McGraw Re-Signs, Grove Silences Critics and the Pirates Eye Genewich — Inside The Sporting News, May 13, 1926
Front page banner of The Sporting News , May 13, 1926 edition, featuring the paper’s iconic “Base Ball Paper of the World” masthead.
A special expanded edition of The Sporting News from May 13, 1926, featuring league notes, club rumors, player features, baseball humor, and vintage sporting advertisements from across the majors.
Inside Today’s Sporting News
National League Notes
- Jim Tierney Stays in New York and McGraw Signs New Contract
- Bucs Likely to Get Genewich in Trade
- Uncle Robby Gets Them All in Step
- They’ve Got to Be Useful in Redland
- Hal Rhyne Chases Moore Off Second
American League Notes
- Publicity Doesn’t Agree With Grove
- Silent Knight of the Chisox
- Detroit’s Infield Woes Trot Right Along
- Same Old Senators, Same Old Results
- Pitcher Fred Lucas
Columns and Features
- Scribbled by Scribes
- Questions and Answers
- Back of the Home Plate
- Baseball By-Plays
Vintage Baseball Advertisements
- Advertisements
JIM TIERNEY STAYS IN NEW YORK AND McGRAW SIGNS NEW CONTRACT
JAWN DIDN’T WANT HIM ON ROAD WITH TEAM
Giants’ Leader Had Until 1927 to Go on Old Agreement at $30,000 Per Year; Fans Interested in Yankees.
NEW YORK, N. Y., May 10.—John J. McGraw has just signed a new contract for three years to manage the Giants. The Little Napoleon’s old contract expires early in 1927, when his term of ten seasons will have expired. In 1917, I believe, McGraw signed with former President Hempstead for $30,000 a year and a percentage of the profits. When Charles A. Stoneham bought control of the club from Hempstead in January, 1919, McGraw obtained a block of stock and was elected vice-president and a member of the club’s board of directors.
When McGraw attached his John Hancock to the new contract in Chicago last Friday, he made the surprising statement that for a time he had been disposed not to tie himself up for three more years. But inasmuch as McGraw’s services as manager are indispensable, evidently President Stoneham made him a final proposition that was entirely satisfactory.
As readers of The Sporting News were informed last Winter, efforts have been made by Stoneham, with McGraw’s approval, to sell control of the Giants, said efforts having been successfully blocked by Treasurer Francis X. McQuade. Since the beginning of the present season, rumors of friction between Stoneham and McGraw have been in circulation.
It appears that McGraw some time ago objected to the presence of Secretary James J. Tierney as business manager of the Giants on the road. McGraw has made no secret of his opposition to Tierney, who always has been supported in his methods by Stoneham. Incidentally, the election of Tierney as assistant treasurer two years ago never has been relished by McGraw.
Tierney Doesn’t Make Trip.
When the Giants went to Philadelphia about two weeks ago, McGraw remained at home, suffering with a heavy cold. Tierney, meanwhile, accompanied the team to Quakertown. On Wednesday night, when the Giants were about to leave Philadelphia for Boston, Tierney returned to New York and Eddie Brannick became traffic manager.
The Giants, led by Roger Bresnahan, arrived in Boston looking to see McGraw, but he still was staying home in Westchester. The Giants were murdered three times by the Braves and then returned to Polo Grounds to meet the Phillies on Sunday, May 3.
With 40,000 rooters on hand and McGraw watching the proceedings from a window in the club house, the Giants played like a lot of tired old minor leaguers and were badly beaten. Big Jack Wisner turned the tables on the Baker the following day, with McGraw still a club house spectator.
The ridiculous playing of the Giants during McGraw’s enforced absence was attributed to lack of master mind leadership, which seemed partially true when the team, with Jesse Barnes pitching airtight ball, shut out the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, while McGraw directed the proceedings from his usual seat on the bench.
McGraw deserves the reported boost in salary. But it remains to be seen now that he has signed whether Secretary Tierney will continue to travel on the road with the team. Another point worth watching will be McGraw’s power to buy new material regardless of price. At any rate, the Giants cannot hope to succeed unless McGraw is permitted to run things as he used to do during the Hempstead-Brush ownership.
Extremely cold weather has held down the attendance figures at the Polo Grounds on several occasions since the opener on April 13. Last Tuesday’s game with the Phillies, for instance, was deserted because the fans didn’t care to be frozen to the marrow. But whenever large crowds turned out, there was much of the old rooting for McGraw’s men.
Figures Must Pick Up.
The prospective sale of the club will depend largely on the way the Giants are supported by the baseball public. If there is no increase over last year’s figures, or should there be a further shrinkage this year, insiders declare that a change of ownership will be effected next Winter. It is both true and significant that Treasurer McQuade, who holds the whip hand, is not so chummy with Stoneham as he used to be.
After winning eight straight games, three each from the Athletics and Senators at Colonel Ruppert’s Stadium, the Yankees visited Shibe Park last Monday and proceeded to lose three in a row to the suddenly revived Mackmen. There were no excuses for these defeats. The Yankees played ragged ball, for which reason, of course, the Shibe Park rooters couldn’t understand why they were leading the American League race.
When the Athletics dropped three straight here, they looked as if they were full of quinine or something worse, and much ridicule was heaped upon them by alleged critics who still cannot tell you where first base is located. But on their own stamping grounds, the Athletics played rings around the groggy Yankees, who seemed to be overwhelmed with the well-known rattles.
Still 15,000 loyal rooters turned out to encourage the Yankees in their battle with the Senators at the Stadium on Thursday. Although the Yankees lost, 5 to 3, they were not disgraced and fought manfully to the end.
Walter Ruether and Urban Shocker were the rival pitchers at the outset. With two out in the first inning, Sam Rice hit a triple and Goose Goslin pumped a home run into the right field bleachers. Good old Roger Peckinpaugh made another home run in the fourth, a drive that Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel and Earle Combs couldn’t reach.
The Yankees were held scoreless by Ruether until the fifth, when Meusel doubled and scored on Tony Lazzeri’s timely single. In the seventh, Meusel again doubled, with two out, and Lazzeri walked, whereupon Ruether was yanked in favor of Firpo Marberry, of whom Joe Dugan singled and brought Meusel home. Pat Collins also walked, filling the bases. Then Harris resorted to strategy which proved fatal. He put little Adams in to bat for Shocker, who had been pitching great ball, with the result that the pinch hitter raised a little pop fly to Ossie Bluege.
“Everything Goes Wrong.”
Still the Yankees were only one run behind the Senators in the eighth. Two were down when the enemy scored two runs on Rice’s single, Goslin’s pass, Joe Judge’s base hit and a muff by Catcher Collins, who had Goslin blocked off when he dropped the relay from Koenig.
The Yankees scored another run in the ninth and had the bases filled with one out when Aaron Ward, pinch hitting for Bob Shawkey, drove into a beautiful double play, Peck to Harris to Judge.
Incidentally, Babe Ruth sprained his leg, his first injury of the championship season, while running for a twisting fly in the third inning, and Ben Paschal took his place. The Bambino, who has been playing the game of his life, was loudly cheered by the crowd.
Nothing daunted, 15,000 rooters were in the Stadium on Friday to welcome the Detroit Tigers and the eminent Mr. Ty Cobb, as lively as ever. To the intense delight of the crowd, the Yankees won, 7 to 6, and broke their short losing streak.
The deciding run was scored in the eleventh inning, amid intense excitement. Waite Hoyt lacked his recent efficiency and had to give way to Herb Pennock in the eighth, a move that saved the day. Cobb used Holloway, Collins, Wells and Stoner in the box, also four pinch hitters, in his desperate attempt to stave off defeat.
The Yankees looked like sure winners with the score of 6 to 1 in their favor at the end of the fifth inning, after which Hoyt began to lose control. In the eleventh, Lazzeri, who played superbly, opened with a pass and was advanced on Dugan’s sacrifice and romped home on Pat Collins’ base hit.
