Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-27
Men Who Will Use Their Brains
Wanted Most.
GOSSIP REGARDING THE WASHINGfONS
Discussing Wagner's Recent $780,
900 Offer to Philadelphia.
LOUISVILLE'S NEW DEAL

cluSion. Mr.. Wagner is not an admirer of
a player who can hit the ball up around
'6O or 80 and in other departments of the
game be a drag on the other players of
team. With a man hitting around 300, a
good base Runner, a good fielder and able
to play the game between the lines, his
work far outshines the slugger in the way
of beneftting his club. Last season the
Washington club lost thirty-eight games
by one run, and in over half of them Mr..
Wagner recalled cases of stupid play that
would have landed the victory for the Sen
ators had they been properly played or
played with intelligence Now. take only
one-fourth of these games being won
through playing the game as men drawing
salaries should play. and add the number
to those won ON the season by the WASH
ipgtOns, and they would have been up near
third place. if not in it. Mr.. Wagner claims
that it does not require an extraordinary
amount of intelligence to play the game,
but simply intelligence enough to tell the
player that he is lettering the club and
himself by listening to his captain and
oheying instructions. Players with this
kind of intelligence are wanted by the
Washington club, and in the shifting out
process next spring they will undoubtedly
be given the preference.
Here is a unique wager made by Manager
Arthur Irwin of the Toronto club with Mr..
Earle Wagner at the recent annual meet
ing of the National League in Philadelphia.
Messrs Wagner and Irwin were the center
OF a group of base ball and newspaper men
when the new players secured by the
Washington club from Toronto came up
for discussion. In the course OF the con-
versation Mr.. Irwin said to Mr.. Wagner
Il will bet you a fifty dollar suit Of clothes
and let you decide the bet that Jimmy Nc
Hale turns out next season to be the great
est ball player you ever saw. have been
in base ball a long while. witnessed the
v ork of Jimmy Fogarty, Curt WEIGH, the
Langes and the Keelers, and if McHale is
not a better man than any OF them 10 your
mind, l lose my bet. He may not bat as
hard as Lange or Delehanty, but playing
the game between the lines that is, IN
fielding, base running and playing the nne
points of the game at critical stages OF the
game, he is better than any one of the
players I have named. Taking McHale
from a minor league and placing him in
faster company will cut no ice with Mac
He is born for fast company, and VIII stay
there"
In speaking of this wager during the
past week Mr.. Wagner said to an Evening
Star reporter: Mr.. Irwin, my brother and
/ have been on very close personal and
business terms for couple of years back,
and through us last season Arthur made
more money in one season than he ever
did before, and I have no reason to doubt
his sincerity in this prediction. From other
sources the same glowing accounts come to
me of McHale's ability. and if but half
what is said of him comes true I will be
perfectly satisfied"
From present surface indications it looks
very much as if the man to guard third
base for the Washington club next season
has been selected. This man is Tommy
Leahy, the utility man of last season
Tommy played third base for the Senators
during the closing games in Baltimore and
astonished everybody by his fine work
Captain Brown instructed Leahy to play
close up on the grass SO as to kill OFF the
bunting tactics of the Orioles which has
heretofore proved disastrous for the
letter, and bunting was crossed off the
visiting list during the series by the birds.
But hot sizzlers went down to third during
| that series, and strange to say, but few
got away. All sluggers looked alike to
Tommy, although drive from Joe Kelley'S
bat carried him clean off his feet, but he
held on to the ball. Instead of being in
| Inundated he was right back in his old
place for the next play and killed Keller
at first in the next inning on one of his
| famous bunts. Leahy is a natural born hit
| ter and will still do better next season. He
| Is good base runner and undoubtedly
plays the game between the lines.
There are some people who rush into
print without stopping to examine the sub
ject they wish TO discuss One base ball
| writer, without investigating the details of
| the new schedule of the big league says:
| "A point which is bothering many base
ball cranks is how in a four-trip schedule
| a team can play two games in each series
with every other team, in which case each
would play 176 games instead of the stipu-
! lated 154. 1tewOuld mean a total series of
sixteen games away from home and a like
| number at home. Seven not being Invisible
by four in such a way as to permit of the
playing OF two games in each series. ar
rangements may be made in some cases
whereby eight will be played on one ground
and six on the other. In the majority of
instances. however, the schedule will be so
arranged that on three of the trips two
games will be played, and on the fourth
and last only one"
This point is not bothering base ball
cranks who have taken the trouble to in
vestigate. In the first place the different
teams are not going to make four visits a
season to each city 1t is true that they
| will make four trips each way, but they
Will only play half the cities of each di-
vision on each trip. They will play three
games on one trip and four on the other
Seven games in each city means fourteen
games with each club. and this rnultiplied
10y eleven gives the schedule of 154 games
There will be no trouble about understand
ing the schedule once it is completed by
President Young and turned over to the
newspapers.
Magnate Earle Wagner's offer to take
10000 and permit the Philadelphia club to
have the pick of twenty players from both
teams or to pay 5000 for the privilege of
picking his choice of the players from both
organizations. may sound little Visionary
to an outsider. says Harry Weldon in the
Cincinnati Enquirer. These give or take
propositions always seem to be off cast.
They have the air that surrounds a trick
bet. J. Earle meant just what he said,
however. and the proposition, taken either
way, would doubtless have proven a good
thing for the Washington club. There are
number of shrewd magnates, notably
John 7. Brush. president of the Cincinnati
club. and Charles Byrne of the Brooklyn
club, who give the legislative end of base
ball any amount of thought. When it
comes to legislation these two men are
considered the master minds of the league
None Of them has ever given the players
end Of the business the study that Mr. Wag-
ner does Most of the magnates leave the
study Of Players to their respective man.
ayers. Mr.. Wagner delves right down into
1t. He has the record and pedigree of near
ly every player right at his finger, and at
league meeting he always has the goods
en- him. Down in his inside pocket he car
ries printed list of President Young's Of
fetal averages. On a seconds notice he
can tell you just what the player did. He
Is not only posted on the field records of
the PLAYERS, but he is well up on their hab-