Brooklyn Baseball Monthly [/center][center]SPECIAL EDITION[/center]
[center]Spring Training![/center]
Spring Training is over and opening day is almost upon us. Let's take a look at how some of our players did leading up to the first game of the season.
Our catching staff of Tubby Spencer, Pat Donahue, and Lew Ritter were not impressive offensively, with none of them hitting above .250, but they remain a solid group of defensive players and should do quite well behind the plate.
Hughie Jennings' age is starting to show a little bit, as he doesn't move quite as fast or fluidly as he once did. He hit only .172 in 61 Plate Appearances during training.
It should be an interesting year for Harry Pattee at Second Base. He only became the starter after the late season call ups last year, and was not overly impressive, but he is looking good going into this season. He hit .333 in 64 Plate Appearances in spring training and has really worked on getting the bat on the ball. His defensive skills only continue to improve. 
Shortstop Bill Dahlen looks to be having a late-career resurgance. The 39 year old hit .296 in 59 Plate Appearances with 3 Doubles in training. And when he hits the ball he's been hitting it hard! We hope to see some good things out of him this season, as who knows how much longer he has to play. 
There are some interesting things happening in the outfield. Joe Kelley has been hitting ball more frequently and harder, hitting .315 in the preseason. He would make an excellent full time outfielder if the positions were not already full. As it is, he will be prepared to step in should the need arise. Utility Right Fielder Walt McCredie looks like a good prospect for the upcoming season, having hit .328, the highest of all the major leaguers, with 1 Home Run during the spring. Willie Keeler has played in 1001 major league games and shows no signs of letting up. During the preseason he hit only slightly less than McCredie (.320 vs. .328) but has shown a drastically increased power in his hitting. Hopefully the 36 year old still has a number of seasons left in Center Field. PITCHING
There were no remarkable performances in the pitching department. Arguably the best performance was given by George Bell, whose ERA was 2.34 in 20 Innings Pitched, but he only accumulated 5 Strikeouts while giving up 3 Walks. He is currently slated to be the 5th starter which means he probably won't see much action during the season. Analysts are predicting that Brooklyn will finish 2nd behind Pittsburgh this season. That's a good sign but it will be the other way around if we have any thing to say about it. They also think that Honus Wagner is a player to be feared (again). Pittsburgh has moved him from right field to shortstop this season so hopefully that will have some negative effect on his offensive abilities.
Brooklyn's depth chart and starting lineups for the season are as follows:
[url=http:///home.comcast.net/~jeffreymgeorge/Almanac1900/index.html]Wrathchild's 20th Century Puresim Replay[/url]
