Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-23

| tinue to be the case. jennings, and no
one else. has enabled the club TO be a
and no club has any better prospects to
land the banner than he."
Transfer Of Collins Blocked.
No season has been more prolific Of
startling changes in the major leagues
than the present one. 1t was little expect
ed when the campaign opened that Jimmy
Collins would be translated to the Athletic
club. 1t will be remembered that at the
annual meeting Of the American League in
chicago arrangements were made to place
Collins in st. Louis and President Hedges
of the st. Louis club agreed to stand for
Collins salary of $500, the largest paid
any player in the American League The
deal would have gone through with rush
were 1t not for the fact that Mr.. Henry ].
killilea of Milwaukee, attorney of the
American League. interposed and smashed
the slate. The result was that Collins was
compelled to come back to Boston Mr..
killilea is shrewd observer of matters
In base ball and he appreciated what Man
since appreciated-that Collins was far
from being all in as a ball player and If
he were good enough for Manager McAleer
he would be good enough for Boston. This
was reasoned out all right, but the astute
attorney failed to take cognizance of the
1act that a man can scarcely be expected
TO be imbued with enthusiasm in club
where he has been deposed in managerial
capacity. This was soon made patent in
Boston and the result was a trade with
the Athletics by which young Knight was
sent here. The trade proved an admirable
one both ways. as Knight failed to give
satisfaction in his native city of Philadel-
phia, and thus far has done remarkably
good work for the Boston club. On the
other hand. Collins has made a decided
hit In Philadelphia and in the minds OF
many will contribute much to land the
help to make 1t a pennant possibility. There
Is no doubt at all that had st. Louis sue
ceeded in securing Collins the club would
now be as near the top of the procession
as 1t is close to the bottom.
Not the Work Of Season.
A manager new to a club cannot be ex-
pected to do everything in one season. His
Is tough position in most cases, and he
must have time to look over the field. study
his men and make up his mind what is to
be done. 1t will be necessary to make
some sweeping changes in the team before
anything like winner is secured. That
sort of thing does not come for the asking,
as Jimmy Collins and Joe Cantillon among
others can testify. Scouts will not make
base ball clubs or pennant winners. If
scouts made pennant winners then Cleve-
land and Cincinnati would have had them
a long time ago. Immense sums of money
have been thrown away In the endeavor to
secure first-class ball players. and as many
have been secured without scouts as by
their aid. Again, the scout must be a man
who knows a ball player when he sees one
1t Is no easy matter to decide that player
will do after seeing him play in one or two
games It often happens that a player
will show up very poorly just at the time
when he is being sized up, and therefore
often an inferior player is selected Some
times players are bought who are not fast
enough for the next class when 1t Is de-
cided they are not fast enough for major
league company. Thus far not one of the
players secured for the Boston Americans
at the beginning of the season has made
good, with the exception of catcher Shaw
Not one of the pitchers has yet shown an
ability to hold his and not one has
been any improvement at all on what the
club had. The acquisitions were therefore
useless. Thus far Young and Winter are
the only ones of the club who have shown
themselves capable of pitching a first-class
article OF base ball. and what the future
may develop Is most uncertain.