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Show ( N Fuller ion's Spring Dope ! V J I PULLISRTON'S SPUING SPORT w. THE OUTFIELDS. Cy HUGH S. PULLERTON. , .AMERICAN. j Detroit ....".". . 3502 Cleveland .. . . .'. . ." 3502 Washington . . '. . ' . . .'. 3370 Chicago 3361 Nov; York 3325 Boston 3326 St. Louis 3267 Philadelphia 3261 j NATIONAL. New York . . : 3-IS1 Pittsburg 3459 ! Cincinnati 3403 St. Louis .. 3399 Brooklyn . . 3309 Chicago 3265 Philadelphia 3234 Boston 31 73 No use talking, boys, we will be compelled to watch those Pirates and Cardinals in the National league this coming season. On to.p of showing unsuspected un-suspected latent strength in the infield these two teams come along in the outflell and rank tip so close to Uio top that a few accidents or sun hits would make them the equals of the: Giants, who are the leaders. The Giants, beyond doubt, have tho most consistent outfield la the National, Nation-al, the most punch, the most speed,' and in spito of the slump of Kauff, 1 show that they are the class. The, world's champion Reds rank down in third place, due to tho uncertainty of the left field development, and the rather ragged work of Neale at times, which detracts from his otherwise great ability. Brooklyn has pushed along toward the top. gaining steadily in outfield strength, and a lot of hitting power scattered around, are in position to make trouble. Chicago shows woeful lack of punch and clearly Mitchell cannot rely upon outfield hitting ntrengin to carry his team to a pennant. Ho will need at least seven per cent better pitching than the opposing- clubs v." ill show against him to offset the lack of attacking at-tacking power in his outfield. In the American league, Detroit and Cleveland, of course, lead the field, chiefly because Of the super-ability of Cobb and S.peaker. The two stars raise ' the outfield values of their clubs high,' but Detroit shows more power in the other positions, and holds the lead. It will be a considerable surprise to discover that tho lowly Washington team achioves third1 rank rather handily hand-ily In tho dope figures, and the more closely ono analyzes the Griffith outfield out-field the better 'it looks. Rice, Roth and Milan afford Griffith a great chance to make switches at critical times and cover the weaknesses of individuals. in-dividuals. The Old Fox is a wonder at making quick changes, when he has tho material to work with, and he certainly cer-tainly has plenty of It in his outfield array. Two of the American league teams have me all in the air becauso of their delay In announcing the candida'.es who will b'e chosen as regulars. These are the Now York Yankees and the Athletics. I have been compelled to average values of all the candidates in practically every outfield position, and sometimes the average values of two or three players is less than the value of either one. That is. wo cannot say that two men ono weak in hitting, another in fielding field-ing arc as good as their strongest point If the regular teams are chosen In time I will refiguro the values basing bas-ing the figures upon the probable number of games the .regular will be in. and the probable number his substitutes sub-stitutes will play, and thus get much closer to the real position value of tbo IH The fact remains that the outfields, IH as they stack up at this stage of tho fiH game, do not average up to the major 1 league standard. The discovery of a H few men, such as Flagstead, Gleich, Heathcotc and Statz, and some of the others, tends to raise tho hope that ll the standard of the major leagues will 1 be restored to its old heighth before ll long. Wc did hot expect many such 1 developments this spring, but reports ll from the training camp indicate that El tho prospects are better than the ll scouts believed. H The Chicago Whitepox' outfield IH prospect Is far from being encourag- ing. The team has been lamentably IH weak in right for some years. There KH was plenty of material, but it could ll not all bo used at once, and there are IH undoubted signs of a slump. KH Now that wc have considered the Bl 4even regular positions we can ass em- lH bio the regular teams and discover H Just how strong tho clubs are before kH starting tho study of pitchers and vl catchers. You understand, of course, iH that the pitcher and catcher count' jil more in defensive strength than the LH others combined, but the study of ihe regular teams reveals the offensive, uTI power almost completely. rcl |