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Show WITH GREE'S RETURFI MESJifiW FORM Chancemen Who Have Long Lacked Punch Are Playing Good Ball. Fjom time to time Frank Chanes looked out across the green feward at the Polo grounds from the little coop snd marveled at the. sight that met his . eves. Out near the home plate an " athlete in the Yankee livery wa actually ac-tually gettin" base hits in the pinches and scoring runs with the same. This was so altogether unlike aDv-t'uitg aDv-t'uitg that Chance had seen before on the Yankees this season that be unally came out into the open to make a personal inspKCtion, and there discovered discov-ered Birdie f.'ree, late of Baltimore, but now permanently located Su' center field, the Polo grounds, hitting. any kind of delivery that pitchers offered" him, and . nobody seemed to be able to stop im. In making bis come-back with the same team that saw fit to let hna go to the minors last winter Cree removed ' all doubt that he could hit them just as well as he used to when he was one of the stars of the league. Cree was welcomed with a profusion of cheers, . for 'it has been a long time since the Yankoe fans have seen anyone who ;ould bit when hits "were needed, and . the little outfielder bounded right back nto popularity. Cheers or a spirited welcome are usually like handing an . athlete a bouquet; it is almost te'rtain t to make him have a bad day. But it 'had no effect on the Yanks' "new out-fiklor, out-fiklor, for he pried off three hits and a base on balls in four trips to the plate for a perfect batting average. Cree Can Hit. If Cree was recalled for the express purpose of inserting a punch in the J aukee batting order where one has loeig been missing, ho fulfilled bis mission mis-sion without delav, Il0 started in at half past three, and , in less than two nours he had lonehanded defeated the luckless Naps and led the Yankees out of the wilderness of defeat into which they had sunk. He drove in the first run with a single the first time ha came up, and wis an accomplice in the scoring scor-ing of two more, whtcti were enough to win tha game, as the Naps wore not able to do much with Jack Waibop's queer underhand deliverv. As events progressed it became more and more certain that Cree had been away frn (he Yankees entire!- too long. If be had been in the lineup regularly, reg-ularly, -some twenty games that the Yankees have lost by a single run because be-cause they could not produce a base hit at the opportune time to score runners run-ners from the bases would be is the winning- column and the Yankees would bo up around the first division disputing disput-ing positions with the topliners instead of just keeping tbeir beads out of the cellar. In Cleanup Position. . Chance did not, allow Cree much time before putting him to work. Cree reported re-ported just in time to get some lunch and get. into a uniform. In a short timp Chance had him in center field and hitting in the clean-up position in the batting order. This move necessitated necessi-tated the benching of one of the out. fi!drs who have been patrolling the beats for the Yanks, and Daley drew the lot to- sit on the bench. It. is Chance's intention to use Cook along with Cree and Hartnell for a time, occasionally oc-casionally putting Daley in, until he finds out what combination works the best. Cree appears to be in much better condition than "when he was last seen with the Yankees. He has lost much . of the extra weight he carried then, and as a result is much faster, both 'n the outfield and on the bases. And this time the weight has come off without any of the ill effects be experienced ex-perienced in the spring of 1913, when be weakened himself in an effort to get down to plaving weicht. |