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Show hi n rmir II III I II i '! l v , tjjll With at least-half a dozen ahort- m fctops playing in the major leagues, J if ! who will compare favorably with ijjf I any of the shortflcld stars of those ml I days, tho superiority of which the ill' Did-timer loves to sing, the falling 'Sit' ou n innelders seems to have ccn- tlili tered itself on third, baso, Mm There are no Harry Steinfeldts, ., jjj Jimmy Collinses, etal., before the Ml; public today. In fact the weak link ffljlfl on at least three teams in the major k H SI leagues may be said to bo third base. I l In casting about for the best third I ijpj baseman before the public today no I one stands out pre-eminently enough I i to be given first honors. J $lil There are several bright stars at I IH cluing certain things among tho third 1 ill cushion men. For instance, Eddie H Jl' -Foster, of the "Washington Senators, ( i'lfll '3 PPulary conceded to be the best j jj! man in the business at the hlt-and- jiflj1 run play. II H Frltz Matsel tne Now York jji Yanks is one of tho cleverest base Jj m' thiefs in the country and Hans Lo- BIIIj ert o GiantB noldB tho base B running record of baseball, having It circled the paths in 13 4-5 seconds llll remarkably fast traveling. i , But no third baseman consistently III-r 1 1 ! i' Btars in all departments of tho game jj like unto Eddio Collins, Johnny iljjjj Evers, Miller Huggins,-Larry Doyle I and others. I ZDQTEItMAIPS P ! WEAKNESS. 8 Heinle Zimmerman, who broke in j Bt third base for the Chicago Cubs, , 1 1 jj should have been a great third base- mwij man did not his fiery temper ai'fect fjj !; his fielding. Zimmerman is built like i ;ijf j1; an iron horse and is, perhaps, the m j' greatest natural hitter in tho game. IjWJi Mechanically he is a good fielder, m M but a tendency to "bone" things pre- Mfi eludes his being rated as a really j tjtf;. great third baseman. And, too, the W&''' Great ZIm has been shifted about j II '. the Cub infield so much that he now 'IB?', is as much a second baseman' and U(' shortstop as he is a third baseman. ;l II -i George Moriarity of the Detroit Jhi Tigers is one of tho best of the old 91 1 fellows still playing. jllf i It is peculiar that Moriarity seems $ ': to represent what is a fading typo of 9i third baseman. This is the tall, Jank SI fellow, who for years, because of tt reach and other normal advantages jHjtf of bigness, was considered a more H1 natural third baseman than a short- Ifi, cr man. 'ftli The type has ovoluted. Foster, 'It: Maisel, Austin, Byrne, Phelan, Gard- B, nor, Groh, Betzel, Vitt and Smith, all ,B' of whom are playing third baBO in R tho National or American leagues, j aro squatty built ball players. H j THE SHORT THIRD j; BASEMAN. ;H ' "While it depends, of course, upon V j the man himself and his ability, tho M S short man scomB to have certain ad-B.h ad-B.h vantages at third base. Because he Hf Is "nearer tho ground" fast ground n B balls that whizz at the third corner H aro moro nearly within his rango of g vision. It seems logical to suppose Ml that a short man can work better W upon a faBt bounding ground ball Nj . than his taller compeer. Anyway, jj the 1915 style in third basemen have Wl been upon the "underslnng" order 'Ml and most of tho new third basemen, VI breaking in, are short- Getz of the H Brooklyn Nationals, Baird of Pitts-Si Pitts-Si burg and Blackburn of the Chicago li .White Sox are exceptions. p''f Jv ( J. MvMKrvi l a J. Franklin Baker, formerly of the Philadelphia Athletics, was one of the few big third sackers. While-Baker While-Baker made himself famous through hitting, he was a remarkably activo fielder for his size and turned in . many neat plays for the Mack men. An erroneous idea gained circulation loV-irafiebali Socles UiOXr Bakr. 3T34 weak fielder. This was, not true. While he lacked the grace and dynamic qualities of Jack Barry, Eddie Ed-die Collins and "Stuffy" Mclnnis, and by contrast may not havo seemed seem-ed to be more than an ordinarj' fielder, field-er, as a matter of fact. J. Franklin handled a ground ball as cleverly as any third sackor in the gamo today. HOST COYEK BUNTS. On'o of tho chief requisites or. a third baseman as the game is played now is an ability to cover bunts. The sacrifice is so well established that with a man on first and nono ox ftnfi pjjJU & bunt Is in order pu Utfl of three occasions usually If tho score be close. That may be one reason why the squatty built ball player seems to be superceding his tnller brother as the more natural of third baseman. This very lack of height enables the fielder to gallop in, reach the ball and throw it with less effort than that required on the 2art of a long-geared player. If tho third baseman enn cover bunts and go to his left to get slow bounding grounders, which would bo impossible for the shortstop to successfully suc-cessfully handle, he has a good start in the fundamentals of his particular particu-lar position. -Wliilo a shortstoj? may haudlo these slow bounding balls, it is impossible im-possible for him to throw a fast man out as the lime expended in coming from deep short into the gruss to got the ball is sufficient for a fast base runner to get to the initial sack. That Is why third baseman, who can go to the left and haudlo these slov bounders, is of immense value in eliminating tho scratch infield hit which is a night-mare to all pitch-ors. pitch-ors. , t-15 IMPORTANCE OF THIRD. ' Jimmy Collins, who managed the old Boston Americans, was a great third baseman in his day as was Harry Steinfeldt of tho Chicago Cubs. Devlin was another and Lee Tannehlll of the Sox was a sensational sensa-tional fielder. Those all were big men who would look like ginnts beside be-side the Malsols, Fosters, "Vltts and other diminutive third sack guardians guar-dians of contemporaneous baseball. McGraw said the lack of a third baseman in 1914 cost him the National Na-tional league pennant. "Tilly" Sha-fcr, Sha-fcr, who had been with McGraw, the proceeding four years, had retired then and McGraw had to play Milton Mil-ton Stock at that bag most of tho time. Stock was not a success in New York and the rallblrds laid tho loss of tho pennant to the Braves largely to this fact During the winter McGraw rigged up a trade with the Philly Nationals whereby he received John Lobert, who had been with the Phils for a number of years. Everyone said that this single deal "made" tho Giants. They said that in April. Since then they have had plenty of time to change their mind, particularly since It soon became evident that Christy Mathewson no longer could be the pivot of a winning pitching staff. Several new third basemen have come Into the league this year, but mpst of them-wero eitling on the benches. Of thoBO who are spoken of favorably by National league critics crit-ics "Bruno" 'Betzel, the Indiana high school lad. developed by Miller Huggins of the St. Louis Cardinals, probably leads. Botzel Is no tailor than "Donlc" Buah of Detroit. If ho Is as tall, but he has startled tho fans with his fielding. Douglas Baird of Pittsburg Is an other most promising third base re- i cruit. He filled a large gap ln n! ' Clarke's Infield and hit so hard ana consistently that ho was vn w ;l third niche in tho Corsairs wwwg order, an honor In Itself ""mS I sluggers as Wagner and Hlnchman j on tho club, -?l' T |