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Show Fuller ton' s Spring Dope Hi ! v . B FINAL DOPE FIGURES. HM I lb 2b Sb S3 lr cf rf c p Tot 1HH Cleveland 1425 1357 1024 117-1 I0S2 1275 100G" 1341 2020 'F'797 New. York 1440 1304 91Sn77 1067 1225 1030 1247 1966 11424 il Boston 1425 1257 3021 1147 1018 1171 1177 1289 1845 11370 Chicago 1245 1419 9S2'10441093 1212 1056 1413 lS77l-34"i Hfl Detroit , 1382- 1297 954 1152 lUS'J 12U IMS 1237 17S2 llSOri St. Louis 1469 1242 912 1101 1034 11G9 1064 1332 1958 llSi 'H Washington 1256 1259 946 1031W 1055 1223 ",l92 1301 1876 110S9 IHI .Philadelphia ....1232 123S0 ?31 1063 1041 11S0 1081 1314 1738 1DS1S fl i "Gain sinco spring training started. iH "' Los3 since' spring training started. E j Cleveland. I At last, after five of tho most crushing crush-ing disappointments any team ever suffered, suf-fered, the Cleveland Indians rank high enough in the depe to win the American Ameri-can league pennant, even should the ill luck that has followed them ever since they entered the league, run cgainot them this season. I The Indiana figure 373 points ahead of the Yankees, who icpe second in I the race so far ahead in fact that the ! Yankees must, either through luck or ;tKmc development of the team, overcome over-come a 3 per conl handicap to beat the j Orators, or Speakers, ouUof the pen-j pen-j nanL j Three per cent superiority in the , dope is a big tiling in baseball and it is an unusual one. ! I can remember only two teams which at this season of the year doped that much ahead of the other teams. ; In fact the oxcitement in Cleveland over the pennant prospects appears to ibo justified, not only because the percentages per-centages favor the team but because tho. superiority exists in every depart-jmcnt depart-jmcnt of the dope, excepting sheer slugging, and much of the figure superiority su-periority of Cleveland is due to pilch-1 ing strength. New York, which has been touted among the eastern students of the game, has not developed the strength ' claimed for the outfit. In fact a con- siderablc part of the strength claimed has been shown to be fallacious. Yanks Rank Second, i The fact that the Yankees rank sec-ond'in sec-ond'in the dope is due to their hard! h'tting, rather long hitting, and to the ! general excellence of the pitching staff. The team is heavily handicap-, ped by its excessive slowness of foot, which is difficult to overcome, it is faster than it has been in the last two years, but still slow. The team does not figure as well In these closing days of the spring training train-ing as it did three weeks ago. The injury in-jury of Fewster, a brilliant, brainy Jad with lots of speed and nerve, hurt the infield terribly. It probably will result in bringing Frank Baker to the rescue ' of his team, for whilo Baker determined deter-mined to retire, he probably would sacrifice sac-rifice his own desires to help the club. Ho mu3t start late and work into condition, con-dition, which hurts. Pratt, too, has slowed terriblj'. The loss of Bodici I clips a few points off the team lHfl strength. Bodlc is not a good ball play- 'h o. , but during the first two mcnths ol 4B any season is extremely valuable, as lfl he hits hard until the pitching pets. fl steady and fast. IH The chances of the Ynnks, Boston , E and Detroit of f nighing second are ex- ' H t:emel close. The Red Sox sustained JH by the remnants of strength of the old "V j championship machine, still fipure r fourth and there are signs that, whilt the team is not as strong in stars this w'f-)M year as last, it will play and is play. 3fl ir.g better team ball and working to k gether better. Detroit's gain is almost ( f entirely in pitching. The attacking strength always has been there. II IHH is not much augmented, but tncro is nc i need to Increase the attacking J IBI ftrength if the defensivo holds up. J PHI iT'ne weak spot of the 19am has been 1 ju'.iching and pitching, and under tho 1 leadership of Co6iubs the' pitchers ap- pear to be working better. Besides that iH 'Jennings has added promising innie- IH In the next bunch we find, th Browns and White Sox practically tied tin the figures. The While Sox still ,havo spotty strengtli,scaltered around, but the machine is badly wrecked and Hj roports from the training camps hull- fHj cute that the worst has not beep told. IH The While Sox are clearly out of it as HH j a pennant proposition and would have I to have a lot of luck to get into the 1 IfB fizst division. The Browns, on the oth- Hl er hand, have possibilities. The team JlflB figures sixth now. It has more spocd E than any team in the league, but needt j consistent pitching and tho attack Is spotty and not sustained. H Washington -and Philadelphia both present stronger clubs than they had jH lust year, but neither is a serious prop- os iti on as far as a championship is IMI concerned. The Athletics have a hus- M thng aggressive bunch, and Washing- EBB ton is better fortified now than in KIPl years. Its infield has improved and flFlH tho outfield has much attacking Bfl strength. For several years the Sena- fl tcrs have been sadly lacking In punch 1 and they have secured a bit of that cs-sential. cs-sential. but uot enough. Every team in the league excepting New York and Chicago has gained strength since tho spring training started. These two have lost points; one through bad luck, the other JH through internal troubles in the club. |
