The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-03-26

OlJEIlGI
All through baseball there are
cases of men who started at one po-
sition, then switched to some other.
The most common switch is from
pitching to playing the outheio'
The answer to that one usually is
hitting. A fair pitcher who can MI
that ball is a lot more valuable to
his club playing every day in the
outfleld than he is getting into the
game every third or fourth day as
a pitcher. Goose Goslin of Wash
ington, Lefty O'Doul of the Phils,
Tony Kaufman Of the Giants,
George Sisler of the Braves, Rube
Bressler of Brooklyn, Earl Webb OF
the Cardinals, Charley Jameson OF
Cleveland and Sam Rice OF Wash
ington all started out as pitchers,
and they are only a few Of the
players who have switched from the
box to the outfleld.
Accidents Cause Shifts
Accidents lots of times are re-
sponsible for temporary shifts that
become permanent. One OF the
best examples of this is Moe Berg
of the White Sox. Moe came IN
as an infelder and he was never
more than fair. Then one day all
the White Sox regular catchers were
hurt and Moe volunteered to go be-
hind the bat. He hit his stride i'm
mediately-and since that day Moe
Berg has been listed as a catcher
and good one.
Probably if 1t hadn't been for a
couple of split fingers Moe Berg
would have finished his career as A
substitute inflelder without even
realizing that he was better fitted
as a catcher.
Switches from infield to outfeld
and vice versa are more or less
common. A lot Of kid intlelders
come up who have the ear marks
of real ballplayers but who are weak
on ground balls. Riggs Stevenson
of the Cubs, Bob Meusel, the for
mer Yankee outflelder now with the
Reds, and Jack Rothrock Of the
Red Sox are examples of this. As
outfelders they have been stars
But if some smart manager hadn't
been wise enough to shift them
they probably wouldn't have lasted
a half dozen seasons as infelders
From Field to Box
The most unusual of all proba'
bly, is from some other position tx
the box. Right now ! can recall
only two players who have made
that switch. One is Red Lucas O
tie Reds, who for two or three sea.
sons was utility man in the infielc
and outfeld. And the other is Boil
Smith of the Braves, who started
pitching simply because the club wa.
up against it for pitchers. Bob wa!
an outfielder, but once he started
taking his turn in the box the Bos.
ton club suddenly found that h
was real pitcher.
Mel OFT of the Giants and Jimmy
Foxx of the Athletics. the two kic
members Of the big leagues, bott
started their careers as catchers
Now OFT is one of the most prornis.
ing young outflelders in the bust.
ness and Jimmy is equally at home
at first base or third base.
There are lot of other instance:
OF switching that turned out great
Johnny Hodapp, the Cleveland sec.
ond baseman, started out as a first.
sacker. Max Carey played season
at shortstop in the Central League
before he shifted to the outf1eld tc
become one of the great outhelder'
of all time.
4. Moore Was Fielder
Randy Moore. the third basemar
for the Boston Braves, was an out
fielder until this spring when Bill
McKechnie shifted him to the in
field as an experiment and founc
the boy o. k. from the start. Andy