Show sensational 11 of THE GIANI t AW M ak S 4 g 0 first baseman merkle manager mcgraw of the new york giants has always expressed con can in the ability of first baseman merkle to play first class baseball the J dament of the scrappy little manager has been more than vindicated by the playing of merkle 10 a far this season his batting and fielding have been far beyond the expectations of the new york tans fans it takes four men to A Q make an infield and only three for an gutfeld there are more good infields than outfield it seems to be easier to find four infielders who as a group measure up to standard than to find three such outfielders on one club true the infields hae hane more chance to chow show what they can do but the fine r ork in the outfield such as throwing and cutting off the long hits doesn doean t appeal even relatively as often as fancy infield work there are only three outfields in the big leagues which for ground covering throwing and speed in getting after long hits bits rate up to al grade these are tha detroit ch cago national and rg outfields notwithstanding arg s bumps this year clarke leach and nv il on are three sweet gar beners hoffman schulte and sheck ard ar an outfield hard to improve on while fobb cobb and crawford Craw tord are pippins with either mcintyre or jones in left classy enough to fit in nicely lewis hooper and speaker of the red sox make a pretty nice outfield and ono one likely to get better the best infield in the country is that of the athletics davis collins barry and baker it can hit run baes and on defense is nearer to air t than any other present day tet S ahl gardner wagner and lord are a fast four without the class at all con ers of the athletics charce evers tinker rinker and mae a strong cordon but one which has a hade bade less of the fire of youth of the athetis four merkle doyle B adwell and devi devin n are a not as evenly 1 balanced in ground covering ability AS could be wished the greater abl ity being on the left ide vide the tew ew lork ork americans infeld is also ou of balance hav hay ng a de die ine of al I 1 ty of the right ue ile C ati s infeld eld is well balance I 1 and a 0 Is that of th thi phill es pitts birg s t eways has lad ed finish at first bae b it a hummer otherwise cleve lands Is s ct tr ronger in the in addle than n the extremities brooklyn s is not fist in li larks lanks stability as a whole but is likely to improve bres nahan nallan has a tidy infield and one that can an cover lots of ground from first to short inclusive tal e any of the present infields an I 1 they do not outshine bygone infields of the tenney lowe long collins stand ard or of the doyle reitz jennings me ile graw standard but then those two were in a class by themselves in the r day As a whole the infields of tl P pre present ent rate up as high now as then were ther one 12 club league nowa news days it is probable that more high class infields could be put together than were found 15 years ago the old question of numbering the players on tho field so that they can be p eked out by reference to the score card has come up again some fans want this system introduced claiming that it U would mould add to the pleasure of e witnessing a contest to be able to glance at a huge number on the back or chest of an athlete and then refer to a card and pick out his name there ts Is no chance though of any r ich method being introduced it would oe a bit t rf f humiliation to the players J to have to wear mear such pictures on their man y forms which la Is entirely annet es esary ary to be sure a fan f taho ha 19 1 n not personally pero nally bahe I 1 illuce I 1 it Y letes ome sometimes times has to ask als Is heigh fleigh bor bar the identity of certain players but that Is a small matter with jockeys Joc kejs and bicycle riders the case Is very different the former ride in all kinds of 0 weather conditions and very often it is utterly impossible to recognize the boys in a big field un les IEs they are pray ded with a large identification slip in the form of a number on their backs the same Is true of bicycle riders but the ball player Is different his ills calling is a h gher one than either of the others his ills personality is more evident to the spectators than that of the jockey or a man humped over a machine he Is an individual bot a place of machin ery cry he is not a driver of a horse or of an automobile but an artist in his way it would be as foolish to com pel pet him to wear a huge disfiguring number on his back as it would mould be to inal ct the same necessity upon a star actor or singer it doesn doean t hurt anyone to ask his neighbor a question as to a player or two it if he lb ib watching a game in a foreign city where he is not familiar with all the athletes |