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Show " ; - ,tj This Is the Indians9 Year to Cop; Needed Peppery Gent Like Tris A. H.v NORMAN IS. liKOW.V. The Cleveland Indians have the in-I in-I side track on the American league I pennant. I'm stringing with them. At the start of this scries on the big league clubs 1 said t.hat the Indians I will fight it out with the Tigers and Yankees for the bunting. Since that lime circumstances on the Yankee team have practically put that c;ub out of the lunningr. The Tigers can be counted on to give the Indians a battle royal, but 1 believe the Ohio team has the edge. Leaving comparison of the two clubs aside for a minute, consider this: The Indians have been set to win the pennant several times since NaP JLajoie led them to within half a game of the top in 190S. They have hadj pitching, batting and fielding. But, they slipped a crucial periods. Games badly needed were allowed to slipj away. Summed up, the team's maiiij weakness in all those seasons was in the managerial end, AIcGuIrc, Stovall, Harrry Davis. Birmingham Bir-mingham and Lee Fohl were good men and knew baseball, but they lacked the qualifications to lead a big lcaguc club with the going tough. Birmingham Bir-mingham was the best leader of tnci lot as far as fight and brains was concerned, but allowed personal feelings feel-ings to creep into the team s formation forma-tion and dissension set in. To my mind Speaker Is the man the-team the-team needed. ( He's a Born Leader. He lias shown, since he took over the reins last summer, that he is a ' born leader. He instilled fight into tho club by his own personality the minute min-ute Jim Dunn signed him as a private to play in center field. He was the 1 real leader of the team on the field under Fohl, but of course didn't have the right to carry out his "own hunches In handling the team. The players are for him to a man, partly because he is a fighter. Ho has shown the bunch that they must fight. The fans, who had realized all along that the Cleveland managerrs lacked the necessary punch, took lo Spoke, which means much to the teiim. When Speakei knoCkoy Chick Gandll flat on his basoball shirt in Chicago last .summer after Gandll had hurled some profane language at him, the big Texan made himself more solid thaii ever with players and fans. It was thv first bit of fire they had seen In the manager's uniform in w.:i i-M. -Besides -his fighting spirit, Spoke is one of the smartest baseball men in any angle of the game. He is a real student of the game. He knows the customs and weaknesses of the old players and the pilots in the A. L. He can handle the available pitchers to! get the most effective work out of them. He is a keen Judge of their! daily form. He looks llko the man. Now. as to the team's strength. Tho Tigers, with their powerful hut-1 ting combination of Cobb, Vouch. I Flagstead. Shorten and Hellman, ranked Only five points above the' Tribe in team batting last year. Tho! Tiger outfield had it on Spoke and! his partners in batting, but the Indian infield almost made up the difference. Graney, Speaker and Wood or Smith' give the Indians an outfield as sweet1 as Hughie'a in fielding. Infield Stars in Attack. The infield, in addition to playing good defensive ball, was a powerful unit in tho Indians' attack last year. Johnston, at first, hit .305. Wambs-ganns, Wambs-ganns, at second, hit .27S. Ray Chap- y I pii I ! man hit at an even .SOO. topping all other shortstops, and led the league 1 In sacrifice hits with fifty. Gardner led the third basemen in batting with a .300 average. Steve O'Neill outhit all the other regular catchers In the league, batting bat-ting .2S9 and making many of his hits , count. J .As to pitchers. . ' Well, last fall the Indians lost out to the White Sox in the final spurt by three and a half games mainly be'eause the pitching staff weakened.1 Speaker lacked, most of all, a south- paw. Fritz Coumbe fizzled. Tris said j to Dunn: "Give me, a good southpaw Dunn sent Bert Niehaus, star of the American association, and Tim Murch-Ison, Murch-Ison, sensation of the Three-1 league to Spoke .it New Orleans and said: "They are the best 1 can get." Both men look good; -TJiey are lit and have been effective In spring training. Niehaus won twenty-three games and lost thirteen for St. Paul last season and was called the cream of the league. Murchisoil, wjth. Peoria, Pe-oria, hurled two no-hit guniG3 in a row last year and also pitched and J won three double-headers. He wound ' up with St. Joseph last season by wln-! wln-! ning four out of five games. ! Joe Blchllng, a vet, and Jess Petty, a rookies who has been "up before with the Tribe, are working hard to ' stick with the club, and one of them 1 may be carried. For right-handers, Spoke has Uhle. Covclskie. Bagby and Myers as sure bets, and Guy Morrton, a gamble once more. , Caldwell's vork last soason indi-; indi-; cated he may be tho dark horse of I the staff. Tris Speaker tuning up his batting v eye and Bert Niehaus unlimber- I ing. Uhle Got Good Start. , Uhlo is the utar picked up on tht Cleveland sand lots, who broke into the limelight by winning eight games i' in a row for the tribe. He finished the season with ten victories and five: defeats, ranking next to Covey in Hie won and lust columns of the Indian staff. Co ey won twenty-four and lost twelve games, and ought to do better this year because Speaker win, not need to overwork the dependable! Pole. Bagby cropped seventeen vie- ( torics while losing only -leven last year. He is in the pink. Myers, ex-' Mackmnn, believes he will deliver this season. Lack of weight hurt him 1 in previous campaigns. He couldn't stand the strain. This spring he re-I re-I ported much heavier and was careful Spoke was so please-1 with '.'hle'si work that Is trying out mother s.ind- loiter, George Cykowski, but of course! realizes that these phenoms do noil, grow on bushes. Morton, noted for his marvelous' control and speed," has been a bloomer! ITor the last couple of seasons becaui- of his failuer to stay in training. This-year This-year will de.cide' .his future' vitn lue' Cleveland club. Failure lo deliver this year probably will bring him the can. i Kealizatlon. of ihis may help to Ue?pl 'him fit. . But without Morton inci Ceam has a gtod jokmg hurling .suiif. 1 Speaker knpws tho men and know how ty handle them. Tho mound crew', as it stands, looks ( more formidable than HughieS. Jack Coombs will have his hands ttill to bring Jeainiugs' staff up lo a par wuni Spoke's. ' J All told, tho Cleveland t.eam looks set for the fight. Neither '.he playoraj nor the fan. are figuring on less lhan first place for them. And neither am I. |