Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-11
COLLEGE MAN IN
WITH BIO FELLOWS
TENNEY FIRST OF HIS KIND TO
GET WAY UP
Boston Manager Realizes Highest
Ambition of Ball Tosser-Four-
teen Years In Major
League Company

Fred Tenney, manager anu AlSt po9S
man of the Boston National League team,
is not the first college player who turned
his back on professors degree to- play
professional baseball, but he was the nrst
to command general attention.
Tenneys has been career OF conspicu-
Gus success in his fourteen years OF
service in the major league. Starting as
catcher, he was suddenly shifted to hrst
base position new to him, ana SO
brilliantly did he show that he revolu-
tionized the style of play at the point.
Later he advanced to the captaincy OF
the team, and subsequently became man
ager and stockholder.
Tenney has realized the very highest
ambition of a ball player, that of leading
team and sharing in its profits.
Played at Brown University
In the early nineties New England base
ball sharps were talking about the ag-
gressive catcher who was winning games
for the Brown university nine by his
excellent all-around work. This backstop
was Tenney, and in time Manager Frank
Selee of Boston received the Zip from
friends to try out the Brown wonder.
After seeing Tenney play In one game,
Selee was convinced that he could be
nodded into a star, and forthwith signed
Tenney to Boston contract.
1t WAS IN the year lcJt llltiI lcIhCy pS7
came a professional. He was a disap-
pointment at the outset in one respect
and a success in another. Being left
handed and with no overstrong arm,
either, Tenney's work behind the bat left
something to be desired. He could not
wing the speedy base-runner5 as they
circled around the paths.
In batting and inside work Tenney gilt
tered He thumped the ball hard, and
coupled speed with intelligence on the
bases Manager Selee carried Tenney for
his batting and base-running two seasons.
In the early part of the year 1896 Seiee
released the young collegian to Spring
| field Mass After, two weeks in the
minors, Selee was obliged to recall Ten
ney, owing to injuries to his regular
| catcher. The brief two weeks marked
the only period Tenney played on the
Boston team since he became a profess
sional. After catching for two weeks,
| Tenney finished the season as right field
er. His batting percentage that year was
| far above the 300 mark, and insured him
| a regular place on the team. 1t was the
| year 1897 that Tenney leaped from vir-
| tual obscurity to one Of the top-liners OF
| the sport. Tenney started this year In
right field, but after he played three
games Selee decided to do little expert
| menting.
| paw
| OF Tommy Tucker, who was losing his
| grip in the fast baseball set. Young Chic
Stahl whom SeIee had purchased from
| Buffalo, was put in the collegian's for
mer position.
Turns Out a Great Player
Seldom has manager made such a
lucky stroke as Selee. Tenney and Stahl
became whirlwind successes. Tenney
| changed first-base playing more than any
| other player did. 1t had been the habit
UP to that time to put failures In other
positions at the initial base. Tenney
| stopped this practice.
The frs thing he did was to play In
| close and try for the man at second
when fielding bunts. He often made
| double plays on these tops, and his spec
| tacular fielding with Jimmy Collins, Her
| man Long, and Bob Lowe made him a
great Boston favorite and drew thou
sands of dollars through the gate.
Tenneys fast, snappy play caused a
new school of first basemen to be Gre
ated. Managers demanded lively, ag-
gressive men, who could do something
more than catch thrown balls, and from
last refuge for no-accounts, first base is
now regarded as one of the important
points of the innerworlss. The Chance,
Donohue and Chase of today are exem-
plars of the Tenney school.
Mr. Tenney has kindly and placid
countenance off the ball field. Umpires
will hold diametrcally opposite views of
Mr.. Tenney on the field
Off. he has the respose and bearing or
an English remittance man. On, he is
fiery and high strung. He moves at high
pressure and is vitriolic in his speech.
"There are more college players in base
ball now" returned Mr.. Tenny to ques-
ton, because the prejudice toward their
taking up a professional sport Is fast
disappearing.
"I never thought that a ball player had
to be a corner saloon bruiser to make
good, so felt. no compunctions of con-
science when I signed contract with
Boston fourteen years ago."
care college players more valuable to
team than men of common school educa-
tion % Tenney was asked.
"There are ball players and ball players,
but as a class I don't believe that the
man with the university education is any
better than the other. He comes to the
team with q better developed brain, and
this may enable him to grasp points quick
er than the sluggish Drained teammate,
but in natural ability the latter may eX-
eel, and he will hold his place while the
other may be turned aside.
UnIettered, but Good Player
"Al illiterate man may be a heady ball
player. I have known of several cases
bearing out this statement. These men
were born players, and the lack of educa-
tion could not keep them down.