Evening star., 1925-03-05

HeH on tne team. BigDee thinks he
hopeful.
Next in order comes Scoops Carey,
center fielder, another of the fast
ones of base ball and one of the fin
liked of ball players. having played
the game like a square shooter" ever
since he started. He went in for the
ology before he decided on base ball
as career better suited to his speed
and temperament. 1t is rather an
unusual fact that almost all ball
players who studied theology before
they began to play have developed
great speed.
Pie Traynor third baseman, who
appears third on the batting list, is
not exactly a cleanup man, but he is
not far from it.
Wright in Right Place.
Wright, shortstop, who hits fourth,
is the cleanup man, and he was
found very efficacious In that line last
season. II there is any worry visible
on the part of Wright, it is whether
he can do better this season than he
did in 1924. 1t does not seem to oc-
cur to him that he might do worse
He'll have to step some, however, to
do better, for his first year in the
National League was such a fast ex-
hibition that he'll have to give a veri-
table Hans Wagner performance to
beat 1t.
After Wright comes Cuyler, right
fielder, who was voted the most valu-
able man in the Southern Association
when he was a member of it. He is
a player who can cut the ball right
and left, and knock infielders off the
beaten highway whenever he thinks
they are making too free with his
prospects.
Moore, second baseman, who fol-
lows him to the plate, has given an
indication of what he can do as a
hitter, and the indication, accordin e
to McKechnie is only a fractional
part of what Moore really can do
when he is going right.
Niehaus, first baseman. who is next
in the lineup, is the dark horse and
the one toward whom the eyes of the
players turn with little nervous
anticipation every now and then
not so much because they have lost
Grimm at first, as because they do
not know exactly what they can ex-
pect from the newcomer. Down South
last year he could hit them as far and
as often as any player in the Southern
Association.
The two catchers. Smith and Gooch,
come next in the lineup, accordin G
to which of them has been selected to
do the receiving in any particular
game. Both are hard hitters and both
are as full of spirits as a rum bottle.
Pitchers Can Hit.
The pitcher of the day will bring
the batting list to its close-and
even from his pitchers McKechnie
hopes to get some timely hitting this
season.
This is going to be a tough line
OF batters for any pitcher to face. not
because it contains any Babe Ruths
or Rogers Hornsbys, but because
every one of them is a better than
average batter and is likely to slip
the ball between the infielders or
between the outfelders at any time.
There is another big point about
the Pittsburgh team of 1925. All the
players are athletic in build and not
so paunchy or thick -shouldered that
they are tied up in their swing.
When they get into their uniforms
they present as pretty a sight of well
knit, rangy high steppers as you will
find anywhere in the game. None of
them runs low like Maranville, whom
eho II dtes icl go TO 1HlCdSO, anQ
none of them carries a big belt. There
is not a player on the team who shows
any tendency to embonpoint
All in all it is a grand batting team
IF young men who have only one dis
turbing thought-that they are play
ing with a team that has looked up
ward before and yet did not make
the top. They like to Danish that
thought, but they can't always do it.
They know why the Pirates failed to
arrive before. 1t was because they
lacked the punch at the crucial mo-
ment.
And. If the truth is to be told, that
lack of punch is charged directly to
Maranville--and that explains why
Maranville was traded to Chicago
after a wonderful season at second
base, which was fizzled and more
when he struck Brooklyn on that
fatal last trip in 1924
Copyright 1921