Ruth made his sixth home run in the first inning with Lou Gehrig on base, but his lame leg forced him to give way to Paschal in the ninth inning. When Lazzeri crossed the plate in triumph, hundreds of delighted fans hopped onto the field and surrounded him.
The young Italian wore a large bruise under one eye, which had been struck by a crossed bouncer. He scored two runs, lined out two double baggers and handled six fielding chances without a blemish.
Koenig still continues to hit the ball hard and his short stopping is intense. If Koenig and Lazzeri can stand the pace, the Yankees not only will remain among the contenders, but also will pack the Stadium when the time arrives to put on Sunday whiskers.
Looks like a hot year for the American League in New York.
—JOE VILA
BUCS LIKELY TO GET GENEWICH IN TRADE
Feud Said to Exist Between Pitcher and Manager Bancroft of Braves, Who Recently Fined Him $50.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., May 11.—Reports in circulation here are to the effect that a deal is in the making whereby Joe Genewich, right-handed pitcher of the Boston Braves, comes to the Pirates. This far there has been no intimation as to who would go to Boston and in this connection the supposed deal goes through, but it would likely be an infielder or outfielder.
Genewich, a seasoned man, has been worked comparatively little by the Braves this season. It is said that he and Manager Dave Bancroft do not hit and that there has been growing hostility between the two of late. Last week, in one of the Boston games at Forbes Field, the situation is said to have reached a climax when Bancroft was notified with the man on in wild Genewich made the Phillies play. The manager felt the pitcher should have tried for a double play instead of heading a runner off at third.
After this alleged incident Bancroft is said to have fined the player $50.
Manager Bill McKechnie is known to think some addition of Genewich, who is a smart fellow.
It is figured that something will be cooked up before June 15, when the old goose on intra-league waivers expires.
Genewich is 38 years old and has been with the Braves since 1923. He jumped directly to the National League club from the semi-pro ranks of Elmira, N. Y., his home town.
Cardinals Poke For Catcher.
ST. LOUIS, Mo., May 11.—Bob Convery, president of the St. Paul Club, was in St. Louis yesterday supposedly to discuss with Manager Rogers Hornsby and Cardinal officials the matter of a deal involving Catcher Fred Hoffman of the American Association team. Hornsby wants Hoffman and terms have been talked over for a deal, but it is understood the St. Paul Club is not willing to let the former Yankee backstopper come here until after the A. A. season.
If a deal is made at this time, St. Paul might use another man as pitcher, with an outfielder thrown in if he is needed. Hoffman was transferred to St. Paul by the Yankees last year.
George Wiltse Is Reading Manager.
READING, Pa., May 11.—George Wiltse, former big league pitcher, is the new manager of the local team of the International League. He took the place of Byrd Lynn, who was let out by the management recently. George has been working out with Reading for two weeks and took over the team yesterday. Last year he scouted for the Giants.
Cincinnati Buys George Dumont.
CINCINNATI, O., May 11.—The Cincinnati Club yesterday announced the purchase of Pitcher George Dumont from Minneapolis of the American Association. He is a veteran right-hander, and was with Washington in 1916, ’17 and ’18, and the Boston Red Sox in 1920. He began his career with Minneapolis in 1914.
Little Rock Gets New Catcher.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 11.—The local club of the Southern League has announced the acquisition of two catchers. They are Rodney Whitney, who comes from the San Francisco Missions, and Samstock from the Minneapolis Club of the American Association.
Dallas Signs Pitcher Slim McGrew.
DALLAS, Tex., May 11.—Walter “Slim” McGrew, formerly of the Southern League, who was once with Washington, has been signed by the local club. He was with Rochester of the International League for a while this Spring.
UNCLE ROBBY GETS THEM ALL IN STEP
GRIMES FALLS IN AND VANCE IS READY FOR GRAND MARCH.
Starting Pitcher Finishes in 15 of First 20 Games; Fewster Fills Bill in Good Shape at Second.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., May 10.—Con April 30, Burleigh Grimes, won his first game of the 1926 season for the Brooklyn Robins, although he had previously lost two starts. That was the sixth straight victory for the Robins, and then by they climbed to the top of the National League, where they have ever since been ensconced. Just one week later, Grimes beat the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis by 7 to 1 and kept the Robins at the top of the pile, because on the same day the Chicago Cubs shut out the New York Giants in Chicago, and the Cincinnati Reds won, which kept the Reds one-half game behind the Robins. It was the 29th and winning for Grimes.
After the Robins had made it six straight on April 30 by Grimes turning the best on Saturday, May 1, to the Phillies in Brooklyn. Dazzy Vance made his second start for the year and looked pretty good. He held the Phils to seven hits, but two of those were homers by Hack Wilson and Cy Williams. Another handicap was that Southpaw Clarence Mitchell, the Robins’ former playmate, was pitching for the Phils against Vance. When Mitchell is going good he is one of those numerous but inexplicable pitchers who have certain teams hoodooed, even if they are knocked out of the box every time they face non-hoodooed opponents. Mitchell has become something of a moral hazard for the Robins, as Rube Marquard was for the Giants when he was with Brooklyn.
The Robins won nine of their last ten in the East. After losing that tough one to the Phillies, they whipped the Braves at Ebbets Field on May 2, 3 and 4. They went West, and Vance lost the opening game in St. Louis on May 6. He pitched one inning and allowed three runs. Doc McWeeny then delivered six hitless innings as Vance’s rescuer, and Rube Ehrhardt pitched one inning, which was hitless. On Friday, May 7, Grimes subdued the Cardinals, and on the next two days the Robins also won, Watson Clark pitching five-hit ball to take the windup from St. Louis.
They Are Going Some.
Thus the Robins had won 13 of their last 14 games, up to the night of Sunday, May 9, and even a nominal critic would admit little detriment from the absence of Flatbush and environs, if the Robins keep up the successful tour of the West.
A remarkable feature of the Robins’ progress is that their pitchers went the route in 13 of the first 20 games of the season. That comes near to being a record early in the campaign, when pitchers are prone to have hangover lamenesses from Spring training. Still another odd feature is that Dazzy Vance has contributed two of the five games in which the Brooklyn pitcher had to retire, yet Vance is famous for going the route in fact, he held the National League record for endurance. He has started three times, has been driven to the showers twice, and went the route and lost against Clarence Mitchell.
Milton Stock is no longer in our busy midst. Chick Fewster showed signs of becoming an acceptable second baseman, and Uncle Wilbert Robinson had Jerry Standaert and Bob Marriott in reserve, wherefore he gave Stock his unconditional release on May 5. After May 15, the waiver for the ten days’ notice—Stock will no longer be drawing down semi-monthly installments on that $9,500 contract which he extracted from Uncle Wilbert this Spring by holding out until the Robins started North from Florida.
Robby did not like Stock’s tactics in 1925, and was not appeased when Stock batted .329. It will be remembered that the Robins finished in a tie with Chicago for sixth place. The last day of the season was rainy, and Robby was exceedingly peevish.
Milt Picked Bad Day.
Stock made the mistake of approaching Robby in the club house on that last day, when the president-manager was seething because the team had finished lower than at any time since he became manager in 1914. When Stock chirped up at that unpropitious time to ask for more salary in 1926, Robby almost exploded. Ice bags had to be supplied to his head, and chest. Then Stock held out this Spring for $12,000, an increase of 50 per cent over the $8,000 he received in 1925, and which was offered to him for 1926.
They eventually compromised on $9,500, but everybody familiar with the situation knew that Robby would release Stock as soon as he felt he could possibly get along without him. The team had won eight of nine games and reached first place without the aid of Stock, when Robby handed Milt the notice of release.
Jacques Fournier took a notion to steal on May 4 in Brooklyn, and came to grief. Jacques is one of the largest men in the league, and he injured his leg by sliding into absolutely the smallest major leaguer known to science, who is Doc Gautreau, of the Boston Braves. Fournier was not dangerously hurt, but he had to take a rest. That gave Babe Herman, the left-handed substitute first baseman from Portland, Ore., a chance to show his wares, and Babe has been delivering the goods.
