[Big Six]

Boston Post, April 25, 1926

RED SOX OFF TO FAST START
Carrigan's Team Looks Like A Winner

BOSTON--With the 1926 campaign now almost a month old, the contours of the season are beginning to take shape. The clubs that were predicted to finish in the first division are taking their places there; most of the players we are accustomed to seeing at the top of the batting and pitching lists are there once again.

And, after a successful 1925 season that ended one loss short of another trip to the World Series, the Red Sox are giving their fans every indication that 1926 will find them in contention all season long.

Only in the outfield does Bill Carrigan's club seem unsettled. Veteran Tris Speaker is, clearly, not the player he once was, and last summer's acquisition, Bing Miller, has started off the season in a slump. Irish Meusel, Claude Cooper, and Chick Shorten are each alternating flashes of brilliance with alarming bouts of mediocrity. Kiki Cuyler is being given his best opportunity yet to earn a full-time job, and at age 27, it might be now or never for him. Waiting at Providence are twenty-one year old Martin Dihigo and twenty-two year old Si Rosenthal.

Further complicating the outfield situation is the fact that two days ago, the Sox traded Walt Meinert to the Washington Senators. The Washington club was so eager to acquire Walt that they offered one of the most electrifying young pitchers in all of the game, Hilton Smith, for him, and the Red Sox jumped at the bait.

"Meinert is a good ball player, and I wasn't eager to trade him," explained Carrigan. "However, unless everyone I know in baseball is wrong, Hilton Smith is going to be a star one day." This was clearly a trade made with the future in mind, as Boston's front-line pitchers are all approaching their autumnal years. Relative newcomer Jesse Haines, at 32, is the youngest of the five men who receive the most starting assignments; George Dauss, Hugh Bedient, and Joe Wood are all 36.

Everywhere else, the Red Sox have concocted a seemingly ideal blend of youth and experience. The veteran leader is, of course, second baseman Pat O'Farrell, who is playing like a colt in these first weeks of the season. His .333 average is almost an exact duplicate of his career mark, and he can still do all the things on a ball field that have made him one of the greats of the game.

Next to him at the initial sack, Lou Gehrig represents the promise of youth. Last year, the twenty-two year old slugger had a season that rivaled that of Babe Ruth for power and production, and with a truckload of extra base hits, sixteen RBI and twenty-six runs scored, he has picked up right where he left off...