Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-11

w washington last summer ana his many
friends win wish him luck with the New
Workers..
The directors OF the Washington club
have received no word from Manager Stahl
since he left Chicago for the far west. He
should be up in North Dakota by this time
eating snowballs with Doc HilIebrand.
DR.. George A. Linnehan of Pittsiald. who
was selected to coach the Holy Cross base
ball team this season. has sent in his res
ignation. Jesse Burkett will be offered the
of recent developments. as he can then re-
main in Worcester.
Manager Connie Mack of the Athletics,
who always keeps In close touch with the
minor leagues and as result usually gets
tipped of on the best young players devel-
oped annually. was in Chicago to attend
the meeting of othe National Association Of
Professional Base Ball Leagues.
Hub Hart, the ex-Georgetown boy. will
catch for the White sox again this season
Hart has been taking life easy and
has gained fifteen pounds. He now
ties the scales at 1885, They treated
me fine out in CHICAGO says Hart Jones
Comskey is king. All of the players have
the greatest respect for Comiskey." Speak
Ing about Reulbach, with whom he played
I'D in Vermont, Hart said: Hes a won
der he has everything.
When the Boston Americans reach Macon
this spring they will miss Billy Smith, the
clever manager Of the Macon team. Smith
won two pennants for Macon and has been
rewarded by being appointed manager of
the Atlanta club of the Southern League.
Smith has the best wishes of all the Boston
boys out and couldn't do too much for the
visitors He is a hard working. able man
ager. and is sure to do well in Atlanta.
Norw God Gibson says that Boston Aneri-
cans would make grave mistake to cut
out Buck Freeman. and thinks Buck should
be put into the Boston outfield and kept
there Gibbie is also Of the opinion that a
most grievous mistake was made to let
''old man. Lachance get away. THE re-
lease of Lachance.'' said he the other day,
lust broke UP Freddy Parent. Both were
French Canadians and chums. and it broke
the little chap all up in every way to lose
his friend. and l doubt If he will get
over 1t. 1t was more than foolish to break
up combination that was a winner fer
two years.
1t is entirely unlikely that there will be
any extensive raid on the players of organ
lied leagues by the Tri-State League. The
reason is that great ma ority of ball play
erS in organized leagues prefer to stay
where they are rather than take chances Of
jumping to league outside the fold There
are always some disgruntled players, and
yearly there are cuts in salaries to make
know which side their bread Is buttered on,
and few of them jump Those who do do
not leave any holes that cannot be filled.
In any event. young and ambitious players
always can be found to take the place of
seceders, players who prefer to cast their
lot with the old and established leagues
r,
now coach of the Detroit Athletic Club. con-
tends that no amount of teaching will make
good batSman. Says he: You can't teach
man to be good batsman if he isn't a
natural hitter. Good base ball PLAYERS are
born. not made. There are thousands of
average players, but the stars are in the
big leagues. Experience polishes the nat
Cral ability of the born player. Practice
may Improve his gift, but if playing does
not come to him naturally he will never
acquire anything like the perfection sought
after by all men who follow the game as a
business. Any man, fan or player can tell
you offhand what player needs to oeconie
a good batsman. but if the faculty for hit
ting the ball. as McGraw says where the
players amt isn't born in him he will
never become a top notcher.
The first major league ball team to lay
claim to the pennant is the one located in
Cleveland. The owners of the forest city
team have gone on record as predicting
that with Napoleon Lajoie able to play the
whole season the American League pennant
will be won by the Ohio fence breakers"
The regular pitchers of the team-Joss.
Townsend-will go to Hot Springs on Feb
ruary n together with Catchers Buelow
and Bemis. Those boxmen are expected to
get into fine physical trim before the rest
OF the team joins them for the spring train
ing trip. Lajoie thinks he has the best ball
team in the country and hopes that he will
have a chance to meet the New York Ma
tionals next fall in the>series for the worlds
championship.
Ira Thomas, who caught for the champion
Providence Eastern League team last year,
secured a contract yesterday with the New
York Americans. Thomas. who is a six
fcoter and weighs 1875 pounds. was drafted
by Clark Griffith last fall but he did not
play with the Americans during September.
because of a lame arm, the use of which.
however, he has entirely recovered. Those
who saw Thomas in harness say that he is
one of the best catchers in the minor
leagues. that he can go behind the bat
every day and can hit the ball heavily.
Griffith believes that he will he one of the
stars next YER and will put him to work
early In addition to Thomas, several other
players have signed with the Americans. in
Guiding AL Ortiz Noodles Hahn and Goode,
the pitchers: First Baseman Chase and
Shortstop Elberfed Contracts have been
sent TO the rest of the men, and trouble
is expected about the signatures.