The San Francisco call., 1910-11-06
"SLIM" NELSON AN
OAKLAND PRODUCT
He Is One Player Whom None
of the Fans Ever
"Crab" At

Slim Nelson's head extends higher in
the air than that of any other hall
player in the Pacific coast league. and
If he trained like Bat Nelson trains
there Is no question that he could
make the feather weight limit any time
he wanted to start. But he's q pitcher.
not a boxer, so he don't have to weigh
In.
Unlike most of the tossers on the
Oakland team, Slim is a native product.
Up to three years ago he had never
broken away from the wilds of East
Oakland, where he was born, and where
he used to throw rocks at lamp posts
and Chinese washhouse. This is how
he used to practice control when he was
a kid. and he never lost the knack
either.
Lou Schroeder, who used run the
four years ago, Is the discoverer of the
elongated slabster. He picked him out
of a gang that was tossing rocks at a
Chinese laundry one afternoon. Schro-
der noticed that the tall, Swedish
American youth broke more windows in
less time than any of the Others He
Immediately came to the conclusion that
he would grab this kid and make a
pitcher out of him. All he had to do
was to offer Slim the job. The rest
was easy.
In his first yearswith the state league
the human sky scraper was go. He
liked to pitch, and he soon developed
posing bushers worry. He pitched ball
just like he pitched rocks at the orien-
tai washing and ironing establish
ments. His control was great, and he
generally hit the bullseye.
After year and a half in the state
u, Ify,,ge 70, h0y
spread so rapidly and covered so much
ground that they soon heard about him
over in Oakland They heard so much
about him that one day Pa Van Hal
tren, who was then driving the Oakland
band wagon, took run over to Ala
media to watch Slim work. He watched
the long fellow for about three innings.
Then he gave him job.
This, in brief is the story of how
Slim introduced himself to fame. He
became big Lacquer just soon as
he and Van Haltren had exchanged a
few words. Van took him over to
Oakland and had him measured for a
special uniform. This was necessary,
otherwise they would have slipped him
one of the castoffs. However, one peek
at Slim convinced Van that he would
have to contract for a special suit for
the new slabster.
Oakland evidently looks good to- Nell
from the transbay team. This is his
third season and he seems to like it
better now than the first day he joined
the team. He knows everybody in Oak
land and they all know him He has
no enemy in all the world. They never
roast Slim like they do the other pitch
ers, because they know that it will not
do the slightest good in the world:
Slim never took himself seriously
and therefore he can not make up his
mind to take anybody or anything else
seriously. He just goes on his way,
kidding along and getting by If he
loses a game, it's all right, and if he
wins one, well, it's little better But
he never fumes or RACES or goes into
raptures over anything, not even when
he makes a home run, and it is mat
ter of public record that he has made
two since he linked himself to organ
lied baseball, some two and a half
years ago.
Many of the players believe that this
quaint southpaw would have found his
way back to one of the big organiza-
tions ere this if he only took life and
baseball a little more seriously. But
such a thing seems impossible for Slim.
He's against all the serious stuff either
on or off the diamond. Perhaps this is
one of the reasons why the fans all
over the circuit like him so much Any
how, you never hear them calling him a
bone head" or a rubber skull or a
"busher," or anything like that.
1t is the general belief that Nelson
is q sort of fixture with the Oakland
club. Players come and go every year,
but Slim still holds on And so long
as he pitches good baseball he's bound
to be hit with the fans. Occasionally
they bat him out of the box just as
they do the other pitchers. but then
Slim does not worry and he never gets
sore when the relief man comes along
to take his job.