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Show War-time National League Clubs By JACK VEIOCK. 1 PITTSBURG 4 f Pittsburg fans are taking a lively interest in-terest in Hugo Bezdek and his Pirates. Pi-rates. Unlike the Pirates of the past two or three years, the Buceos of 1918 appear to have something. They have been strengthened by trades and purchases pur-chases during the winter, and they are looking up. In other years the Pittsburg team has been vitally weak in many of the most important positions. Barney Dreyfus and Bezdek got their heads together and decided to remedy these weaknesses. They have succeeded admirably. ad-mirably. The acquisition of George Cutshaw and Casey Stengel will work for the uplift of tho team, beyond a doubt. With Max Carey and Stengel sure to fill two outfield positions, and King, Bigbee, Jackson and Hinchman to battle bat-tle it out for the third position, Pittsburg Pitts-burg is well fixed. King has shown the earmarks of a terrific hittor, and he may bloom out just as Eddie Roush did last season. The Pirate infield candidates represent rep-resent a lot of -strength 3b they stand now. Vic Saier is the leading candidate candi-date for first base, but Mollwitz will get a trial. Pities and Cutshaw will be the second base candidates and Boeckel, C'aton, Stumpf and Hans Wagner Wag-ner will bo out for tne other positions. The Pirates are not mourning the loss of AI Mamaux. The young hurler did not show Bezdek and Callahan any class last year, and, besides, he was dissatisfied. In Cooper the Buccos have one of the best left-handers in the National Na-tional league, while Bob Steele and Earl Hamilton complete the south-pawed south-pawed branch of the staff. The righthanders right-handers are Carlson, a big, strong youngster with 1917 experience; Evans, Hill, Jacobs and Miller, who should be ready for regular duty on the firing line, and Milligan, Sanders and Ponder. Six catchers will battle for the regular regu-lar jobs, with Bill Fischer for leading candidate for first catcher again this year. The remaining Pirate windpad artists are BlackwelF, Schmidt, Shaw, Smith and Bill Wagner. All in all, the Pirates look much better bet-ter than they did a year ago, and if Bezdek should be fortunate enough to uncover a crack infielder he could well afford to rest on his oars. 1 PHILADELPHIA 1 f For the past two years, since the Phillies won the National league streamer ju 1015, thev have figured as strong contenders each spring. But the spring of 1918 finds them away behind in the matter of prestige, for the loss of Alexander and Killefcr they can scarcely be expected to recover. re-cover. Rixey, too, is said to be lost for good, ana his name does not appear in the list of players in the south. When the time for counting noses arrived the Phillies found themselves a rather shaggy aggregation, and there is no telling what the draft may do to them yet, and as things stand now Manager Moran must depend upon recruits re-cruits to fill some gaping holes in the line. Yet Moran is optimistic. He predicts pre-dicts a hangup race in the old league with a Garrison finish which will include in-clude three or four clubs, and he figures the Phillies in at the killing. Pat must expect to perform some kind of a miracle mir-acle to counterbalance the great loss he has suffered. It is a cinch that a miracle is the1 only thing that will keep tho Phillies as they stand today in the running next summer. The trado with Chicago brought Dilhoefer. n promising young catcher, to Philadelphia. But Dilhoefer cannot nke the place of Killefcr. Jloran has Burns and Adams in the windpad de- partment. His catching staff is much weaker than it was last year. Tho list of Phil players shows Bender, Ben-der, Lavender, Mayer and Oeschger of Jast year's regular staff. Pcndergast, from the Cubs, is a seasoned pitcher, I but far fTom being dependable. Baum-I Baum-I gardner, Buckles, Davis and Woodward are newcomers to the Phils. The first named has had his fling at the majors several times before, and Davis, though a smart pitcher with something ! ou the ball, is rather slight in build i to stand heavy work in the big show, ; according to reports, j The infield combination of the Phils ' may not be changed very greatly, j Luderus, Neihoff, Bancroft and Stock , remain, and Moran has Brandell, Dugey, I Pearce and McGaffigan who will fight ! for jobs. The last named player, is an infie'lder of great promise, but not ex-; ex-; pected to knock any of the fences ' down. The loss of Paskert leaves Moran ! with Cravath, 'Whitted and Schulto of I last year's veteran gardeners. In addition ad-dition he has Cooper,' Fitzgerald (possibly), (possi-bly), Weiser and 'Fred Williams. Wil-I Wil-I liams is expected to make good. All in all, the Phils now look like a club which will travel some twenty 'or thirty games behind last year's ! speed, aiid if thev do they will have 'a battle to beat the Giants, Cubs, Reds, Dodgers, Braves and Cards out of first division berths. 