DEVELOPMENT OF THE NINE

The University nine began this season in the face of discouraging prospects. New men had to be developed for every position except pitcher and left and centre field. Clarkson and Stillman afforded excellent material for the pitching and for centre field, and Wendell for left field. All three men made good records in batting last season.

In the infield, Frantz, Murphy and Storey were unable to play, and Coolidge could not come out at the start. The team had lost its second and third basemen by graduation. In the outfield Devens was kept out of the game for some time owing to a weak knee, and was later retired for the season by a second injury to his knee.

With the squad crippled by the loss of so much good material it has been an uphill fight during the entire season. A smooth and consistent development has been prevented to a large degree by the number of men who have been laid off owing to sickness or injury. Coolidge was unable to play for some time during the middle of the season because of a broken shoulder. Skilton has been laid off for a while, and lately Carr has been threatened with typhoid fever, which has prevented him from doing much work.

The team has won all but two of its games, and this fact has made it hard to realize how far below a first-class standard the playing has been. The fielding has been on the whole steady, though in no way brilliant; but brilliancy is hard to expect after the squad has been so much weakened by sickness and injury.

The batting has been the weak feature of the play from the very start. Toward the middle of the season it improved perceptibly; but in the last few games, when the men have come up against more difficult pitchers, the number of hits has been very small. The victories for Harvard this season have been due to her ability to shut out her opponents rather than to hard hitting.