f players who made good without attracting freakish
attention. The rise of the Washington team from seventh to second place
brought its youngsters into the limelight prominently, and of these
Foster and Moeller were commended highly. Gandil, who had his second
tryout in fast company, plugged the hole at first base which had worried
Washington managers for some time. Shanks also made a reputation for
himself as a fielder. These men were helped somewhat by the showing of
their team, but the case of Gandil would have been notable In any
company. His first advent into the majors with the White Sox showed him
to be an exceedingly promising player, but for some reason his work fell
off until he was discarded into the International League. There he
quickly recovered his stride and, when he did come back shortly after
the season opened last spring, he demonstrated that he had the ability
to hit consistently and proved a tower of strength to Griffith's team.

Baumgardner of the St. Louis Browns was an example of a youngster making
good in spite of comparatively poor company. His pitching record with a
team which finished in seventh place stamps him as one of the best, if
not the best, of the slab finds of the year. Jean Dubuc of Detroit was
another find of rare value and still another was Buck O'Brien of Boston,
but these had the advantage over Baumgardner of getting better support
both in the field and at bat. O'Brien in particular was fortunate to
break in with a championship team.

The White Sox introduced three youngsters who made good and promise to
keep on doing so. Two of them, George Weaver and Morris Rath, started
the season with Chicago and the third, Baker Borton, joined the team
late in the summer. Still later Kay Schalk started in to make what looks
like a name for himself as a catcher.

* * * * *

No better illustration of the slight difference between a pennant
winning machine and a losing team in the American League has occurred
recently than the Boston Red Sox furnished last year. It did not differ
materially from the team of 1910 which compelled the use of the nickname
"Speed Boys." Jake Stahl was a member of that team, and except for the
absence of Stahl in 1911, the champions of 1912 were composed of
practically the same men who finished in the second division only the
year before. But for the showing of 1910 the whole credit for last
season's transformation might be attribut