The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-16
TRYING STARS OF
MINOR LEAGUES
Many Players Are Called, But
Few Make Good in Fast
Company.
lRY Billy Evans.l

Considering the great number of am
ateur mi-professional and minor
league teams. this appears to be
rather strong statement yet it's true.
Every year the major league clubs
draft and purchase minor league play
ers with reckless abandon, and half or
them are touted as the greatest ever.
but how many really make good? The
much heralded phenoms as rule are
sent back to the bushes long before the
season opens. If a manager of big
league team secures two men out of all
his recruits who show big league abil-
ity he is satisfied.
There are in the minor leagues today
a number of ball players who appear.
to be plenty fast enough to hold their
own in the majors. In the minor ranks
they look to be the real stars of the
future. Some of them have been tried
and found wanting. while others will
spend the rest of their days in the
bushes without being molested. It's
peculiar fact that lot of the minor
league stars simply go TO pieces when
they break into fast company.
There is something about the big
leagues that seems to make a lot of the
recruits forget all they ever knew
about baseball Some critics insist that
it's the great difference in the crowds
that throws the Youngsters off their
stride. others think the big league at
mOsphere makes them self-conscious
and greatly affects their work, while
still others believe that the very name
of the famous stars on the same team
frightens all the baseball out of them.
Every man is constituted differently
and no doubt every minor Lacquer who
has failed TO make good in the majors
could advance some good reason why
he didn't stick. These reasons, Of
course. are to be applied only to men
who really appeared TO have the abil-
ity. A large percentage of the recruits
who fail are Simply not ripe for fast
company.
If dozen men are retained by the
eight managers in each league out Of
all the recruits gathered during the
winter-and each league generally en-
lists couple of hundred-the crop is
regarded as a good me. Players who
can bat are wanted in every league,
and it's the men who can swat who are
retained It's really surprising the
way the averages of the minor league
swatters shrink once they stack up
against the high-class pitching of the
big fellows.
Not over a dozen recruits were Civ
en- berths in each of the majors last
year, and few of them succeeded in
winning regular positions,
Experience of Managers.
Charley Comiskey was content to
stand pat with his worlds champions
and the White SoX were in the running
all the time The infield was composed
of Davis, Donahue. Tannehill and Is
bell, except when George Robe was
subbing Tor one of them. Mike Wei
day, the utility outfielder, managed to
break into couple of games, as did
Lee CULLEN at third. When Billy Sui
livan was right he did all the catching,
and the same old pitching staff did the
whirling.
Connie Mack replaced one of his vet
Grams. Monte Cross at third giving
way to Nichols. Mack also sent Old
ring into center field In place of Lord
Oldring, however, had been carried by
the club for a couple of years. Outside
of these two changes it was the same
old team.
Jerry Downs was the only Detroit
recruit to break into the game. Downs
took Schaefer's place when the Ger
man was injured, but gave way just
as soon as Jennings decided he wanted
the cheerful Teuton back in the game
Bailey and Stephens, a Texan bat
terry. made good for St Louis, and
ought to be valuable men for the
Browns this year. Clark Griffith failed
to use a single yOungster on his New
York team. At Boston Wagner and
Sullivan were the only youngsters to
make good with the cultured fans of
Massachusetts.
The sale of Jimmy Jackson to Co
lumbus by Cleveland and an injury to
Harry Bay made two holes in the
Maps Outfield. LajOie filled these two
vacancies with Birmingham and
Hinchman. Both of the newcomers
made good and established reputa-
ton for themselves all over the circuit
by their ability 10 throw. This pair of
strong-arm men and Flick make the
Cleveland outfield the greatest throw
ing trio in the country.
Joe Cantillon picked up the big jewel
of the year in Walter Johnson, a pitch
er from THE far west. Though still in
his teens, and really without bit of
experience. the husky Idaho twirler
made good with the big fellows from
the start. The leading pitchers in Ban
Johnson's league say that Johnson is
one of the greatest young pitchers who
ever broke into fast company. Cantil-
Ion also secured two good looking out
felders i'm Kay and Milan. The latter
made such a hit with the Washington
manager that he has decided to use
him regularly instead of the veteran
Pickering.
About the same number of players
were retained by the National league
MANAGERS as the American. The most
prominent among them were Mike
Mitchell. the wonderful throwing out
fielder of the Cincinnatis; Mowry, Kane
and I.obert, also of the same team;
Storke, who played the difficult corner
for Pittsburg in great style; Knabbe,
VINO surprised the Philadelphia fans;
Maddox. a Central league pitcher picked
up by Dreyfuss late in the fall. and
Konetchy, who promises to make
good first baseman for the st. Louis
Cardinals.
Perhaps no player who has been Sc
cured by an American league club Will
be watched more closely than Thoney
secured by Boston from Toronto
Thoney has already been with three
teams IN the American league-Wash-
ington. Cleveland and New York-and
has been on the reserve list of the Gin
cinnati team, yet he enjoys the dis
tinetion of being the cOstliest ball play
er in the history of the game. Accord