
defeat thus gaining the top stan
"a. which thew held until yesterday
when Colby. whom everyone looked
to as the State champions at the
first of the season, won over Bates
and tied things up in general.
With the four teams skipping
about in standing every time a game
was played and giving sort of
Chinese puzzle effect to things it
was made necessary to consider ev
cry intricate detail in choosing a
truly All Maine team. Thus the
best and surost manner of settling
things seemed to Se through picking
each man from a percentage basis
for his own particular position for
the series. The result was as above.
In choosing Johnson as hurler.
consideration was given to the fact
that he was backed by weaker field
than any other pitcher in the State
series. Jowett of Maine was about
an even tie for this position. If no
thought he given the backing of each
man. and it was only after the
minutest details having to do with
either man had been brought up that
Johnson was given the choice.
I.anpher OF Colby easily took the
catcher's corner, although Prescott
of Maine would have been the choice
had he not had so many passed balls
and stolen bases stacked UP against
him.
Jordan Of Bates was the obvious
choice for first baseman's berth,
having next to the largest numb Der
of putouts. Lunge of Maine had
the biggest pile but scored only /
run to Jordan's 4, and had , errors
where Jordan had none. His hitting
was better than Jordan's but hardly
enough to swing the decision in his
favor.
Davis of Bowdoin. was unques-
tionably the only candidate for sec
ond base, understanding all other
players in this position by an over
whelming score in his favor
Stearns of Maine had far the best
showing on the fielding end Of the
third baseman's standing. but
through his superior batting average
and his majority of runs BAKER of
Bates was picked for this position.
Osgood. another Maine player.
had by far the best fielding average
of any of the college shortstops. al
though the diminutive Fransen of
the Blue showed up we'll on the bat
ting end of the game.
In the outfield both Needleman
and Small of Bowdoin had by far
the superior records in both field
ing and batting averages for the
positions of left and center fielders,
respectively. Fagerstorm of Colby.
however, runs close second for the
berth of center field, playing as he
did only about half as many games
in this corner as did Small.
For right fielder another Colby
man was picked. Shanahan. who
during the whole season has shown
himself far superior to and of the
other contenders for this crown.
In choosing the pitcher. seven
things were considered. Wild pitch
es. number of men hit by pitched
balls. errors, strikeouts, bases on
balls, and runs and hits scored
against the man in question. The
runs, hits. put outs. assists, errors,
passed balls and stolen bases were
the points considered in picking the
catcher. For the remainder Of the
players the percentage was taken from
the points considered in picking the
runs. hits, put outs, assists, errors,
The standing of the contenders