The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-26
Why Frank Chance Is
 Napoleon Of Baseball

habit of the Cub manager in calling the players during the game.
 If Tinker fumbled. Tinker heard of it
 when he reached the bench.
 If Reulbach was wild he was told that i he should practice at a knot hole. | If Evers erred he wasn't permitted to forget.
 The fans sitting in the boxes heard the ! words of the manager They weren't al- ways pleasant Big fight on the Cub team. They'll lose because there's dis senson." they repeated to their brother fans. The story was added to and spread rapidly. The trouble was that the fans didn't know it was all over when the game was at an end.
 | And give this manager credit for know ing human nature. Johnny Evers was i suspended twice for his run-ins with the i umpire. That injured the team and Chance didn't want it to occur again He l could have threatened Evers with a fine i and the second baseman would have gone along and been suspended again. But one | day he said | m give you the finest suit of clothes i you can find in Chicago if you aren't 1 fired from another game" You're on,' retortcd Evers
 Now if there was one thing that would give him greater pleasure than run-in 1 with the "ump' it was to compel Chance to purchase that suit of clothes. A fine wouldn't have deterred him. But the prospect of compelling Chance to pay was not one he could overlook. He didn't i become meek. He kicked, and strenuous ly, when he thought he was getting the worst of the decision, which was always but he managed to control himself and stopped when he reached the limit. So Chance kept Evers in the game and held his friendship
 And what of this managers career as { a baseball player? He joined Chicago in the spring of 1898. He came upon the | recommendation of that other great star ! of the West side-Bill Lange Hart was then in charge of the West Side aggre- gation. Lange had seen Chance playing in semi-professional baseball in Califor- mia and had made the recommendation. Well, Chance came, was looked over, was laughed at, but was permitted to remain. The team was training at West Baden that year
 He warmed up the pitchers, and that was about all But he stuck. Year after year passed and Chance showed little improvement. There never was a time when his greatest admirer would have predicted that he was destined to become one Of the great men of baseball. They credited him with pluck with ambition, but that was about all.
 
 of his life came. In that year Selee, then in charge of the West Siders, persuaded him to become a first baseman. Chance didn't want to. The catcher's life was the one he liked. He had been catching for years and was afraid he would fail in the new position. But Selee finally pre- vailed. And Chance was made. He's been on the first bag ever since. He has developed into one of the greatest first basemen in the land. He isn't of the fancy, one-hand stabbing kind, mind you, for that is foreign to his nature. He is one of the sure, two-handed first base men that believe the ballplayer should get his man and not the applause of the crowd. Two years later and Chance was in charge of the West Side team. Then it developed that he was the leader that was wanted. He was the k1nd that knew exactly what he wanted and how to ob- tain it.