What a Difference Tonsils Make!
Jesse Petty southpawed that May 4 game against the Braves and beat them 3 to 2. It was his fifth straight winning. Petty is an entirely different person from the Petty who was bought from Indianapolis last season for $25,000. At that time, although he did not know it himself, Petty’s whole system was slowly being poisoned by diseased tonsils. Finally he had to quit and have the tonsils removed. He eliminated the poison during the Winter, and now he looks like a million dollars, because he has a head as well as an arm.
Talk is heard that in order to bolster his batting strength, Robby may buy Lou Fonseca, former Philly and Red, from Jersey City. By releasing Stock the club got down to the limit of 25 players, although if did not have to reduce to that figure until June 1. All managers like to be two or three below the limit so they can pick up an athlete upon whom waivers have been asked, or a promising busher. Several other may so soon.
Vance was called away from St. Louis to his home in Wisconsin because of the illness of his six-year-old daughter.
THOMAS S. RICE.
PUBLICITY DOESN’T AGREE WITH GROVE
WITH TRUMPETS SILENCED, SLENDER SOUTHPAW BEGINS TO WIN.
Form Shown by Expensive Pitcher Fits Mack’s Chances Up Many Degrees; Phil Batting Falls Away.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 10.—Just when their partisans were deserting them in battalions, the Athletics found their winning stride and were the outstanding team of the major leagues last week.
When this was written they had taken their sixth in a row. Followers of the team were quickly heartened by this recovery and now the fanatics, which had despaired of the team ever showing its 1925 form, are happy again.
Up to the time they came here, the Yanks had been riding rough-shod over the Eastern section of the league. It took the Athletics to prove that they were not merely miracle men, despite the punch in their batting order. Lefty Grove it was who started the Athletics on to fortune last Monday, when he turned the Yanks back. It was Grove who lost a close battle in New York after whiffing 11 opponents, including Ruth and Meusel twice, and he showed that this performance was no fluke by keeping the Yanks in check in the first game of the series here.
Then the next day, Jack Quinn, the ancient of the staff, won his third victory of the season by downing the ten demolishers in the New York batting order.
Baumgartner was the winner Wednesday, Walberg another pitcher, and was Walberg who won the opening game with the Browns after taking Furke’s place. Lefty Grove stepped forward Friday and again went the entire route and held the Missouri bat carriers to one run. Then Jack Quinn came back and blanked the Browns with five hits.
Grove’s Real Goods.
It is time now to say that Grove’s pitching has been consistently high-grade all season. It looks as if the left-hander with the fast pitch had found control at last. Last season, no-awarded many passes than any other pitcher in the American League, but this season he has been performing like a right-hander with a reputation for control.
It is unjust that a year ago Grove was being extolled all over the country as a pitcher who might burn up the league. His price tag of $100,600 was thrust in everybody’s eye. But Grove wasn’t a big winner by any means. Neither was he eager to the limelight. It is known that he was embarrassed greatly by the publicity directed to the sky-high figure that Mack paid Jack Dunn of Baltimore to get him.
This year, it has been different. Grove avoided the limelight on the training trip in Fort Myers. Very little trickled North about him. When the team came home, Grove was also neglected in the public prints. No longer was he embarrassed by columns of laudatory stories concerning his skill.
Relieved of all this gush, Grove stepped out and is now pitching the kind of ball that it was predicted he would pitch last season. Nothing succeeds like success and Grove now is so confident himself and so firmly entrenched in the destinies of the Athletics that he expects to keep on winning.
Keep Flag Talk Down.
In this connection, it might be set down now that neither Connie Mack, the players, nor the local press are making any pennant claims. The team is content to go ahead and win all the games possible and let the other teams do the predicting.
The recovery of the team was due primarily to the fact that the men have at last found their batting eyes. Even in defeat this Spring they played smarter ball than last year. The defense was much stiffer than last season and the pitching superior. The team lost game after game because it could not hit in a pinch, or hit when there was no pinch.
Now it was transparent that no team able to lead the American League last season in club batting was going to the other extreme in batting this season and recovery was bound to come. It came last week and when runs were needed, the hits were forthcoming.
Both Connie Mack and Kid Gleason were overjoyed at the improvement of the team and the routings of the Yanks and think their problems will be easier from now on.
The Phillies opened their Western trip by staggering badly in the series with the Reds. Cincinnati has always been the Black Hole of Calcutta to the Phils and this year does not appear to be any exception. The series opened Thursday when the Phils were submerged, 11 to 4. Clarence Mitchell, the veteran spitball left-hander, who had been leading the Phil staff with three straight victories, lost his first game of the season. The Reds greeted him with such a torrid attack that he didn’t last the first round. Willoughby and Peaslee, who followed, were also maltreated hard by Hendrick’s bat carriers.
Manager Fletcher struck rock bottom for pitching reserves and at the finish had to switch Jack Bentley from first base to the pitching box and Jack quickly showed that he had not forgotten the curving art by pitching no warm-up balls to the catcher and then blanking the Reds.
Donohue Starts Over Again.
Pete Donohue, whose record of 21 straight victories over the Phillies was broken late last season, started a new winning streak by holding the Phils in check, although he was batted freely.
The next day it looked as if the Phils were going to avenge the defeat for they came into the ninth enjoying a two-run lead with young Jack Knight, a paragon of efficiency. Then something happened. Base blows started to hum in the air. Finally, Pitcher Fred Lucas, acting in the role of emergency batsman, drove in the tying run and a minute later Dressen’s fourth hit of the afternoon scored the winning run and the Phils were beaten for the second straight day.
In the third game, Eppa Rixey blanked the Phils for the fashion, 2 to 0.
Fletcher is now devoting his attention to getting the team winning again. He has a good pitch. Men like Leach, Elliott, Harper, Williams, Mokan, Wilson and Henline can hit.
Fletcher now plans to use the shift system in his outfield. When a right-hander opposes, Harper will be in left, Leach in center and Williams in right. When a southpaw faces the Phils, Mokan will be in left, Nixon in center and Leach in right.
—JAMES C. ISAMINGER.
SILENT KNIGHT OF THE CHISOX
Left - Original Image from May 13, 1926 Sporting News, Right AI-Enhanced Version
Willie Kamm of the Chicago White Sox is known to us as “Silent Willie” because he is a dead panter. But at the same time this dead-pan coverer cuts a very important part of the White Sox attack. Ask Eddie Collins.
For the last few days Willie has been nursing an injured knee.
Kamm is putting in his fourth season at third base for the Chicago team, and it is possible that he is the least cheered of big league third sackers. He doesn’t do the spectacular. He simply isn’t built that way. But he does play his game and he has a style about him which makes the difficult chance look simple. That is Kamm the “good workman” ball player.
Willie is still a very young man. He was born in San Francisco, February 8, 1900, and was christened William Edward Kamm. His first professional baseball came in 1918, when he joined Sacramento. He didn’t start any oil truck fires at that tender age, but tried it again with San Francisco in 1920, and came along fast. After four seasons with the Seals, he was purchased by the White Sox and joined the Chicago team in the Spring of 1923. His major league batting figures stands at .276.
DETROIT’S INFIELD WOES TROT RIGHT ALONG
CONDITIONS ARE BETTER NOW, BUT THEY’VE BEEN VERY BAD.
Mullen Sent to Toronto, Which Means That Warner Has Third to Himself; Tigers Show Punch in New York.
DETROIT, Mich., May 10.—In one respect, at least, the Detroit Tigers are running true to tradition. The club may be hitting below par and otherwise be out of line with past performances, but it is having precisely the same infield troubles that have beset Detroit from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.
With the new season only a month old, Manager Ty Cobb already has found it necessary to make changes at every infield position, thereby reducing the team’s chances to tighten its defense.