1 ST. LOUIS : f Jack Hendricks inherited a pretty sweet looking ball club when he inherited in-herited tho Cardinals. Within one short year Miller Hug-gins Hug-gins had made over the Cards so thoroughly thor-oughly that St. Louis fans could scarcely realize, that tho failures of 1916 .were the first-division contenders of 1017. And the Cards finished right up there among the select set, going strong. When Miller Huggins left the Cards it was a hard blow. But when President Presi-dent Rickey signed Jack Hendricks, the man of the hour in the minor leagues, to step into Hug's shoes, he got the right man for the place. Hendricks should prove a big success. suc-cess. He isn't the kind of a fellow who entertains defeat, and if the owners own-ers of the Cards will give him his head and permit him to get and keep the players he wants he will be a factor in National league pennant races. In all there are twenty-nine players on the roster of the Cards who were carried over from last fall. And there is going to be new spirit and new- ginger gin-ger in the team, for its prospects aro bright for a strong finish. Hendricks has a good string of pitchers pitch-ers in Doak, Meadows, Packard, Horst-mau, Horst-mau, Ames, Watson, Twombly, Mureki-son, Mureki-son, Tuero, May, Sherdell and Howard. The first six named here are the ones of whom most is expected, and, taking the staff as a whole, Hendricks has plenty of talent. In Snyder, Gonzales, Brock and Benton he has catching talent tal-ent galore, and need not worry over how the pitchers will be handled. The infield problem has resolved itself it-self into getting someone to take the place of Dots Miller, who has enlisted in the navy, for in Hornshy,' rauletto, Baird, Betzel, Wallace, Steward anil Larmore ho Cards are pretty well fixed with irlfiolders. A second baseman base-man with experience, therefore, is the .player mostly ueedeel to complete tiie lineup. The Cards hove J. Smith and Walton Cruise to depend on as regular outfielders. out-fielders. They also have Smyth ami Heathcote for utility work. Figuring that the Cards will prove as strong this year as they did iu 1917, and figuring also that much mav be accomplished Ivy Hendricks, the prospects of the Mound City aggregation aggrega-tion look mighty good. They ought to rank with the topnotchers all season. 1 BROOKLYN f Seldom, if ever, has a club which won a championship- fallen to pieces within the short space of one year. But this is what happened to the Dodgers, champions of the National league in 1916. They simply withered up. They lost the punch that carried them to the top of the heap, during the .off season, and last summer found them dragging along like a team of broken-down truck horses. Some folks have whispered that wholesale salary reductions as a reward re-ward for winning the flag took the pep out of the Dodgers, and it is a certainty that Ebbets's action in trbn-ming trbn-ming the payroll did not lend any fire to the ambitions of the 1917 team. But that wasn't all, by a long shot, for the Dodgers just sort of collapsed, and the pitching staff, that had done such good work in 1916 was like a bird with a broken .wing last year. However, Uncle Wilbert Robinson is still with the Dodgers. He is still sitting sit-ting tight in- the pilot's seat, and that means something. Robinson's ability to handle his players is a big asset to the club, and Bobby, is no slouch as a tactician if he has the material to carry out his campaign plans. So Robby'll bear watching when you start awarding berths in the National loague or making mak-ing mind bets ou how the Til ' ole rumpus rum-pus is going to end. Don't class those Dodgers too low! Robby and Prexy Ebbots got rid of two dissatisfied ball players when thev fat loose of Stengel and "Cutshaw. The trade with Pittsburg brought some young blood to the team, and young blood is needed badly in Brooklyn. Robby will not be the best fixed man-ager man-ager in the big show, bv anv means, but he. won't bethe worst off, either. Look Aver the reserve list and you'll note that Robby is hanging on to .some batting power; that he has a pitching staff which may do a big comeback, particularly with Al Mamaux as an inspiration. in-spiration. And though the Dodger infield in-field and its catching staff is mediocre, the team as a whole will probably hit hard, and if the pitchers should come through Robby should be a strong first-division first-division candidate. The Dodgers in reserve are: Pitchers Appleton, Cheney, Coombs, Griner, Grimes. Marquard, Mamaux, Milius, Mitchell. Catchers Snyder, Wheat, Miller and Krueger. Outfielders Hickman, Johnston, Myers, Wheat. lnfielders Daubert, Durning, Fitz-simmons, Fitz-simmons, Olson, O'Mara, O'Rourke, Ward