The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-20
THE DIAMOND FIELD.
Some Information Regarding the
Cleveland Team.
RECORDS OF ALL ITS PLAYERS.
There Are No Stars, and Everybody Works
For Club Success and Not For Records
The Manager Big Factor.

Stockholders in the Cleveland Baseball
club viii make small fortune this season,
and, considering the risk they took, they are
entitled to all they may get.
Every one knows that the success of the
Cleveland club, especially early in the season,
hes been the wonder of the year among the
patrons and principals of professional base
ball There is not single 'starn among all
the Clevelands, and the salary of one man is
about as much as that of another. "Record
playing" is not permitted, and when the club
is on the field it is expected to work for runs
that count and not for records, which very
often do not count. Manager Lotus has been
most important member of the club, although
his name does not appear on the score card.
Seated on the players bench at every game
he gives his men orders how to pitch, how to
bat and how to run bases. He knows the
weakness of every good batter in the League.
If a low ball cannot be hit by one man he is
aware of the fact If another man finds it
impossible to do anything with high ball
Lotus knows that, too. This information
he imparts to his pitchers and they conduct
themselves accordingly.
There are five pitchers in the team. First
among them, according TO the records, is
John F. O'Brien, who learned his curves,
drops and shoots at West Troy, n. Y,
the training ground of many another good
ball player He is % years old. He first
played with the Glens Falls club in 1885, al
ternating as pitcher and third baseman. The
team won the championship of the Hudson
Valley league. Afterwards he played at
Oneida, N Y, Bradford, Pa, and Lima, o.
The Oneidas and the Limas, with him in the
box, both won the championship in the or
CARNATIONS to which they belonged. The
Clevelands, while in the American association,
bought him from Lima, and he proved to be
such a good man that he was hired to accom-
pany the club into the National league. He
throws puzzling ball, but is not very GER
tain in his aim. Recently he has lost several
games through that fault. He is medium
sized man, slow of movement and Irish in
face and general make up.
Enoch Bakely, Cleveland's next best
pitcher, might be the best in the world if his
habits had always been good. However, he is
doing much better under the fatherly super
vision of Lotus, and if he is true to the faith
he win be matchless player in his important
and difficult position. He was born at Black
woodtown, n. j., near Camden, in 1868. Six
years ago he entered the employ of the man.
ayers Of the Athletics, of Philadelphia.
Next he played with the KeystOnes, also of
Philadelphia, one of the clubs that made up
the old Union association. Later he went TO
Albany, n. Y, then to Rochester. Last year
he was taken to Cleveland and at the end of
the season hired for another campaign. He
is good fielder and, for pitcher, a fair bat
ter.
L. A. Beatin, the third pitcher, is a south
erner, having been born in Baltimore in
1865 He has played with the Fredericks, of
Maryland, the Allentowns, of Pennsylvania,
and the Detroits, of Michigan. He was
bought by the latter club and by them sold
to Cleveland at the beginning of the present
season. The teams at Allentown and Detroit
won the championship while he was with
them. He is a first class pitcher, an amiable
player and an energetic gum chewer. He
throws a very sl1illful ball at times, and
nothing delights him more than to see a bats
man strike at one of his drops and miss it by
foot or two On such occasions he chews
] his gum with renewed vigor and smiles at
So same time. The facial result can perhaps
be imagined.
The fourth pitcher is ''littleS Henry
Gruber, who also went there from De-
troit. BE is a New Haven boy, and before
he went to Michigan played in New England
He has never attempted any other position
than the one that has made him famous His
rank is among the BEST and he would per-
haps be better man than he is even now If
he were given more work to do.
Charles Sprague is the fifth pitcher in the
team. He was born in Cleveland and is %
years old 1t is said of him that he has
more varied assortment Of curves than any
other pitcher in the country. However, he
lacks experience, and in the National league
that is serious fault.
Byall odds the best catcher in the Cleveland
club is Charles L. thinner, who is a sure fielder,
fine "back stop and terrific batter. When
he hits the ball it is almost sure to go to the
fence if there is one, and beyond the
reach Of the felders if there is not one.
His batting average is more than 300,
and no other man but Mexican among
all the Clevelands can be compared with
him. He was born in Marietta, o., and
is % years old. He is large, muscular,
smooth faced, straight as a hickory sap
ling and Just as tough, and is a pleas
ing young man to look at. He has served
the clubs at Honton, O., and Poughkeepsie
and Rochester, N. Y. His release was pur-
chased by the Cleveland management from
the latter club in 1887.
E. E Sutcliffe, the catcher who alternates
with thinner, is also 20 years old. He
was born in Wheaton, Ills, and has
served at Chicago, st. Louis, Savannah,
Des Moines and Detroit. When he was
at Chicago that club won the championship
in the National league, and when he was
with Detroit he participated in the games be-
tween the team at that city and the st. Louis
Browns for the worlds championship.
The remaining catcher is Charles Snyder,
who is one of the oldest ball players in the
country. He became a professional sixteen
years ago, being one of the nine men COM
posing N. E. Young's Washington team. In
1874 he was a member of the famous Lord
Baltimores. In 1875 he was with Philadel-
phia, in 1876 and 1877 with Louisville and in
1878 with Boston, when it won the League
pennsnt. While in Boston he caught for Tom
Bond, and the two men formed what was
then the strongest battery in America. After
wards he was employed by the Washingtons
and then returned to Boston. Both clubs
were pennant winners when he was with
them. Seven years ago he left the League
and Joined the Cincinnatis, where he remained
until 1887, when Cleveland purchased him.
He has seen his best days, it is thought, and
has been i'll the greater part of this season.
The Cleveland infeld is made up of Jay
l.. Faatz, first baseman; John Stricken, sec
ond baSeman; z. J. Mexican, short stop, and
Oliver H. Tebeau, third baseman. Faatz
comes from Weedsport, n Y, and is %
years old He was secured by the Cleveland
management from Toronto, Canada, while
the club was in the American association,
and was hired not only because he was