The Washington herald., 1907-10-06

t+ldiEplDNS OF the American League, the
mere famous man?
The answer will undoubtedly be, Jen-
nings, the Oriole
John c. Chapman, the former player
and manager. has always claimed the
credit of discovering" Jennings. He is
the son Of a miner of Moosic Pa, a little
town near Scranton. While in PhiladeI-
phia one day Chapman was glancing over
the papers of that city. and his eye hap
pened to light on the name Jennings,
the catcher for the Leighton Club. Fiji
teen put-outs and four hits, one Of which
was a home run. looked pretty good TO
Chapman VINO was then manager Of the
Louisville aggregation. and ne imme-
diately wired Jennings an offer Of $l75 per
month. directing him. if IL was accepted,
20 answer 10 Boston, the Louisville clubs
next stopping place The reply received
at the City of Beans was favorable and
Jennings was directed to report at once
az Louisville, as She club would arrive
home IN a few days
when we reached Louisville" says
Chapman, there was Jennings. He was
a green youngster. but I liked his looks
Jack Ryan (the same catcher who was
later a short time with Baltimore. and
who was here only a few weeks ago with
the Buffalo team had been hurt, and I
intended to try Hughey' behind the bat
Jack however. came around all right
and our first baseman. Harry Taylor
(whO afterward came to Baltimore with
Jennings. and was president of the East
eFn League in 1860. got hurt and I said
10 Jennings: Young man, you viii have
10 play first base to-day.
Dear me, mister Jennings replied,
7 can't play first base. I never played
first base in my life
Played Great Ball.
After telling him that he would just
have TO go in and do the best he could,
he promised, and he did a very good best.
He gathered in bad throws from the
dirt, and he jumped for them in the air.
in fact, he was a decided success. Some
time afterWard the shOrtstop, Cahin, got
sick and I told Jennings that he would
have TO essay that position.
But mister Jennings said. as he
had said before, I never played the place
in my life.
Never mind that; go in and do ths
best YOU can
"'An right. mister and it went At
that
He went in and played a great game,
He dived after everything he covered
ground in grand shape and he had the
spectators agape with wonder. He wasn't
afraid of getting errors. and made a great
hit with the crowd At the end of the
season I told him that I wanted TO sign
him the next year. and asked what salary
he expected.
a." I don't know he replied. III leave
that TO you.
" How viii Sl4OO strike youg
That viii be nice he answered. So !
! sat down and inserted SI.7J0 in the con- I
tract When he looked over It he saw
the difference and called my attention TO /
what he believed had been my error. |
When I assured him that the figures had 4
been raised intentionally he said: Mr.. /.
Chapman, I will try to work very hard /
for you for this And he did"
Traded Hughey.
But Manager Chapman. despite his /
glowing tribute to Jennings Initiation .
10 major league circles. was we'll content /
TO allow Manager Ha1lon 10 trade T. /
O'Rourke a highly regarded outfelder 1
Of the time. TO Louisville for Harry
Taylor a first baseman, with Jennings /
practically thrown in during the 1898 /
season. Jennings arrived in this city a |
freckle-faced. awkward lad. still very
verdant, as far as the fine arts of base |
ball were concerned, and no one sus-
pected-unless it might have been Man
ager Hanlon, with his wonderful acu-
men-that this lad was soon to become 4
the talk of the baseball world. and the 1
most brilliant shortstop that ever trod |
a diamond. He was truly the most won
derful fielder the game has ever known.
Absolutely without regard for his rec
ora which means that he did not care
whether the official scorer chalked up
an error against him or not. he went
after drives that other shortStOps would
never have dreamed of interfering with.
and, though he did not always do the
impossible, he really did do it a suff-
ciently large proportion of times 10
stamp him as the wonder Of the decade |
He covered more ground than any other
ShOTtstOp in the business. not even ex-
Cepting Herman Long. Of Boston. who
was perhaps the second best at that
kind of play. No shOrtstOp Of his day
or since had the great number of chances
Jennings accepted. and the records show
that he has the remarkable average OF
5.43 per game for twelve years play.
1t is rare that a shortstop will average
even a small fraction over six per game
for one year only. His earnest hustling
and absolute lack of fear finally put an
end to his career as shortstop. for his ]
arm went back on him. and during his ]
last years of play he was compelled 10 {
play either first or second base. With Z
his fast side partner, Henry Reitz.
the Oriole pair far outdistanced all other j
teams in the matter of double plays i
Able to capture apparently safe drives. I
able to get what came his way without I
wasting a second. able to get the ball &
away from almost any position the hu- Z
man body can assume. it was little won j
der that Jennings and Reitz formed an I
Incompatible pair, and il Is also notable
that ReitZ, as great as he was while an a
Oriole, never put up the same game ]
after he dissolved partnership with Jen- }
nings q
Hit by the Pitcher. /
But not alone was Jennings famous FOR
his fielding That might be expected TO
be startling at any moment, but as a Il
batter, there got to be one stunt for f
which "Hughey'' became famous the v
world over getting hit by the pitcher. n
That was the expected, and rarely. in V
deed, did a game pass in the good old
days that "HUghey" was not plunked
IN some portion OF his anatomy by A
pitched bail In those times the base
ball powers that be- were not "on ton {
the tricks of the trade. for the simple {