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Show I A Fullerions Spring Dope V I II By Hugh S. Fullerton. I THE SECOND BASEMEN. i Amcricn League, jj 1 Offensive Defensive Total , Chicago . . 9M C05 1-119 1 Cleveland . . SS3 474 1357 New York . . S49 455 1304 J", Detroit ... S74 423. 1297 Phila 85S 120 1278 ' ' Wash 827 432 1259 Boston . . . 830. 427 1257 h ' St Louis . . 809 412 1221 wf National League. If SL Louis . 883 48S 1371 i Pittsburgh'.. 871 473 1344 Chicago ... SSO 461 " 1311 L , , Cincinnati . . 839 457 1296 i j Brooklyn . . 812 438 1280 I New York , . S55 411 126G Phila. : . . . 817 420 1237 Boston . . . 830 402 1232 Eddie Collin3. premier second base- r man of the land, still leads all accord ing to the dope, and in spite of his showing in the world's series. Many of the dopesters calculate that Collins slipped in the World's series and base dope on his batting average, but a study of the figures of the series shows that Collins, in the face of perhaps per-haps the most gruelling punishment a ) player ever faces, showed his game- I ness and wonderful spirit. The fact that in one game alono Collins hit five line smashes straight at outfielders, shows that he was hitting the ball even with the pitching staff of the Reds H specially coached and selected to stop His figures, based on last year's performance, per-formance, show a slight decrease .and oddly are within a dozen points of what the dope accorded him a year ago. In the National league tho dope bears out the claim that Roger Hornsby Is , the class of the second sackers, and he holds a lead in both attack and de-J de-J J fense in spite of the work of Gutshaw, who. by the way, is one of the most un-,'-" derratcd of the really clnssy second basemen of the country. A study of Hfl his work In double plays, year after year for six years, ought to be enough to satisfy his critics. Charlie Herzog spots the Cubs in third place among the second base-men. base-men. Kerzy, beyond doubt, is one of the gameat and hardest fighting sec-ond sec-ond basemen in the game. He did not really settle down to vork until late last season, after ho berthed with the HI CubB and he evidently has found the Hi spot and the team suits him. Look for H a big year for the veteran. H There Is one thing about which I H want to caution readers of this dope. I ' It is not a comparison of leagues. Some H I , have gained the Idea In other years H j 1 that because the figures of one league H t show lower than thoso of tho other, HLj that league is weaker. It may or may Wr, not be. The figures of any man Jn Hi:" i any position, depend not only upon j Vj I himself but upon his team and his op- tJ j poncnls. Ty Cobb would not rate very mil i bisli Iri dope i Waltor Johnson pitch- Hi; p td against him every day. K( Neither nre the figures a Btrict cora-I cora-I parisqn of men. They are position U I ' 1 alue S"1"0-'5, A club is JU8t as strong H 4 I second base as its second baseman H ' . his substitute. The Importance I 1 j i :f Rood subs is more and more evi- N f( ent each season. In calculating the mmmmmmvi sisfii , position strength of any tesm take the' j regular, figure his strength for the i number oi' games he probanly will piaj , then figure the strength of his; jsub in the balance. In cases such as Collins, Wamby. and others who are ' there , almost every day. the figures are virtually their on. In the others ( ibey are combinations, and New York's j evident weakness is' due lo the fact I ihat its regular cannot be relied upon to play more than sixty per cent of the games. There probably will be some surprise sur-prise expressed at the low rating of the SL Louis Browns in the dope or. I second base. I have arbitrarily re-; dttced the figures greatly because ofj a condition of which I happen to ! know that will cause this reduction i before the season starts. Unfortun-j 'r.lely I am unable to comment upon it,, but it may become public property be- j fore this is printed. It also may be protested that Clncin-j nati is rated too low. The figures however, how-ever, are closer to Roth's real worth than any based upon his last season's I performance would be. Rath had a fine year, and played magnificent ball. 1 1 nape he repeats and under the same Inspiring conditions he might go through this year at the clip he held during most of last season. However, I he has been too long in the business 1 to give him full credit for the best year he has had. The National League second sackers are a bit more closely matched in the dope than aer the American leagues Cleveland's strength at second seems lo be increasing and New York still holds up in the higher ranks in spite of Pratt's exceeding slowness which Is becoming more and moro evident. Washington has a big chance to show improvement before the season starts and I anticipate, judging from early reports, that the dope may have to be amended before the final compilation com-pilation of the figures. nn |