Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1915 — FEDERAL LEAGUE DEVELOPING STARS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FEDERAL LEAGUE DEVELOPING STARS

(By IRWIN N. HOWE, Statistician for the Federal League.) Figures show that the Federal league is developing a set of youthful stars who bid fair to rival in prowess, the most famous of its bestknown veterans and who already are the equals of youths their own age in the two older major leagues. Around a nucleus of experienced ball players, there has been formed a corps of brilliant youngsters, their talent trained to a degree approaching perfection, whom the scouts of the new league have drawn from! minor leagues and colleges in numbers easily equaling that drafted by the National and American. Ed Zwllling of the Chicago Whales, has developed wonderfully as an outfielder. He covers an immense amount of ground and gathers in seemingly impossible drives. Recent figures show Zwilling’s batting at a .325 clip. For comparison, as indicating that his work with the stick is not due to poor pitching, the average of Konetchy, one of the best batters who ever swung a club in the National league, may be noted .260 for the season. The batting of Westerzill, third baseman for the Brooklyn Federals, has been of a sensational nature. He

has hit a .476 ’average so far, while Hal Chase of the Buffalo Feds has hit for only a .258 average. Brooklyn has another hard hitter in Cooper, who, in fifteen games, has clouted at a rate of .370.

Fielder Jones, one of the wizards of the national pastime, has developed a powerful batter in young Tobin, whose extra-base hits make him a terror to pitchers. His batting percentage so far this year is .289, while Rebel Oakes, a star batter in the National league, is credited with .255 against Federal league pitching this season. Hanford and Flack of Chicago, little heard of before, joining the new circuit, have earned as much praise for their fielding as for their hitting. Charles Deal and Leslie Mann, who left the “world champion” Braves for St. Louis and Chicago teams of the Federal league respectively, startle fans with the fanciest sort of fielding, and in Kenworthy, Rawlings and Chadbourne, practically newcomers in big league baseball, Kansas City has found three exceptionally clever defensive players. In his first fifty-six chances, Rawlings, holding down the difficult position of shortstop, made but one error, while Chadbourne takes care of acres of territory in center field.