At the start of the campaign, Lu Blue was at first base; Frank O’Rourke at second base; Johnny Tavener at shortstop and Jackie Warner at third base. Blue was the first to fall by the wayside. He was taken ill in Cleveland and was not again ready for service until the team arrived in the East. Thanks to Cobb’s refusal to send Johnny Neun to the Indians this Spring, the team had a capable substitute for Blue, but the point is that its efforts to develop team play usually are weakened by substitution.
With Blue on the hospital list, O’Rourke remained as the only veteran in the infield and then he caught the measles and yielded his post to young Charley Gehringer. Jackie Warner fell into a batting slump and for a few games Billy Mullen looked after third base, but with no better results on attack.
Tavener, the sole infield survivor up until this time, lasted until the team reached New York. There he suffered from a deep cold and had to leave the line-up. Fortunately, O’Rourke had recovered and was able to replace Tavener.
Bat Hard Against Yanks.
In spite of these handicaps, the Tigers have been maintaining about a .500 average in the won and lost column. They started their Eastern trip by losing to the Yankees in an 11-inning battle, but came back the next afternoon to check the Yanks, 7 to 5. They also walloped the Yankees on the third day (Sunday) before 50,000 fans. Cobb’s two home runs and two singles doing most of the day’s work.
Before leaving for the East, Ty Cobb gave out an interview in which he discussed, in a general way, the American League outlook. After four weeks of the pennant race, the Detroit manager reached certain conclusions that are interesting at this time. He is convinced that four clubs have a chance for the flag. He names Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Chicago, though not necessarily in that order.
In conceding the White Sox an outside chance, Cobb paid lofty praise to Eddie Collins and Everett Scott, the veteran keystone combination of that club. He said that the success or failure of the Chicago team depends in a large measure upon whether Collins and Scott can remain steadily in the game.
Cobb also has high regard for the White Sox pitching staff, headed by two able youngsters, Ted Lyons and Blankenship, with Urban Faber ready to deliver a first-class brand on hurling upon occasion.
Although the Athletics got away to a sorrowful start, Cobb insists that it is impossible to keep down a club possessed of the power and experience of the Mackmen. The same, he said, is true of Washington. New York is resting somewhat on youngsters in important places, but Cobb believes that the natural hitting power and capable pitching of the Yankees will keep the team in the race through September.
Not So Sure About Tigers.
Speaking of the Tigers, Cobb was neither over-enthusiastic nor downcast. He realizes that there are some deficiencies on his club that cannot be remedied at once. At the same time he thinks that the Tigers will improve as the young players gather experience and confidence and the hot weather enables the veterans to get in better shape. The Detroit captain is not hopeless, but its strength also uncertain that Cobb prefers to avoid over-optimism rather than predict them great.
Already the Tigers have cut the roster to the regulation 25 players. This was accomplished last week with the release of Billy Mullen, third baseman, and Jess Doyle, right-handed pitcher, to the Toronto International League Club.
Mullen goes to the Maple Leafs subject to recall at a moment’s notice. He leaves third base in sole charge of Warner, and if anything happens to Warner, Cobb can get Mullen back for the asking.
Mullen and Warner, two recruits, fought it out for the third base assignment in the training camp this Spring. Warner was the first to get into condition, and in the practice and exhibition games out-distanced his rival. Accordingly, he was sent to the far corner of the infield when the season started. In a short time, Warner slumped at bat and Cobb, in effort to shake the Tigers’ losing habits, replaced him with Mullen. But in the end he went back to Warner, and the release of Mullen doubtless means that Cobb is convinced Warner is the better ball player.
Doyle Fails to Bloom.
In going to Toronto, Jess Doyle returns to the team from which he was obtained by the Tigers in the Fall of 1924. He was with the Detroit club all of last season and made himself a reputation as a relief pitcher. With a year’s experience behind him, he was counted on for winning service in 1926, but the Spring Doyle’s work has been indifferent. It was so indifferent during the Spring training period that Cobb used him regularly as an umpire and not more than once or twice as a pitcher.
Although the Tigers are not carrying any surplus material, it is reported that another pitcher will be released before the club returns home from the East. Both Rip Collins, the veteran, and George Shelby Smith, the recruit right-hander from Toronto, are mentioned.
Newspaper dispatches have included the name of Clyde Manion in the same group, but that sounds absurd in view of Manion’s performances since the season started.
The young right-hander from the Pacific Coast turned in another excellent exhibition in Chicago just before the Tigers left for the eastward. The effort was wasted, but nevertheless it must go in Manion’s credit. After the White Sox had made four runs in the first two innings by hitting Edwin Wells, the left-hander, freely, Manion was sent to the box. In the remaining five innings he held the Chicago batters to four hits. Not one of them came in the ninth inning, at the time the White Sox did not score again and beat the Tigers, but they got no bigger.
Incidentally, that was the only game of the series the White Sox won. Earl Whitehill pitched two games against the Tigers and he lost both. The first game, 3 to 1, greatly surprised Chicago, winning through a fluke of the blossoming White Sox.
—SAM GREENE.
THEY’VE GOT TO BE USEFUL IN REDLAND
LATEST CUT LEAVES HENDRICKS WITH BUT SEVEN PITCHERS.
However, Cincinnati Has Lines Out for One or Two New Flingers; Shortstop Not Yet in Satisfactory Hands.
CINCINNATI, O., May 10.—A big league club fighting for first place in May with seven pitchers, one of whom is so young he stands small chance of getting into a game, is something out of the ordinary; yet this is the situation here in Redland.
Last week the Cincinnati Club cut Pitcher Meadows and infielder Day, both recruits from Cincinnati. Day could not be released directly to Los Angeles by Cincinnati because the rules specify that the club a player is drafted from must first be offered rights to that club.
With Day’s departure the Red pitching staff was down to seven men—Carl Mays, Pete Donohue, Adolfo Luque and Red Lucas being the right-handed gents, and Eppa Rixey, Jakie May and Rube Bressler southpaws. Springer is the baby of the crowd and is not being used except to pitch to the batters. Rixey and Mays still need lots of hot weather.
Lucas, Donohue, Luque and May, though, have been going at top speed and the Reds have succeeded beyond expectations.
The seven-man staff is not to hold good all season. Efforts are being made to get replacements for Meadows and Day. Where the new pitchers are coming from, however, is something about which the Red chieftains profess ignorance at this time. The club also is in the hunt for an infielder, preferably an experienced shortstop, as both Sam Bohne and Frank Fritsch have been having trouble at that position.
Scouts Are Looking Around.
Several scouts now are beating the bushes for the Reds in an effort to locate the pitchers and shortstop and something may be uncovered any day.
Howard Holland, a big right-hander without any professional experience, will come to Redland in June from the University of Virginia, but he, of course, is a pure gamble. He may be another Rixey and he may be a little failure. Rixey came to the National League straight from that school a dozen years ago and has been a winning pitcher practically ever since.
A club that has won as steadily as the Reds have this season naturally has few sensations on its roster and Cincy’s team is no exception in that respect. Jakie May, Red Lucas, Val Picinich and Rube Bressler are just about the most sensational performers in Red uniforms these days.
Picinich probably is the season’s biggest surprise. The Boston Red Sox, worst of the 16 major league clubs, didn’t want him last Winter, so asked waivers. The Reds needed a catcher, took him. It would seem that any one who could help the Red Sox would be unable to help any other team, yet Picinich has worked almost every game for the Reds in excellent fashion. He’s a cat on bunts and steals, handles his pitchers with fine judgment, and throws like a shot. At bat he’s been doing well and there’s no urgent need for Bubbles Hargrave just now.
Lucas has been a sensation both as a pitcher and batter. He has been a winner through the system that made Matty famous. He lets them hit, but knows where to throw them. Lucas seldom fans a batter. He won four of his first big games and didn’t shoot the second defeat until Sunday, when Waite Hoyt held the Reds to a run. Lucas pitched against the Phillies just as he had against the Cubs, Cards and Pirates, but the Phils had better luck in having their drives go between the fielders instead of where they could be caught, so he was nicked for four runs and they were plenty to take his measure.
Bressler There with Punch.
