Ogden Daily Standard | 1919-04-04 | Page 9 | Vernon May Lead League

oo VERNON MAY LEAD LEAGUE VERNON, April 3 The Vernon Tigers, Tig-ers, flushed with their victory over the Chicago Cubs today, are ready for the opening of the Pacific Coast league championship season at Salt Lake next Tuesda. Manager Bill Essick is well ph ased with his charges and is of the opinion that the club that defeats de-feats his team will be a penant contender. con-tender. "I am not making any boasts," said Essick today, "but I believe the club that beats our nine this season will win the penant." The play of the Tigers this training season fully justifies the- optimism of I their manager. The boys have shown up well in practice, and, unless the other teams of the circuit have been strengthened over last year in a much greater proportion, the Tigers are going go-ing to be a very hard team to win from. The club is unusually well fortified In the catching department and De Vermel' i '.ok and (.iiauian lnuk i !. as good a trio as has bei n in the Vernon Ver-non backstop department in many moons. They are all heady catchers and have already shown that they have lost nothing of their former p-p and are working catchers. They may also be depended upon to hit the ball in the pinches, and their ability as backstops is unquestioned. The pitching staff is past the experimental ex-perimental stage and there are a number num-ber of twirlers upon whom Essick knows that he can depend. The veterans, vet-erans, Fromme and Chech, are showing show-ing big league form, despite the cool weather that has prevailed for soim 1 time. These two urny be depended upon to win their share of games this season. Dell, Houck. Buckles, Reiger and Fin m ran are nlsr pitching a fine article ar-ticle of ball, and it is going to be a difficult problem Or Essick to decide whom to let go when the weeding-out ' process begins. Infield Looks Strong At the initial sack Borton is cavort -! lng around as though it were midst B son and Meusel at second never looked look-ed better. Beck comes highly recommended recom-mended and judging from past per- formances should prove one of the real sensations of the league this year and be able to fill in either at third or shortstop Westerzil will be able to play any of the infield positions where he may be needed and Hosp can also be depended de-pended on in any infield emergency. With Chadbourne, Miller and Al-cock Al-cock scampering in the gardens, Essick Es-sick has no cause to worry about his outfield, as all these men aie finished performers and know how to wallop the horsehlde. Altogether, the Vernon Tigers look very good this year and will furnish the Salt Lake City fans a real treat when they open there next Tuesday. When the Cubs met Vernon today they were 25 er cent stronger than ben they tangled with the Angels a few days ago, thanks to better and warmer training weather. Toda the Chlcagbans were thoroughly thawed out The Tigers today were in better rendition than ihe Angels when they met the Cubs, thanks to three or four additional training day9. Essick continues to work his squad morning, noon and almost into the night, whether in sunshine, rain or slush.