The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-08-11
old Time INFIELDERS.
J. Nj, WARD THINKS PLAYERS OF
YEARS AGO BETTER THAN
THOSE OF TODAY.

NO Bctter InAn NhterOury Eihyer
Who Covered First Base For the
Giants in 1889.
John NJ. Ward, one Of the famous
old-time ball players, was recently
asked how present infielders COM
pared with those of old His answer
was: There are some great players
J on the diamond now. might men
ton Hal Chase, but when l look
back into the history and recall
such star infielders as Fred Pfeffer,
Fred Dunlap, Joe Start, John Nor
rll, Burdock, Tom Tucker, Roger
Conner, and others too numerous to
mention, | am forced to say | see no
improvement.
That is the reply almost any
veteran will make to these queries.
but it is hard to convince the pres
Chase, Devlin, Bridwell, Tinker,
Wagner, Evers Eddie" Collins, La
/ joie, Chance. Miller, Konetchy and
Hoblitzel, for instance, ever lived.
But going back 80 years or more,
there were infielders who made won
derful stops, lightning double plays.
sensational running catches, and
played the game with plenty of the
science prevalent today. James
O'Rourke was a high-class first base
man when he wore a Boston uniform
in 1873 and 1874. Joe Start was in
his prime when he covered the bag
! for Providence in 1884, but he had
previously earned renown in Hart
ford. Sid Farrar of the Philadel-
phias in 1886, was a superb handler
of thrown balls, and headed the list
with an average of $40 for 11S
| following year Morrill, surpassed
those figures with .9S5 for 12i games,
and carried off the hOnors.
Arson recovered his grip in 1888
and 1889. while the leading first base
[ man in 1890 was Virtue of the Gle
velands. Roger Conner, who had left
/ the "Giants" after several years of
| brilliant work, played with the Phila-
delphias in 1892. with the top aver
age of 1856 for 153 games, another
record. pat" Tebeau of the Cleve-
To- n tn fta l.,
1895, 1896 and 1897, his percentage
of 1872 in 1895 being the best ever
made up to that time. tom" Tucker
of the champion Bostons. under the
| late Frank G.. Selee, held the title of
! king of first basemen after that until
he was replaced by Fred Tenney.
Prior to the success of Tucker and
Tenney baseball saw noted first bag
gers in Comiskey, Dave" Foutz,
Long John" Reilly, Tommy Ester
brook, Dave" Orr and many others
who played great ball.
First-class second baseman have
always been scarce, "Johhny' Evers |
of the Cubs" Miller of the pirates"
Collins of the Athletics. Egan of Gin
cinnati, Lajoie of the Clevelands, and |
others of the major leagues are nat
urally regarded as without an equal |
remarkable second sackers, just the |
same. Ross Barnes, who played with |
the Bostons and Chicagos more than |
80 years ago, was far ahead of his |
rivals in point of skill Jack Far
rell, of the Providence team in 1888, |
led the league in the averages and |
was considered Burdock's equal |
Chicago at that time had sterling |
second baseman in "Joe" Quest, but
it was not long before Fred Dunlap |
was the king Fred Pfeffer of the Chi
Cages was perhaps a shade better |
than Dunlap, while McPhee for many |
years with Cincinnati. was an ideal |
man at this bag McPhee's percent
age of .9S2 for 116 games in 1896 still |
stands as a record in the National |
League. Other crack second baseman |
of olden times were Danny Rich |
ardson of the champion Giants" of |
| 1888 and 1889. Henry Reitz of the |
Baltimores of 1894, Bobby Lowe of |
the Bostons, Billy Holman of the |
| Philadelphia, Hub" Collins of the |
Brooklyns, Claude Ritchey of the |
Pittsburgs, and "Yank" Robinson of
the ST. Louis Browns"
The star third basemen of the pres
ent are Devlin of the Giants Grant |
of the Philadelphia, Lennox of the
Brooklyns, Lord of the Boston Red
Sox,' Elberfield of the Washingtons
and others. Yet the old-timers will
tell you that they are no better than
Ezra Sutton of the old Bostons, the
famous Jerry Denny of Providence,
ED" Williamson of the champion
Chicagos under Arson, Arthur Whit
ney of the New Yorks of 20 years
ago, who is now living in Springfield,
BILLY" Nash OF the Bostons, "Bill'
Dahlen of the Chicagos, Lave Cross
of the Athletics, Jimmy" Collins of
1t. IaIf. H..