Bressler’s batting has been consistently good all season and the Rube gives every indication of having another big year with the stick. Jakie May’s relief pitching has been of such high order that he saved three games for his club in the first 25 it played.
Rixey came through with a shutout Saturday over the Phils, but it quite discouraged him. It was the big fellow’s third start of the year and it was about as neat a game as has been pitched this season in either league. Although unable to go through the first two thoughs, Eppa was too good in the third one that no Phillie saw third base and only one got to second. He walked no batters and allowed only five hits, three of which were collected by Al Nixon.
Before they again return to St. Louis late this month, the Reds will complete their first home stand of any length by taking on all the Eastern teams and if they continue to win as regularly at home as they have in the past, they probably will be leading the parade when a foreign crowd next sees them.
They won eight and lost three at home before returning to their lot last week to take on the Phillies, from whom they copped three out of four. That gave them the record of 11 won and four lost out of their 15 games at home.
Garry Herrmann is out with a proposal that might not make a hit with some of his fellow owners, but which should register well with all the young ball players of the country and those interested in their welfare as ball players. The Red prexy gives it as his opinion that one reason why the kids are not playing as much baseball as they did years ago is that the cost of equipment is beyond their reach.
A Brave Man, Indeed.
“Boys used to be able to get a good ball for 30 cents, a good glove for a dollar and a good bat for 50 cents,” Herrmann says. “They can’t do it any more. The sort of balls we use in the majors and the kind with which the kids of today want to play with, cost them $2 each. Bats also sell at $2 each, while gloves fit to play with are $3 and up.
“I blame the condition on the sporting goods manufacturers, not that I think they can produce the goods cheaply enough to sell for much less, but because they do not charge the major league clubs more for their product and cut the price to the youngsters.
“Big league clubs can afford to pay considerably more for their balls, bats and uniforms than they do. I think not disclosing any secret when I say that the minors get the pick of the balls and the kids get the bats for less than the kids pay for these articles.
“And also the clubs don’t believe one big leaguer in 50 ever buys a glove. Their gloves not only are given to them by the sporting goods factories, but are made according to the specifications of the players. Some stars get 10 or 12 of this kind in one full year. Used or to the kids and sandlotters who pay $4 by mail order catalog for their equipment.”
—TOM SWOPE.
HAL RHYNE CHASES MOORE OFF SECOND
YOUNGSTER FROM ’FRISCO WORKS INTO THINGS NICELY.
On Other Hand, Waner, Who Came Along with Him, Has Failed to Hit; Pirates Gradually Gaining Power.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., May 10.—It takes a wise man to make baseball predictions that will pan out. Diamond dope is decidedly fickle. Additional proof of this has been furnished here since the present season opened. Last Fall, when the Pittsburgh Club announced that it had completed a deal whereby it obtained the services of Paul Waner, outfielder, and Hal Rhyne, infielder, from the San Francisco club of the Pacific Coast League, critics went wild over the chances of the former to make good.
They predicted that Waner was a sure big league bet. They pointed to the splendid work he had done for the Seals, and to the fact that he was the leading clouter in that speedy circuit. Paul was credited with possessing every good quality a first-class ball player ought to have, and his friends forecast his immediate entry into the Buccaneer lineup, and his permanent retention of his job.
As to Rhyne, some of them were not so sure. Hal was credited with being a very good tosser, but he was older than Waner, and some of them figured that, if he had been so good, he would have risen to big league honors previously. The general opinion seemed to be that Rhyne might stick, but that Waner would be a sensation.
You Never Can Tell.
Both boys looked exceedingly good this Spring and in the training camp, but flying did little regular playing. Before the season opened, Manager Bill McKechnie gave Waner a thorough tryout in the outfield, and for a few days he smote the ball lustily and looked great. But when the season opened, the whole Pirate team seemed to be in a slump, and Waner did not escape. He failed to hit the size of his hat, and was decorating the bench. In all, he has taken part in nine games or parts of games, and his batting average is considerably below the .300 mark.
This does not mean that he has failed—by any means. He is well liked by the Pirate bosses, and the chances are that he will get into many games before the campaign is over. In one of the Boston games he got into the pastime and socked a home run and double.
Waner is a mere youngster, and has all the mechanical qualifications to succeed. There is no doubt that he can hit better than he has shown here to date, but with Cuyler, Barnhart, Carey and Bigbee on the job, he may find it tough breaking into a regular berth for some time to come.
And now a word about the side-kick, Rhyne. Hal has been filling in wherever there was a vacancy. First he took Pie Traynor’s place at third, when the star hot-corner guardian was ailing. He put up a nifty article of baseball there. Then Glenn Wright was injured, and Rhyne filled in at short, his regular position, for a day or two. And he looked good there, also.
Eddie Moore was limping around on a bum ankle, doing little hitting and covering little ground on the defense. So he was benched, and Rhyne given an opportunity at the keystone sack. Now, it looks as if Moore will have difficulty in regaining his position, for Rhyne has been getting the field afire with his spectacular defensive stunts, and has been hitting almost as well as any man on the team.
Rhyne is one of those loose-jointed lads, seemingly able to throw from any position, no matter how badly his arms and legs may seem to be twisted up with each other. He is a real ball hawk, and pounces readily on everything driven in his direction. He gets the ball away from him without the loss of a fraction of a second, and his throwing has been speedy and accurate. His ability, therefore, seems to know exactly what to do with the ball, and his work to date has stamped him as one of the classiest infield recruits the Pirates have had in a long time.
Falls Right Into Gear.
Rhyne seems to fit well into the Traynor-Wright combination, and the trio works together better than any other combination that has been tried. In one of the games in the Boston series last week, Hal handled 13 chances without a skip.
The young man has won the hearts of all Pittsburgh fans, and his praises are being broadcast daily. If he keeps up the pace he has been setting, it is a cinch that McKechnie will not molest him and that Moore will have to be content with utility roles, along with Johnny Rawlings.
The Pittsburgh Club has been extremely fortunate in its acquisition of new infield material over a span of the past three years. In that time, Traynor, Wright, Rawlings, McInnis and Rhyne have all been added to the roster. To be sure, McInnis and Rawlings are not youngsters, but both have proved valuable cogs in the Buccaneer machine, and have added balance to the combination when it was needed.
McInnis has been playing regularly at first base for some time, and is likely to remain there for the present. Stuffy is undoubtedly a steadying influence on his mates, and the play of the team has improved since he was injected into the play.
Grantham was benched primarily because he was not hitting. And yet, strange enough, he was used in the role of Colonel Pluck in a recent game with the Reds, and broke up the contest with a safe wallop, driving over the winning run.
The Bucs are not in the midst of their first intersectional series, with the Phillies and the Robins due to play at Forbes Field this week.
Then the Fun Begins.
Next week, John McGraw brings his New York Giants to Pittsburgh for the series to which local fans have been looking forward ever since the season opened. The Polo Grounders got off to a great start, while the Pirates were slumping, but recently New York has failed to maintain its startling pace and has lost ground, while Pittsburgh has been gaining steadily, and is at last a real factor in the race.
The Pirates’ improvement can hardly be called a spurt. It has been slow and steady, and not at a pace which the team should not easily maintain over the entire course. It is due largely to the fact that the players have recovered from the numerous injuries which handicapped them at the start.
Captain Carey is not yet himself, and was given a rest last week, but is expected soon to be back to normal. Wright and Traynor have both improved physically, and both are playing sensational ball.
Cuyler is off a little clip, and is pulling his usual line, plenty in the outfield, and driving in his share of runs. Altogether, the Pirates look better right now than at any time since the season opened, and are likely to show still more power in the near future.
The team’s batting average has been climbing, but it is still many points below the 1925 standard, and, even if it does not reach that high point, it is practically certain to be 30 points better than at present before long. Morning practice every day is having its effect.
—RALPH S. DAVIS.
SAME OLD SENATORS, SAME OLD RESULTS
HARRIS’ SYSTEM KEEPS CHAMPIONS PLAYING BRIGHT GAME.
