The Saint Paul globe., 1904-12-18

SPORTING COMMENT

Dr. -Jekyl and Mr.. Hyde career been
known let O'ShaughneSSy, as far as can
be learned paid his way through college
! on the money received from his baseball
playing. was regular student and re-
! ceived nothing whatever for his football
| playing. In the eyes of the pure ath-
letic world O O'Shaughnessy' sin is tenfold
! blacker or more so than that of any of
| the Wisconsin football players who held
! sinecures at the Madison capitol. If every
/ football player in the world did as
| O O'Shaughnessy has done the sport would
| not be besmirched in the least The eff
/ fects of the other brand of professionalism
! can be seen at the present moment at
/ Madison. These two examples illustrate
! the difference between the menacing pro-
fessional and the man called professional
| by reason of inherited or transplanted
! snobbery
Dreams of Managers
This is the season of the year when the
baseball manager wakes eloquent, and
pours forth to the eager ear of the fan
his prospects for the coming year. He
| is chary of details, but in strict conf
| dence let's it be known that he has a
score of pitchers signed any one of whom
can pitch rings around Chesbro or Nc
Ginnity. His half dozen catchers are
the peers of the profession. They are all
! finds, picked up here and there from all
| the old hooks of baseballdom, and the way
| they can throw to second is marvellous to
| behold. They are all comers and ye
manager must exercise great care not
| to mention their names because eighteen
other managers are hot after them and
! willing to disburse all kinds of bullion to
secure their services.
| The manager never saw "a likelier lot
! of first basemen than those whose sigma
| lures he has in his possession. They can
! cover an unheard of amount of terri
tory about the initial sack. and as for
scooping up the low ones, and gathering
I In bad throws, nothing like them has
! ever been seen. The veteran on second
| base is going to have mighty difficult
| time to hold his place, because the man
| ager has the call on ten of the fastest
youngsters in the gas house league. The
| fielding averages of these finds are al
most incredible and they can go deep into
center or right for flys and cut the run
ner off at the plate every time. So great
! is the demand for these men that the
manager has to keep them planted in, a
| dugout in Arizona TO keep them out OF
the despoiling clutches of certain greedy,
| ones.
| The manager confidently predicts that
nothing within ten feet of the ground
| viii get through short next season. Any
| one of this dozen of shortstops can do
stunts in that position that would appear
to indicate that they are possessed of
powers transcending human. As for
third there is nothing to it. The English
| language is as limited as that Of tffe
! Terra del Fuegan when it comes to de-
scribing the ability of the man who is to
! guard this important corner. There
| never was a whip like the one he haSf
and for gathering up bunts, well, the
/ manager doesn't care to exhaust himseM
trying to tell of the UNRELIABLE 1t must
| needs be set to music by master hand
-.14-
/ of hirsuted genius. The, outfield is alb
| solutely infallible. A ball couldn't pc
| dropped on fair ground in the dead OF
night without being caught. Theys-can
/ all beat 10 fiat on a sprint and likewise
send the ban from center fence to the
/ plate on a shoulder line.
AS for the batting of this aggregation
| gathered at an enormous cost, it is
! simply unparalleled in the annals OF base
| ball Lajoie will look like a college anna
| teur next season, and there is going to be
| a vast army of idle pitchers when this
team makes the circuit once. Or course
| it would be ineXpedient to give out the
names at this time but the managsr FjA
show the batting figures for last Feafs
! They all bat close to 800, as can be seen
by looking over these figures. The man
ager is sorry that he cannot show the
names, but quickly RECEIVERS when ne
| thinks of their base running. All in all,-
| will have to do is to go through the for
mality of winning it, OF course the team
| fell down pretty hard last year, but then
| look what the manager had to contend
with All the hard luck in the world was
| focused on him, and all things consider
| ed he was lucky to come out as he did,
; And thus the merry tale runs on each
winter until the grass sprouts green and
the heart of the fan is glad.
Tod Sloan Wins His Suit
'Tod" Sloan has, after years of litiga-
tion in the French courts, won his suit
against the Jockey club, and in the due
course of time will receive $40, 0,O00, less
| attorneys fees, to assuage the mental
anguish caused by his being ruled off the
| French tracks. Sloan was set down
about four years ago, and since then has
| not been able to secure mount In
| France England or America. While in
| the saddle j. Todhunter drew a prineely
salary and contracted princely ideas about
| living. When the salary stopped the
| ideas about living continued unabated
and now TOD needs the money and
| needs it badly. He is without question
| the best Jockey of his day and now that
| the ban has been lifted there is chance
| that he may get back on the pigskin,
/! although this is by no means certain.
He has been vindicated by the verdict
| which under ordinary circumstances
would clear him, but in the punctilious
racing world he must first get his license
| back from the Jockey club before he will
/ be allowed to ride in this country.
| Whether the jockey club will take kindly
| to his application or not is question.
The Jockey club is a pretty dignifed
| body. and now that it has lost the suit,
| the members of the august assembly may
| feel slightly piqued and cause TOD some
| inconvenience.