and Plitt. ' T CINCINNATI ; For the first time in a good many seasons, the Cincinnati Reds are going to enter the coming pennant race classed as "Dangerous." Christy Mathewson, apparently, is one Cincy manager who is getting by in Redviile without being handicapped bv interference from headquarters. The owners of the Reds are letting him have his head, and he is showing them results. The sensational work of the Reds in 1917 was one of the bright features of the National league race. Their elevation ele-vation from the gutter was sudden and sensational. They outbatted other teams and fielded well enough to class with the best as a workaday club. If they had beeu blessed with a stronger pitching staff they might have made the Giants hump up to the last hour to bent them out. This year the Reds are practically intact. in-tact. They have not been seriously hurt by the army draft or enlistments, and from present indications thev will be among tho lightest losers in the bi7 show through either of these channels. For this reason thev figure strongly in the race this season, providiug. ot course, that Matty loses none of his pitching strength and providing also that he can add a bit to the staft. Fred Tonev, the workhorse of the Red flingers," is liable to be called at any time. Toney was the big winner of' the Redviile aggregation in 191 and an iron man for fair. If he is available he mav repeat this year, but he cannot keep the Reds up there alone. Pete Schneider will be back, as will Mike Regan and Harry Eller, but aside from these three the Reds will have to depend largelv on newcomers. Dutch Reuther, formerly of the Cubs; Rav Bressler, Eddio Gerner, Jimmy Coiiley and Stuart Jacobus complete the reserve list of pitchers. And Matty is hoping. With Wingo, Clarke, Allen and Smith reserved as catchers, the Reds are well fixed behind the bat. Chase, Groh, Shean, McKechnio and Black-burne, Black-burne, the famous "Lena" of White Sox trials and tribulations, make up the infield talent. Billy Kopf is in reserve, but will not bo available, 'tis said. Eddie Roush, the champion batsman of the league; Tommy Griffith, Greasy Neale, George Anderson and McHeury represent" the outfielding talent, and Matty is still hopeful of landing another an-other gardener. If he does he will be well fixed in this department. All in all, the Reds are to be figured as the dope sizes up now in advance of the seasou. They look like a club which will make a lot of trouble for everybody's pennant contenders. BOSTON f Just because the Boston Braves fell down last season there are a good mauy folks who may be inclined to overlook them in sizing up the coming National league race. But it is a good thing to remember that as long as the Braves have George Stallings hanging around they are liable, lia-ble, to start something any old time, so they'll bear watching. It is true that Stallings' aggregation lacks the class of the Giants and Cubs ou paper. It is true that Stallings will have a hard job filling Maranville's shoes and repairing the loss of George Tyler and .less Barnes from his pitching pitch-ing staff. But Stallings is a resourceful resource-ful gent. He's liable to get what he wants. Man for man, the Braves are shaded by the Giants. They are not as well supplied with ball tossers of class as are the Cubs. They do not even look as good as the Reds or Cards in looks on paper they may make up in fighting spirit. And they have a manager. man-ager. Stallings took a number of youngsters dow-n south this spring of whom he is expecting great things. If some of these embryo big leaguers come through the Braves may be as harmless as a gas bomb in the coming race. They may uot win the pennant scarcely anyone looks for that hut they may make a world of trouble for the fore-' most pennant aspirants, and that's just about what the writer expects to see them do. Boston has a staff including Reven pitchers on tho reserve, list. They are Allen, Crum, Hughes, Nehf, Ragan, Rudolph Ru-dolph and Scott. Four of this sextette are seasoned veterans who should be able to tako-thoir tako-thoir regular turns in the box, and: Stallings is not worrying about pitching pitch-ing taleut. Art Wilson and Tragresser will do the bulk of the catching, with McGraw in reserve. The infield, with Herzog at second base, Koney at first, Rawiings at short aud Smith at third, will be fairly strong. The Braves also have Miller, Covington, Fitzpatrii-k and several voting recruits who will fight for iobs. Bailey, Kelly, Massey, Powell, iichg and Wicklaud comprise the outfield candidates who will battle for regular berths in the garden, and though Stallings Stall-ings hasn't a world of hitting strength in this bunch, he surely has spec! and fielding ability galore. The Braves will henr watching. John McGraw, Fred Mitchell, Matty and Jack Hendricks, tako notice. |
