Show paz aca THE T HE argument broke into a rash concerning the easiest position to play on a baseball team we put the debate up to joe mccarthy who knows what it Is 1 all about no tatter latter what the position might happen to be why dont you ask a lot of ba ball players joe said and get their slant after stirn welsa weiss had played third three or four our lays basked I 1 asked him im how he liked the grantland nice job great he said but boj doj still get paid anthe on the first and fifteenth for or playing third we accepted manager mccar thys challenge and soon lined tip up the viewpoints ol of all the earnest athletes we could corral in the con census that followed the catching assignment was rated the toughest by an extensive margin what about the tha pitcher the pitcher only works every fourth or fifth day and too often only tolls four our or five innings but the cascheri cai catcher cheri the better catchers get few vacations you fou might talk to bill dickey some time about this and discover the beatings they take around the plate catching a hundred hall ball 9 games ames a year is harder work than playing any other position for three hundred games all of which leads up to the ei easiest blest or softest job on the tea team m this is where the argument started hot corner cornee easiest we talked with the Car cardinals dinks yankees red sox tigers indians indiana and several others about the easiest position to play from the start the players began voting for or burd third and first base the consensus finally settled on third base As one veteran expressed it lt lalu lu tell you about playing third base on a general average when they slap one at you it Is either a hit or an out dut but nearly always i a hit if you dont handle it yes there are bunts to cover but as a percentage proposition third abird basemen get few errors thrown into their records it always happens in a hurry at third base and it is all different at short and second they have room enough and time enough to move around the third baseman the next soft job consensus went to first base but a first baseman is supposed to be one of the best hitters on tho the club charley comiskey was the first of all the first basemen who left the safety of the bag to cut down a few drives slashed towards right field that 50 years ago was a daring innovation it remained for or hal chase to prove brov e how bow an artist could handle first but hal was too great an artist for foe his own good along certain devious lines we wont discuss here now here Is a peculiar angle baseball has bas known more great first basemen and more great second has basemen men thin than it has ever known shortstops short stops and third basemen 4 just how bow can you ym explain this at first base we have had stars from the days of fred tenney on through frank chance stuffy mcinnis hall hal chase george lou gehrig and bill terry many St stars arsat at second second has iss the longest parade par ade of stars cajole collins coffins evers F risch hornsby gordon doerr but outside of the enduring non honus us wagner shortstop has given the game few outstanding names there have been such good ones as bancroft jackson jennings tinker long wallace but only a limited list ranged below wagners magners Wag ners fame third base voted as the easiest job on the club to hold should be a arrayed ayed and bede be decked cited with gre great I 1 names the list of good ones Is fairly ion long g the list of gr great eat ones very scant jimmy colllns collins pie traynor art devlin heinle groh red bed rolfe bill Bk bradley adley these were among the best in or order er to 0 war ward 0 oft indignant gnant and protesting letters well admit in advance that many good names have been left off the list due mainly to a zigzag memory the tough spot and the mos most important ae spot on the infield id Is the C combination om of short and second two fast menbere men here can take pretty good care of the meld infield especially those of the rizzuto gordon gordoa and the pesky doerr type not to overlook k marion and his mate on the cardinals third base may be the hot corner but it also requires less terrain to patrol no room room lo 10 for alibis the box score is a national institution ution that has been attracting more and more popular copular interest in the united states tor for 70 years it carries compact news to countless millions from the smaller hamlets h allm on to the greater dales and d the smaller hamlets furnish most t of the anz stars who gather their tame in big league centers hero here it is again with a complete record of runs hits bits errors strikeouts eouts stolen bases it II offers no space for or alibis or excuses |