Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 August 1919 — GOOD QUALITIES OF SHORTSTOP FLETCHER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOOD QUALITIES OF SHORTSTOP FLETCHER

Not Flashy, but Brainy and Most Reliable of Infielders. Splendid Work of Veteran Overlooked In Exoitement Caused by Sensational Playing of Outfielder Young and Larry Doyle. In the excitement caused by the sensational hitting and fielding of Rosa Young, the timely swatting of Larry Doyle and the generally fine work of the Giant team as a whole, the results obtained by at least one member of the cast have been somewhat overlooked, says a New York critic. The player in question is Arthur Fletcher. It was 11 long years} ago that Fletcher firstr eased his way intc a major league game, but he is still very much in the running. There are ❖

more flashy shortstops in the game than the Collinsville veteran, but John McGratv would hardly consider passing Fletcher along in exchange for any of them. Injuries sustained on the eve of the opening of the championship season slowed Fletcher up in the first few days of play and finally forced him to fall out of line and allow Eddie Sicking and A 1 Baird to take turns at plugging the gap between second and third bases. It irked him to remain on the bench, however, and he missed only six games. He was not in the best of shape when be reported for duty after his brief lay-off, and even now his back, wrenched in an exhibition game in mid-April, bothers him when he makes an unusually strenuous play, yet his physical \condition is only faintly work. Since resuming jhis place in the lineup Fletcher has peppered pellet at a .263 clip. This average is not a particularly remarkable one, yet when the details of his batting are scanned it will be found that his hits have been of a most timely nature. If Fletcher’s batting has been of a timely nature his fielding has been -doubly so. Of course he has booted a few grounders, but at critical moments, when the blocking of a hardhit ball has meant the checking of an incipient rally by the opposing club, he has not been found wonting.

Arthur Fletcher.