The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-07-29
By Johnny Evers and Hugh Fullerton

By Johnny Evers and Hugh Fullerton
CONTINUED from last week.
The season Of 1901 passed without
permanent Improvement Of the club,
which was disrupted BY the, wal be-
tween the American and National
leagues. A host q players were
/ purchased, but mot one was Of cham
y pionship caliber;; and it was not until
the coming Of selee that the prospects
Of q winning team frightened. Selee
and Hart reached an agreement as to
the management in the fall Of 1901.
ksand Selee Immediately laid plans to
strengthen Chicago. His first step
was a bit Of strategy to secure Slagle.
who was wanted to lead the batting
list.
slagle was q quiet, cool, left-handed
batter with much patience and judy
ment. His career in baseball had
been full of vicissitudes. He started
+ playing with Clarion, Pa, in. 1889,
and afterward went to Ohio Wesleyan
university at Delaware, where he
played the outfield two seasons. In
1894 he signed with Franklin, in the
Iron and Oil league, then played with
Omaha for one season; next went to
Houston, Tex, where a scout discov-
cred him and took him to Boston in
the fall of 1896. Boston banished
him to Grand Rapids. from which.
place he went to Kansas City. Pitts
burg bought him, but before he played
there he was traded to Washington.
and when the National League was
reduced to eight clubs in 1898 .slagle
was sent to Philadelphia, where, in
the greatest aggregation Of batters
ever organized, the little fellow led
the list. He was sold to Boston in
1901 and near the end Of the season
broke a finger. Selee, having a
scheme, sold him to Baltimore. The
release to Baltimore was part Of the
. plot to get him to Chicago, for al soon.
as Selee became msnager of Chicago
he brought Slagle back.
That same spring Selee found the
man to stop the gap at short stop
WulCu udu SAlotOu vi yO0Ao 81 AN
man was Joe Tinker, who began play
ing ball with the John Taylors in
Kansas City in 1896. He was so good
even then that the next year Hagn's
Tailors paid two dollars for him, and
: he helped that team win the city cham
pionship in 1898. Then he went to
the Bruce Lumbers, with which team
hs met and conquered Kings schmeit'
gers. The next season King traded
two uniforms and a bat for Tinker
and brought him to the Schmeltzers.
but in June he went to Parsons, Kan.
and later in the summer to Corey
vile. Denver purchased him and tried
him at second base, but he was so
bad that he was sold quickly to John
McCloskey, who was managing the
Great Falls team. It happened that
Great Falls was in financial straits.
and needing money, McCloskey sold
Tinker to Helena for 5000. and Joe
Marshall, saving the team. and the
league from bankruptcy. He was
taken to Portland, Ore, in 1901, by
Jack Grim. Playing third base, he
helped win the pennant of the North
west league. He played so we'll that
scouts for both Cincinnati and Chi
cago bid for him. Jack Mccarthy, who
had been ill-treated by Cincinnati, adj
vised Tinker to try Chicago and he
Joined the team as a third baseman.
Selee insisted upon making a short
stop of him, and after a long dispute
Tinker agreed't to try-and became one
of the greatest in the league.
Perhaps the greatest luck the Chi
.cago club eve had al in forming an
alliance with Geore HUFF, athletic d.
rector Of the University Of Illinois.
for the association Of HUI with the
club as scout marked an era in the
making Of the championship team.
Huff's first contribution to the team
was Carl Lundgren. the University Of
Illinois pitcher, who had twice won
the intercollegiate championship for
the school. Lundgren was quiet.
studious and the Human Icicle," n
Of the careful observers of batters
ever found. He was Of the type that
studies three ices and a pair Of tens
for two minutes before calling-and
studies q pair of deuces Just as hard.
When he calls, he wins, and he
pitched wonderful ball for Chicago.
(The following is by Fullerton.)
Late that same. season Lowe, the
famous second baseman. injured his
leg and the team was left without any
man for the place. A scout was in
Troy, N. T., to get Hardy, q pitcher.
and In despair Selee wired him to get
second baseman, and forward him
CO. D. When the scout returned
bringing John ]. Evers almost every
(S1ane laughed. Evers was then not
slpp1neteen years of age. No! one sus-
pected that he wal destined to become
the greatest second basemans that ever
lived and the foremost exponent and
developer Of the inside game" for
neither his appearance nor his ex-
perience indicated any great promise.
He began playing ball when eight