Boy Manager Shifts His Lineup When There Is Sign of Let-up and Team Looks as Good as Ever.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10.—The Washingtons got home on Friday for their stand against the Western clubs, and a crowd of 21,000 turned out in see them defeat the White Sox, 8 to 2, and jump into second place, a game and a half behind the Yankees. But 5,761 of the throng were ladies, who are admitted free on the sixth day of the week and add more to the attractiveness of the landscape than they do the club’s exchequer.
This made six straight wins for the Griffs, beginning when they beat the Athletics here on the preceding Sunday, continuing through their clean sweep of a three-game series in Boston, and carrying on by defeating the Yankees, 6 to 5, in a single game in New York.
On Saturday, the streak was broken when the Sox broke loose furiously, but the Senators came back on Sunday, helped by Eddie Collins’ team while the Tigers were beating the Yankees, and moved into first place. Rudy Myer got into the game after a pinch batter had appeared for Peck in the seventh and it was a stop and throw by the youngster that saved the day for the Senators.
Macks Looking Better.
Some of the champions still insist that the Athletics are the team they have to beat out. Maybe so. The A’s should get better pitching than the Yanks, though both are good. In fact, both of these rivals will give terrific battle.
Dangerous as the Mackmen are, they are the Senators’ mascots. Just now they can beat the Hugs but can’t beat the locals. They are plum locoed in Clark Griffith’s Stadium, and their appearance here recently to mind Colonel Watterson’s description of a march through a slaughter house into an open grave. They have to fight hard for an even break with the champs in Philadelphia. Bob Grove, who is coming through in fine style as predicted in a pre-season letter in this column, also has no luck with the Griffs. In his one start against them he didn’t last long enough to get a man out, and in parts of two games here he was ineffective, but he cloned the Yanks. Some freaks for Washington at last!
The Griffs have not apparently struck their stride. For the last few days they have been playing the best ball on tap anywhere. Twice before, they got down to .500, but each time escaped being pushed over the edge. But Stanley Harris is not a leader who is satisfied to drift. He took hold of the situation with both hands and there was a vigorous shakeup in the installment plan until he got what he was after.
The big feature was the return of Roger Peckinpaugh to the short field. He started right in playing his usual brilliant game, and increased steadiness and confidence were noted immediately. He is also hitting hard and timely. This does not mean that Buddy Myer is considered a failure. Far from it. He has done as well as Manager Harris expected and, for a youngster who has been but little over a year in professional baseball, has done truly remarkable work. Harris says that, when the time arrives for him to become a regular, he will be the sensation of the league.
Other Changes Made.
The present arrangement is to nurse Peck along, to avoid a let-down by him toward the end of the season. When a good lead is gained in a game, he is taken out and Myer substituted.
Harris also laid off Joe Harris, who was in a slump and hit only .182 in his last six games. He switched Sam Rice to right, where he is best, and inserted Johnny Tobin in center, but afterwards replaced him with Earl McNeely. Mac is hitting over .300 and doing some great fielding. The team is working up pretty close to its proper batting gait, having an average of .293 after the first Chicago series.
Goose Goslin again led the league batsmen at that time, with .446. Muddy Ruel was the only regular who was much below normal, and he is showing signs of coming around all right. Harris made a sort of half promise that he would make himself into a .300 hitter this season, and he reached an even .300 in this game battle against the White Sox, and is still going strong.
Manager Harris has again changed his plans for the disposal of his recruit pitchers. The present intention is to keep only Firpo Marberry with the champs, and to farm the other three, Hadley, Thomas and Morrell.
It is expected that Bump Hadley will soon leave for Birmingham. Buckey will obtain options on all. He considers them about a year away, and believes they will get more benefit from participation in real contests than is possible for them to secure from bench riding and batting practice, which sounds reasonable. They will also leave a couple of vacancies for use if it is desired to add other players to the team again.
It is now stated positively that the Washington Club is again trying to get Southpaw Pitcher Art Nehf from the Giants. A previous effort was made to obtain Art during the training season, when Walter Ruether showed symptoms of a holdout. Nehf would remedy the local shortage of southpaw talent nicely, but it is more than doubtful whether he could be landed through waivers.
—PAUL W. EATON.
Left - Original image of Fred "Red" Lucas, Right AI Enhanced Imaged
Pitcher Fred Lucas
Jack Hendricks has always been a pretty good judge of a pitcher. So when he announced this Spring that he had room for the fans to look at in Fred Lucas, a right-hander, who can do other things besides throw them, he probably knew what he was talking about.
Events since have backed up his confidence in the red-head and the pitcher has been an early sensation.
Lucas is very much business when he is working. He is a strong fellow and can put on pressure through nine innings and never feel the effect of it. He has shown a splendid curve, good judgment and fine control in his early games. Red also gives the Reds a full team of nine batters when he is there, for he raps the ball merrily.
Lucas was born in Columbia, Tenn., April 4, 1902, and started his career when 18, with Nashville. That was in 1920, and he was sent to Jackson in a couple of months, got some of the sand out of his boots, Nashville sold him to the New York Giants late in 1922, and the Giants released him to San Antonio after a trial the following Spring. The Boston Braves got him that Fall and he put in 1924 with Augusta.
Back with the Braves last Spring, he played at second base in a number of games and was mainly sold to Seattle. That is, when the Reds got him from last Fall.
Scribbled by Scribes
Milton Stock is away below par. His release by the Brooklyn Club shows that. And it’s Milton’s own fault, writes John E. Wray in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Milton is afflicted with a Spring training complex and it finally brought him low. Stock, it will be remembered, unusually refused to report for the workout with the boys for the vernal sweat down South. It was not that Milton loved baseball less, but that he hated training more. Wherefore, within the memory of man, Milton has evaded Spring workouts under the plea of seeking a higher salary.
Milton, a good player, got away with this annually. It became chronic. But the pitcher went to the well too often.
Last Winter, Stock spent the cold months in Clearwater, Fla., with Jacques Fournier, converting a $16,000 joint investment into $160,000. When the Brooklyn Club went to Clearwater to train, instead of joining his mates, Milton rushed to Mobile and sat down to demand $12,000.
He got most of it.
But he couldn’t deliver the baseball. He reported unfit and behind in practice. Rather than pay the salary to an unfit star, Robinson released him.
At the contract price few clubs will want Stock.
Stockie’s complex overtook him at last.
Six players in the American League are now engaged in putting baseball records further and further from the reach of their followers, observes H. G. Salsinger in the Detroit News.
Ty Cobb leads in this respect. He is fattening several of his all-time marks. Every time he goes to bat, or makes a hit, or steals a base, or gets an extra-base hit, he is setting a new world record for he holds all of them. He has several times broken each of his records this year.
Babe Ruth broke the home run record every time he hits for the circuit.
Whenever Tris Speaker makes a two-base hit a bushel record falls.
Eddie Collins topples a record every time he makes a sacrifice hit.
Ray Schalk creates a new mark every time he catches a game.
Walter Johnson does as much with each shutout victory and every time he strikes out a batsman.
All six have been active this season in wrecking their own marks and setting new ones.
Cobb made three hits in four times at bat (two of them for extra bases) in the first game he played this year. He scored a run and he stole a base. Before the start of the season, Cobb led the world in runs with 2,038, in hits with 3,832, in extra-base hits with 1,058 and in stolen bases with 866.
Ruth, at the start of the season, had 300 home runs.
Speaker’s total of two-baggers was 676.
Schalk had caught 1,826 big league games.
Johnson’s record showed 110 shutout victories and 3,834 strikeout victims.
Duster Mails has landed in Syracuse, which is another way of saying that Rogers Hornsby has put his foot down emphatically on one of those happy-go-lucky wandering minstrels who find their way into professional baseball every now and then, drifting through the atmosphere of ball and bat and disappearing in time about as abruptly, writes John B. Foster of American Sports Publishing Company.
Mails is the closest modern prototype of players like Rube Waddell and Bugs Raymond and other eccentrics.
