The Washington herald., 1911-01-25
BY WILLIAM PEET.

once.
y man who has missed few ball games
in the District during tine past twenty
years dropped in last night for b,ief
aiming bee. The subject of the ST. Louis
Browns was brought up. and, OF course,
Jack OConncr's name WIS mentioned.
old Jack O'Conn0r? | remember him
well. the fan remarked. He played
right field on the Cleveland Spiders six
teen or seventeen years ago and. in adj
ditioH TO being crack player. was the
worst umpire batter you ever saw; in
fact. that old Cleveland club was bunch
Of hard nuts. from the bat boy up.
One day in Washington during the
early COS. Cleveland was playing, and
things were breaking badly for them. so
they started in on the umpire. / don't
remember who he WAS, but he had the
nerve to fire about four kickers out of
the game. Jack O'Connor said something
that would hardly look good in print. and
he. too. was chased Walking in from
right field. before the bleachers. OCon-
nor yeelled to the Jump: What did do
This was signal for the fans to break
loose. They jecred and guyed him UNI
m"rcifuly, and every time tn" Clevc-
land Spiders showed up that season
OConnur was greeted with. What lid
| do
When OConnor dropped out of the big
show a player local fans SAW nothing
of him until last spring. when the st.
Louis Browns mad their first appearance
in the Capital.
Tho opening game of the series had
hardly progressed five minutes. when
Jack OCOnnur. on the coaching lines.
took exception to an umpirc's decision.
and was promptly sent to the bench. The
old boys had not forgotten the time
o'Connor w;IS chased back in the '!U's. and
Jack pricked up his cars as he heard sev-
raj shout. What did | do
He had forgotten all about the Incl
dent, but the fans hadn't"
Bob Hedges has unique ideas about
scouts and scouting. The owner of the
lucklesS grounds declares there is d
dra wbaCk in employing a famous scout.
inaSmuCh as his reputation often adds
value to intended purchases in the eyes
of minor league owners. The mere fact
that noted Surshoe expert thinks
well OF a certain player. says Hedges.
frequently causes club owners TO over
estimate his value and ability. The fu
ture scouts of the Browns WILL there
fore. travel disguised and incoS or oe
unknown to fame.
tanning bee between Joe Tinker
and Fielder Jones recently brought 'ut
the interesting information that Jor
Tinker has never been hit by a pitched
ball since he Joined the Chicago CLUB in
1897. while, on the other hand, Fielder
Jones. during his stay with COmisk"y.
was most frequently waited to first
through stopping wild shoots Of the
nit nal
is most remarkable, and he does not 4
member any other player who has hal
d like experience.
A deal is said 10 he on whereby Pitts
burg will land Pitcher Mattc.'n IF III"
Boston Doves Fred Clarke and Fred
Tcnney are dickerinG over the swap.
which may mean the severing of con-
nections OF couple of the Pirates vet
Grams
Says Ed. Wray in The st. Louis Post
Dispatch: Baseball players, some of them
are just grown up children. Many a one
needs a manager all to himself beside
team director. Some of them do
childish things: others turn tricks that
would be called diSloyal if attributed 10
any one supposed to think. For example:
There's a certain Brownie pitcher who
had a miserable season last year. but
who has been held for some time in the
hope that something might develop 20
demonstrate his real worth. For two
years sickness was the cause of his
failure.
He was asked to what he attributed
his poor showing last year.
We'll. | laid down. he replied
The auditor listened TO this statement
with amazemcnt and asked what ne
meant
''Well. | got away to bad start and
O'ConnOr was 50 nasty about it that
just got sick and tired of it. and thought |
I would loaf. You see Ill work my |
heart out for a man like Wallace.
Ever listen to the beat of that? |
Takes his employers money, but re- |
fuses to earn il. Ruins his own pitch |
ing reputation by hiding his real form. |
just to make trouble for his manager. |
Unfaithful alike to the hand that feeds !
him and to his own interests.
It's certainly going some.
But then. you never can tell. He !
merely to protect his weakened pitch |
ing reputation
The following story which is going the
rounds is of interest to the old-time fans: J
Few names are dearer to the Old-time
baseball FANS tnan tnat OF Cnarlle oiu
Hoss'O Radbourn. hero of the 1884 Prov
idence team. which won the National
League pennant.
1t is hard to convince the old timers
the stars of to-day are any better than
Radbourn all things considered. Ger
tainIy it would he a hard task to find
any latter-day pitcher who would dupli-
cate the herculean task which made the
name Radbourn famous.
This feat was the pitching of thirty
seven consecutive games and winning
of them. He Won eighteen
Of his games without IL miss. shutting /
out Boston upon three occasions and al
lowing but one run in the series. His one
defeat was by Buffalo. and but five hits
were made, so he could not have been
performing poorly. Radbourn's pitching
took the pennant to Providence. After
the pennant was cinched he worked in
eight games. winning five of them. His
record stands unparalleled.
Radbourn's wonderful record was. to-
ward the last the result of grit. pure
and simple He suffered untold agony,
being unable to raise his arm higher than
his shoulder morning after morning upon
arising
Instead of quitting however. he worked
the harder, going to the park hours be-
fore the other players and beginning to
warm I'D BY tossing the ball a few feet,
increasing the distance until
he could throw to the plate from the out
field. During this process the players
watched Radbourn until he could finally
throw to the plate, and then they would
shake their heads. Such pluck was be-