The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-07-15

fairly strong, but complained that their
best player had been forced to work
that day, refusing to remain idle when
he could make 81 at his trade, O'Leary
volunteered to persuade the player to
get into the game. He hired a horse
and buggy, drove three miles into the
country and found the player busily
engaged in shingling a barn. O'Leary
agreed to pay him 50 If he would play
against Indianapolis that afternoon.
In the game the lanky Hoosier twice
hit the ball out Of the pasture in which
they were playing. OLeary offered
him a position on the Indianapolis
team and took him away with the
club that night. The carpenter was
Sam Thompson, who developed into
the greatest batter of his day and one
of the hardest hitters the game eve
has known.
Hans Wagner became a ball player
because George Moreland, who owned
the Youngstown, o., club needed q
pitcher and could pay only $35 q
month. Wagner's brother, AL Wagner.
suggested that he try Hans, who &C
copied the offer.
There was one discouraged scout
about ten years ago who lost mi OF
the greatest pitchers eve developed
because the pitcher was under q
heavy handicap. Frank Bancroft, still.
hunter after baseball talent of all
sorts, was informed that there was q
pitcher named Charlie Pickerel at
Lynchburg, O., who vas as good as
any man on the Cincinnati list. Ban.
croft fastened into the country and
watched .Pickerel pitch. He was
amazed at the speed and curves of the
amateur and was on the point of ma.
king him an offer when he discovered
the one weakness of the man. He
could not pitch with his shoes on.
Every inning when he went to the
slab Pickerel removed his shoes. took
Q toe hold on the rubber and vas an
other Rusie, but Bancroft feared COM
plications and allowed him to escape.
Tom Ramsey, who perhaps was the
most remarkable ~left-handed pitcher
in the history of baseball, was dis
covered scientifically. He was a brick
layer, and being accustomed to grip
ping brick with his left hand while
breaking them with his trowel, he had
cultivated a marvellous power In
thumb and forefingers. The Louisville
club secured him OF the report of a
player who had seen Ramsey twist
the cover of a baseball by pressure
of his fingers. The player figured
that a man with such power in his
throwing hand ought to be a great
pitcher, and Ramsey within a short
time after joining the team, pitched
curves of such wonderful speed and
such quick breaks that he became the
sensation of the game. James A.
Hart, when he was managing Louis
Vile, studied the secret of Ramsey's
success and instead Of looking for ball
players in minor leagues. went scout
Ing for left-handed bricklayers, trailing
them to the tops of buildings, but he
never discovered another Ramsey.
Nat Hudson. who won the worlds
championship for st. Louis in the f.
nous series between the st. Louis
Browns under Comiskey and the Chi
cago White Stockings under Arson.
was found in a peculiar manner
Comiskey was a Chicago man, and in
the middle of a season he went to Chi
cago with his St. Louis club, being in
desperate need OF a pitcher. He was
in a barber shop when the barber sug-
gested that he try Hudson. OF whom
Comiskey never had heard. On hunt
ing for the pitcher Comiskey found
that he lived directly across the street
from his own house, SO after search
ing the entire country for a pitcher.
he got his start at his own doorsteps.
But there are few such discoveries
made under modern conditions. The
men are watched by scores of clubs;
and records Of their habits, DISPOSE
lions, speed, hitting ability and intel
ligence are kept almost from the day
Iu0y SIdIL " pay Az OAO SAAAO ia
the early part of 1907 four scouts rep
resenting four major league clubs
were in the stands at Springfield, ILL.,.
at one game, watching Doyle, for
whom eight clubs had already made
bids. The New York club. fearing
some other club would get the player,
paid $4,000 for him by telegraph with
out seeing him play, thus securing q
great second baseman. In 1909 IL
clubs we're bidding at n time for
Blackburn of Providence, who went to
Comiskey's Chicago team. Tad"
Jones, the Yale catcher and football
player, received offers from every
major league club in the country dur
ing his senior year, but he refused to
become a professional.
or the 1875 approximately players
carried on the pay rolls of the major
leagues during a season, not more
than 100 are really finished and COM
petent players. It is extraordinary II
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