Mails, so Hornsby thought this Spring, was none too eager to lay in the East. The left-hander wanted to go back to the Coast, where he was better known and where he had his little clientele, just as other baseball players of his personality have their following.
He went in a complaining mood to Hornsby one day and got such a managerial setback that he put on three sweaters the next day and began to train as if the evil one were after him for a jump of lard. The Cardinals’ leader told Mails that he would either get in condition for St. Louis or go to Syracuse. “You won’t go to the Coast,” said Hornsby.
And Mails hasn’t gone to the Coast. The other day he threw a game away for the Cards by one of his erratic moves, and that probably settled his fate for the time being. He has gone to Syracuse and can pitch there until he settles down, and then he may go back to St. Louis.
A proposition has been made to local baseball magnates to have the proceedings of the daily games broadcast from the park so that those who desired their sport in electric doses and who want to support the game through absent treatment may not have to wait until they can read a paper, comments Jim Gould in the St. Louis Star. It’s not likely to go through—this radio plan.
“It is quite a question, in the first place, whether a play-by-play radio story would add vast numbers to the army of patrons at the park and, in the second place, only a newspaper account can bring the scene properly before a fan who hasn’t seen the game. Fans like box scores but if there is any way to properly broadcast one, it has not been discovered. That is, it can be sent, of course, to be printed, but no fan would care to try to carry such a mass of figures in his head.
“Baseball is no bedtime story; it must be seen to be appreciated and, lacking this, the nearest thing to the actual action is to read about it. Radio as a distinct success in its place and there seems no good reason why it should step out of that place.”
Is a short right field fence an advantage or handicap to a home team? asks Billy Evans, writing for Newspaper Enterprise Association. This thought is occasioned by the rather short right field fence of the beautiful new Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.
“The right field stands are 15 feet farther away than last year, but due to the fact that a 15-foot screen, which was on top of the old wall, has been removed, I don’t believe the drive is as difficult.
“It might be argued that since the home team plays 77 games on the field, it has a better advantage if the team has a number of hitters who drive them to right field.
“However, I believe the strain on the home team’s pitching staff more than nullifies any possible advantage, should such a thing exist.”
NEARLY EVERYTHING IS NEW IN NEWARK
President Charles A. Davids
Manager Fred D. Burchell
The “NEW DEAL” in Newark. That’s how they have been referring to matters pertaining to International League affairs in the New Jersey city since Charles A. Davids moved the Reading franchise there last Fall and immediately set about to give the fans something substantial in the way of baseball.
Prior to the entry of Davids there, was no regular park for the club, the team was only so-so, interest lagged, and the club was finally moved by the old owners early last season to Providence.
Davids, a former semi-pro promoter and lover of baseball, dug deep into his pockets to get a franchise for Newark, dug still deeper to get players and finally struck a financial snag when work was two-thirds completed on the beautiful new park he was building. But everything has turned out all right and Charley Davids has the respect of the fans. They have been finding out too.
Fred D. Burchell, who is managing the team, was a left-handed pitcher some years ago. He began with Baltimore in 1908 and was with the Boston Americans in 1909. After that, he pitched for Buffalo, Montreal and Syracuse. He managed Syracuse in 1912 and ’13 and then pitched for that team until 1915, when he retired to give his attention to managing semi-pro clubs.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. —Give the lineup of the first St. Louis Brown, the first team that used the name Brown.
H. T. C.
The first St. Louis team to use the name Browns, that of 1875, which was the first professional and league team in St. Louis, was made up as follows: Catchers Miller and Corden; Pitchers Bradley and Walter Dehlman, first base; Battles, second base; Hague, third base; Pearce, shortstop; Cuthbert, left field; Pike, center field; Chapman, right field; Seward, utility. Mason Graffan was the manager of the team. J. B. C. Lucas was the president.
GREENVILLE, Tex. —Bases are full, all runners start to run. A from first base reaches second, while B from second is halfway between second and third. C holding his base at third; ball is put on A at second. Umpire refuses to allow out second baseman, then runs B to third while C runs home; B tagged on third while C scores. Umpire refused to allow any out. Was his decision correct?
X. Y. Z.
The umpire is right and there are no outs. A is safe on second while B is off the base. B is safe on third if C has left that base and until should return. The runner behind has a temporary right to the base until its original holder claims it.
WESTMINSTER, Del. —Runner stole third base and overran, then came back to the bag and catcher touched him, whereupon umpire called “runner out.” Runner had no intention to run home and was safely on third when touched. Was decision correct?
S. H.
Both major leagues have adopted a rule of “reason” regarding interference of the coacher with runner at third, and the theory is that if no play is being made on the runner or the coacher is not assisting him by touching him, there shall not be a penalty. However, the matter is largely in the judgment of the umpire. The coacher might deny that any assistance was being given, when in the opinion of the umpire there was some intention of assist. We will say that the play was up to the umpire’s judgment.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. —Player has signed with club for two years; at expiration of his contract is he a free agent? That is, is he free to sign with any club in Organized Ball, he may so choose?
G. P.
The ordinary baseball contract contains a reserve clause or an option, which the player gives on his services for the season following the expiration of his contract. Under the clause which the player agrees to, he is not a free agent, but is under option to the club with which he has been under contract. The club can either exercise that option, or transfer it to another club. Even if the club is willing to give the player an unconditional release it must, in the higher class leagues, permit other clubs the refusal of taking over the option, under the system known as asking waivers. Under the reserve or option clause the player is not free at the expiration of the signed contract.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. —Give sketch and history of Jack Fournier, Brooklyn first baseman.
F. J. C.
Fournier was born at Au Sable, Mich., September 28, 1892; bats left-handed and throws right-handed; height, 6 feet; weight, 190 pounds; began his professional career with Aberdeen in 1905; released to Seattle, June, 1908; released to Portland, Ore., May, 1909; Sacramento, 1910; released to Aberdeen, August, 1910; Vancouver, 1911; released to Moose Jaw, June, 1911; drafted by Boston Americans, September, 1911; released to Chicago Americans, May, 1912; released on option to Montreal, July, 1912; recalled to club of option, but Chicago until released to Los Angeles in 1915; signed with New York Americans at close of 1915 season; released to Los Angeles, February, 1919; released to St. Louis Nationals, December, 1919; reserved for 1920-21-22; released to Brooklyn in trade, February, 1925, where he has remained since.
Illustrated “Back of the Home Plate” header from The Sporting News , featuring veteran baseball writer J. B. Sheridan and a stylized game scene. AI-restored from a 1926 newspaper print.
BACK OF THE HOME PLATE
Observations of a Veteran Scribe
By J. B. Sheridan
Can a baseball club have too many good pitchers available at one time? I’ll say it can.
No doubt, most people, particularly managers of baseball teams, will say that you can’t have too many good pitchers at any time, Christmas Day, or July 4. Well, let us look into that. There was Rogers Hornsby, for instance. During their first 12 games the Cardinals showed lots of good pitching. Hornsby had Reinhart, Keen, Johnson, Sherdel and Haines going great. The Cardinals won five of the first seven games played. Great pitching. Scores were 2-1, 3-2, 5-0, 5-4, etc. Rhom, Keen, Sherdel, Johnson and Haines all displayed ability to win close, hard fought games.
It would seem that with five winning pitchers, two of them fast ball babies, Hornsby had enough good pitchers and should work them in rotation, every four days, giving Sherdel a rest now and then and using him against teams with which he was unusually effective. Does Hornsby do that? He does not. On April 20, having lost but one game in seven played, Hornsby shoves in Art Reinhart against Pittsburgh and loses, 7-0. There began the declension of the Cardinals. Reinhart is not, at best, a Spring or a fast ball pitcher. I like the fast one in the Spring.
