Briggs Cage has the atmosphere of a florist's greenhouse. The sun comes in through a glass roof and mixes with the rising dust so that breathing becomes a very difficult chore. Oddly enough one man who spends a lot of time in the cage isn't even worried about breathing. Some sport they're playing there with bats and balls is enough to keep him fully occupied.

Stuffy McInnis started spring baseball practice with some 80 men. He now has 50 and from 2 to 5 p.m. he holds practices without any help.

"How's the season shape up?" we asked the other day.

"Well if Doerr and Williams get through without any injuries, and McDermott Comes through--it's really too early to tell."

Fill in the Holes

And it really is. From the present crop of 50 candidates the squad of approximately 25 men must be picked. When we first went down to the cage, we figured that this would merely mean filling the sports left vacant through graduation.

Entering the cage we looked around and happened to notice Hal Moffie, a well-known outfielder working out around second. Captain John Caulfield, a familiar sight to baseball fans in right field, was playing in a little close. In fact he was holding down first as the ball was pegged around the infield. Cliff Crosby, minus the pads, and mask was using a five fingered glove in a pepper game. "He's been playing third," someone told us.

There were 15 men who seemed to be pitchers. Ira Godin, strikeout ace of last year's nine, was burning them in to a fellow called Charlie Walsh, '52's freshman backstop. Barry Turner, number two man last year, injured his heel earlier this year, and was pitching batting practice for the first time. Whether he would be ready for duty when the season opened or not was still open to speculation, but his heel still hurt when he stamped on it.

Turner was one of the three lefties on the squad list, and men around the cage couldn't testify as to the ability of the others. The possibility of the famed two-man staff trying it again this year seemed pretty good. As in the case of other positions the lack of a Jayvee team last year will hurt the mound staff deeply. The transition from freshman ball to varsity is a pretty tough one, McInnis has said, and it's only the exceptional player that can make it in his sophomore year. A Jayvee team enables those fellows who couldn't make it right off to get some more experience.

Suppose He's a Late Starter

"The way it is now," he said, "I hate to cut anyone. Take that kid over there." He pointed to a short dark-haired fellow who was hitting out a few. "Now suppose he's a late starter, say I keep him on and one game comes and he pinch hits in the winning run. That would be swell, but how can I tell now what he can do it. It's pretty tough to work with 50 men all season, you know. If he had a chance to develop..."

Asking who's going to play where is like asking the color of Matilda Klodnagle's hair. You can't tell for things are changing every day.

The program lists six first basemen, but the two leading contenders are not native first sackers. Captain John Caulfield and Jim Kenary are converted outfielders who seem to be learning their way around pretty quickly. Caulfield played a little first base for fun back at Cambridge Latin, and Kenary throws righty.

Second base should provide one of the real pre-season battles for position. Both Tom Cavanaugh and Myles Huntington played around the keystone sack last year and ended up the season with identical batting averages, 200. Huntington has only been out for a week and is still bothered by hockey legs, while Cavanaugh seems to have picked up a bit more finesse in the pivot play.

And Then There's Third

Johnny White seems like a sure thing at short, showing speed and accuracy in the early practices. White, and Charlie Walsh behind the plate are two footballers who won't be much good to Lloyd Jordon this spring.

The situation at third base seems to be bound up with the catching slot. If Walsh succeeds in replacing Cliff Crosby behind the plate, a move which is not unlikely, Crosby will challenge Pete Lucas for the hot corner. Kev Reilly, a junior who played some third last year is another contender for the starting position.

Hal Moffle, the heavy hitting holdover from last year's nine, should be the mainstay of the gardeners. Ed Foynes, Gordon Ellis, Dick Kobusch, are all veterans and Mac Morrison, Bernie Akillian, and Ralph Robinson are promising sophomores. Practically speaking, McInnes will probably have less trouble with the outer pastures than any other part of the field.

Its Cooler Here

Stuffy McInnis, first baseman of Connie Mack's immortal $100,000 infield, is starting his sophomore year at Harvard. Memories of warm climates encountered during the spring southern jaunt last year, will remain memories. He'll travel of course, ten out of the last eleven games are away, but they're not far enough away to allow swimming after the games. By playing the Boston teams he'll meet some of the toughest opposition in the northeast. All in all there's a 19 game schedule and its just a little more than three weeks away.