The Washington times., 1931-09-16
LETTERS TELL
Of FLAWS"
IN TEAM
Nv RARE RTITH

Nv RARE RTITW
NEW YORK, Sept. 16.-Since
my choice Of an All-America base.
ball team for 1881 was printed a
week ago have received several
letters from fans, commenting on
my selections. AS was to be ex-
pected, there Is some difference
Of opinion among these letter
writer's, but their letters always
are welcome. like to get the
other fellows viewpoint in re-
gard to the worth of this or that
player
I noticed in these letters that
the fans agree with me almost to
q man in my choices Of six play
erS. These players are Grove,
Cochrane, Gehrig, Traynor. Sim
mons and Klein. I notice, also,
that the fans who wrote to me
were not so unanimous about the
four other players. For instance.
6ne would be satisfied with Gro
min and Averill. but would com:
plain about the selection OF
Melillo over FriSch. Another
would agree with me on Melillo
for second base but would argue
that Travis jackson. not Joe
/, Cronin, was the leading short
stop of the year.
Interest at High Pitch
A few could not see Averin
over Kiki Cuyler, and there
seemed also to be quite a differ.
ence of opinion about the second
pitcher. Grove was okay with
everybody as the best pitcher
of the year, but found advocates
for Earnshaw, Gomez, Walker,
. Marberry, Derringer, Hallahan
and Ferrell among the pitchers.
j 1t seemed that everybody had
q different nominee for that sec
end pitching berth, though I did
receive some letters commencing
my choice of Bandit.
This difference Of opinion is
a good thing for baseball. 1t
proves there is plenty of inter
est in the individual player long
after the pennant races cease
to be contests. It is the personal
interest of the fan in the ball
player which makes baseball
what it is.
AS I explained in the article &C
ccmpanying the selections I picked
Cronin over Jackson because OF
his better hitting through the
season, the fact that he has
driven in almost twice as many
, runs as the Giants shortStop,
and because his general attitude
and pepper seems to make so
much difference with the Wash
ington team. He is real spark
plug.
I chose Melillo over Frisch be-
cause I believe his play over the
entire season has touched a
higher standard than that OF
Frisch, who was far below normal
In the early part Of the race.
Frisch spurted and they are now
hitting on almost even terms, and
are about even in driving in runs.
but Melillo has starred from
opening day.
Brandt Best Of Lot
In choosing Averill over Cuyler,
I figured the Clevelander better
because he had batted in more
than 100 runs to Cuyler'S IS, and
had poled 20 homerS against
Kiki's eight. They were only a
point apart in batting average
but the Clevelander had a good
lead in hits for extra bases.
As for Brandt, am more
convinced than ever that his
record is the best Of the year,
excepting Groves. He is the
only National League player
VIII. is likely to pitch rs com.
pIete games this season. and
he may possibly be the only
one in his league to win ~.
games.
They tell me he has figured in
only two games all season which
might be called poorly pitched.
One was against the Reds and
the other against the Phillies.
winning close to the 20 games
with the weakest hitting and
scoring team in the majors and
suffering one-run defeats in many
of his setbacks seem to me to
entitle him to the place.
But, as I said before like to
get the other fellows viewpoint
and I thank them all for their
letters.