My idea would have been to work Rhom and Keen, the fast ball chuckers, as often as they could stand it and retain the fine edge of their speed. Keen, I believe, is not a repeater, that is, he does his best work when pitched every six days. Keen pitched on April 15 and shut out Pittsburgh, 2-0. Had Hornsby pitched Keen, not Reinhart, on April 20, Keen would have been pitching in his fifth day. Hornsby did put in Keen on the sixth day, April 21, and he beat Pittsburgh, 6-3. On April 28, the fifth day, Keen beat Cincinnati, 5-3. That gave Keen a six-day interval between the last two games. On May 1, Keen was used as relief pitcher. On May 3, he was hit out of the box by Cincinnati, which would indicate that he is not a repeater.
Be that as it may, it does seem that Hornsby did have too many good pitchers available in the first two weeks of the season. Rhom, Keen, Johnson, Sherdel and Haines all showed ability to win in the first week of the season. Five pitchers all showing good stuff. In this instance, it did seem that if Hornsby’s plan to let his winning pitchers work in turn until it was clearly demonstrated that they were not capable of winning.
Sherdel and Keen, admittedly, are at their best when pitched not oftener than once in five days. All right. Rhom, Haines and Johnson were there. It looked like five pitchers working in turn. Maybe Rhom could be worked oftener, thus giving the delicate fellows a rest.
But Hornsby broke his sequence. He had Reinhart in on April 20, having lost but one game, and Reinhart flivvered in that loss. I believe that Hornsby knows his business. I like him, most because he is one of the few hard-boiled babies left in baseball. I believe he is the sort of fellow who would like to work his pitchers in turn and not too many of them.
I am not taking a fall out of Hornsby here for not using his winning pitchers often enough and in rotation. I am merely using this instance to illustrate my proposition that five good pitchers are as many team needs and that if they are the right kind, three good pitchers are enough to win any championship. Lord-a-massy, who remembers how Rube Waddell and Meekin, pitching in turn, destroyed the great winning Orioles in the world’s championship of 1894? Destroyed is right. Won’t mention old Radbourn, who won some 60 games for Providence in 1884. In modern baseball, Walter Johnson, Alexander, Cy Young, Ed Walsh and lots of others have been capable of pitching championship baseball every third day. Why, Charley Nichols, why, any real pitcher, can work every third day and win against better clubs than today.
Indeed, it seems to me that the fellow who can win only when given six days’ rest is not a real pitcher at all. Six days between games is really enough to ruin a pitcher. Eddie Plank always had a sore arm never without it, but Plank could win when pitched every fourth or fifth day. If a pitcher cannot win every third day and beatless all in at a pinch as a relief artist, and maybe play right field or first base well, he is not entitled to be called a real pitcher.
Now, don’t say that I am an old-timer and an admirer of old-timers. I am an admirer of Cobb. I consider Hornsby one of the greatest of all time. I am stronger than bootleg whiskey for Alexander and other real ball players. But when I remember what the old-timers did, how they pitched maybe two days running and won, too—Joe McGinnity can still pitch—hot dog boy, count me for the hard-boiled old-timers who got $125 a month, pitched today, played the outfield or infield tomorrow, and won on the rubber the third day.
Yes, I ain for them torty ways from Sunday.
Don’t I remember the Browns of 1886, champions of the world, the boys who beat a truly great team today or any day? And, Mason’s White Stockings. When Curt Welch or Bill Gleason got a “strawberry,” did they yell for the doctor and have themselves swaddled in towels and doused with iodine? They did not. They might as well have cried for the moon as a trainer then. “They wasn’t any such thing.” So, Gleason and Welch merely spat a little tobacco juice to sterilize the wound, shook a little dust over it and went on with the game. Now, when one of our young collegians scratches himself with one of his own safety pins, he yells for the entire hospital staff, nurses especially. Oh gee—
What’s the matter with baseball players? They are simply degenerating. It is all this women’s runners, this social service idea, this mamma boy’s game. Too many colleges, not enough good old-time Ditch-diggers and hod-carriers. I am quite in earnest about this. I am convinced that a college education unfits a boy to be a winning baseball player.
Now don’t come back at me and quote George Sisler. Fine young fellow—sectional man and natural talent to be a great athlete—but, in my opinion, too easy going.
My idea of a ball player is a man of the Radbourn-McGinnity type, the hard-boiled Irish hod-carrying quarryman type, who had boneball inside of his head, in his thews, in his blood, a man like Bad Bill Egan, who could not read or write, but who won one stitch of a ball player. Pat and George Tebeau, Jack O’Connor, Jim McGarr, John J. McGraw, Fings Jennings and scores and scores of others.
Oh, I think of another—Kid Elberfeld. Oh, Kid Elberfeld! Hot dog, merry gentlemen, Kid Elberfeld had more real ball player in his system than is in both big leagues today. Coke-eaters, lounge lizards. Elberfeld bled to win ball games—you got to bleed to win. You can’t win by being a nice fellow. The hero of a church social is not, as a rule, a winning ball player.
Baseball By-Plays
A PLAYER’S WISH.
I’d like to get the fellows, Who keep the baseball scores I’d line ’em up against the wall, And shoot ’em down by fours.
They’re blind as any umpire, They never get things right; They ought to be examined, For defects in their sight.
Every hit I ever get, In clean without a doubt; They give the holder errors, Unless they throw me out.
They never scratch a blow for me On a rap that’s hard and hot; The ones I hit out cleanly, Are all I ever got.
And when I hit a sacrifice, They charge a time at bat; They fail to give a hit on bunts, When I catch the infield flat.
They also cheat me in the field, They give me boots galore; The way those fellows handle men, No wonder that I’m sore.
If I could ever get a chance, To score a game some day; I’d show ’em how to do it, In a satisfactory way.
—L. H. ADDINGTON.
Lou Gehrig, young first baseman of the Yankees, is becoming a fixture in the big leagues rapidly, and with it he is developing into a pretty coy kidder. Gehrig, it must be remembered, is a college man and has an oily tongue.
In the recent series with the Washington team at Yankee Stadium, so the story goes, Bucky Harris flew into a rage of fury when he had just reached first base on Urban Shocker and the latter does not give a base runner liberty.
Anyways, Harris strayed off the base a trifle too far and a quick throw from Shocker to Gehrig nailed the young pilot.
As Harris pulled himself together and brushed off his uniform, feeling bad enough as it was for being caught napping, Gehrig looked into his face and said: “By the way, aren’t you the manager of the American League champions?”
Harris flushed, hurried to the bench and had nothing to say.
GRAFT!
“We want more eatin’ money,” The husky catcher said; “You know, it’s quite important, That the players must be fed.
“I know it,” said the owner, “You get two bucks a day; You eat on 50 cents or less, And salt the rest away.”
A fresh ball player always thinks the other fellow is the fresh one if there happens to be a clash. Which recalls a story told about Jimmy Wilson of the Phillies, when he broke in during the Spring of 1923. Wilson was admonished that the umpire was a “fresh guy” before he took his place behind the bat, and the older fellows told him: “Don’t let him get away with anything.”
So Jimmy hopped right on the new umpire and after half a dozen stormy conversations, he hopped right out of the game.
“You fresh busher,” said the ump, in part. “You’ll never stay in the National League. You’ll be in Peoria this Summer.”
“Yes, and I guess I’ll see you out there,” roared Jim. “But they’ll have you in Holmesburg jail.”
“What’s the fresh guy’s name?” demanded Wilson on his way to the showers.
“King? Why that’s Bill Klem.”
Jack Hendricks tells one on Mike Donlin. Donlin, it will be remembered, managed the Memphis team for a short time. It was about cutting-down time for the Southern League and most of the clubs had reduced their rosters to the required limit, which was 15 or 16 players. Hendricks wanted to see Donlin and called at the clubhouse before game time.
In the crowded little room, Jack, by climbing over players and crowding between others, managed to get to the spot where the sluggers Mike was getting into his uniform.
“Gosh, Mike, you’ve got a lot of players,” said Hendricks. “What are you doing with all of them?”
“Yes, I’ve got quite a gang and we’ve got to be down to the limit tomorrow. But hell’s fire, Jack, they all look so good I don’t know which ones to keep.”
Donlin’s good ones were so good, he remained as manager of Memphis just one month.
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