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Show t : jH Fuller ton's Spring Dope 4 H v f iH THE RIGHT FIELDERS. 3 f (By Hugh 5. Fullerton) lH AMERICAN LEAGUE. 3 i Offensive Defensive To tat f' li Boston 896 261 llEtf- Detroit 002 21 Q 114 Washington ......I. 847 2 In 109 , ! Cleveland 861 229 ' 10 30 , l St. Louis ,. 833 ' 231 106T- 1 lH Chicago 837 219. 103 New York .V. 822 221 10t3' ' H Philadelphia 836 207 1043' NATIONAL LEAGUE., H Offensive Defensive TotaV lH Now York 907 , 270 117.7, Pittsburg 896 255 115X7 ! Cincinnati 872 . 242 lift, ! Brooklyn S5S p 219 1077 BH St. Louis 843 232 10 73" IH Chicago 847 221 1071 El Philadelphia S51 209 106Q" I ILH Boston S22 205 1027: PH I Harry Hooper, the wondorful voter-I voter-I an of the Rod Sox, and "Pep" Young, 'the great kid of the Giants, carry off the honors In the dope of tho right 1 fielders. Theso two stand almost alono among the right fielders of tho country, coun-try, although tho development of ISouthworth, ono of the finds of recont years, places him in a position to di3-ipute di3-ipute Young's claim to the premier- ship, if not this season, then before ! many years. j There is more difficulty in figuring (dope on right fielders than in calculat-ing calculat-ing position strength of any other position. po-sition. This for the reason that, in so many cases, one is compelled to calculate calcu-late combination strengths because ot the habit of managers of shifting out- uoiuers Decausc oi ngnt ana lert handed hand-ed pitching and because of ability of some to play sun fields. Because of this it is practically impossible im-possible to say that any one man will play right flold during an entire season, sea-son, although a few do stick to the same job no matter what the conditions. condi-tions. Tho others do not and thoreforo the figures in the case of tho majority major-ity represent tho combined strengths nnd weaknesses. On top of that, there are still four clubB that have not made the final decision de-cision as to who the "regular" right fielder will be and it probably will be necessary to amend the right field figures fig-ures in the final summing up .of team strengths. However, while some teams may improve their figures, there is extremely ex-tremely small chance that any of the new mon will show enough strength I to crowd up among the leaders. I Position strengths in right show k ' ; greater range of difference than Is usual us-ual in major leagues. The position, in i fact, is satisfactorily filled in only ten of the sixteen clubs, and the other six hold the jobs not because of their own strength but because no stronger candidates have been developed. Brooklyn, of course, makes the big gain. The discovery of this youngster Nels appears to be one of tho surprises sur-prises of the spring. If the reports I are true, and if the form ho has been i showing since the Robins went into I training continue during tho playing season, Brooklyn has picked up a com-i ing star In the outfield and, belter than that, a man who may develop Into one of the great lead off battcr3 of the countr-. There are extremely fow good lead off men now in the game, and to find one of the Roy Thomas, Wlllio Keeler, Jimmy Slaglc or Topsy Hartzoll class ivould be llko picking up a fortune. I Detroit's strength in right is duo to I the attacking power of Flagstead, and 1 the reserve attacking power which ' Jennings seems always to possess. The showing of the New York Yankees Yan-kees in the figures is a serious disappointment. disap-pointment. The figures are combination combina-tion ones of Ruth, Vick and Mcusel, and in no way can I figure the team to strengthen right field much. Possibly JC Huggins assigns Meusel to the job regularly there may be considerable improvement With Ruth In that Job steadily the figures show only a triflo 'more strength than the combination of, the three reveals. With Vick there regularly the attacking power of the team Is reduced greatly, although some spood is gained. It looks, to me to be a hard problem for Hughes to dopo out. cjevoianu again snows lair sirongin In right, a position in which I expect-Ica expect-Ica the figures to show tho Indians hacking, and the SL Louis Cards have 'a better right fielder defensive than II , anticipated. ' In the next article we will compile , tho outfield figiiros and sec how the teams compare in that regard. This Is important because tho great "punch" of major league teams usually is centered cen-tered among the outfielders. I 00 |