Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1911-05-21
CHAPTER WI.
Combine Baseball and VIVA Oats.

ed out with the united determination
TO give the Boston champions the
struggle OF their life to keep at the
top Of the list All winter we had
been preparing for the conflict, and
we realized that In order to down the
victors we must strengthen our weak
places without damage TO pur strong
ones. To accomplish this the man.
agement OF the Athletics made few
changes in the makeup of the team,
One OF these was to put new man
named Fulton at third base assigning
me TO shortstop | suppose the Ath-
letic folk had come TO the conclusion
that was sort Of general utility
man, playing equally we'll IN any old
position. thought at the time they
We're mistaken, and am of the samo
opinion still You can take It from me
that In baseball. as in moot other pro
fessions, the jack-of-alltrades Is very
apt to be master of none.
Although we had a mighty strong
team-stronger, ! think, than that of
the preceding season--we failed to
make as good a showing as we did In
1872, The Boston folks had ioutgen-
eraled us in our effort to fortfy our
selves and they had been more liberal
with their "rhino" Altogether we
played 80 games that season, winning
~ and losing 23 Out of the IA exit
biuon games we won IL and lost two.
Those two lost games were the gall
y and wormwood OF the whole business
they were won by rival club which
had come into being, the Philadel-
phians, who had robbed us of two Of
our most famous players, Malone and
Mack, and had started business with
the avowed intention OF wiplng us off
the map
Take It straight from me that the
Rtaid citizens Of "old Phillie" were
tickled to death over the baseball
civil war that had broken out, and
they Just rooted themselves speech
less at the final contest, which landed
our rivals in second place, the score
standing to T. We left the field that
night as disgusted with the business
OF living on the earth as II we had been
treated to a dose of ippeoao. The
season was all over now and we were
halted in our march to overtake the
\ once more victorious beaneaters AS
before, was about the only member
Of tie team who could find crumb OF
comfort was still fourth on the bat
ting list and that was something
Now, don't believe for a moment
that the Athletic management was
ready to call Off the game That club
was founded on too firm rock to
have It's bottom knocked out from un-
der by the upstart that had tackled 1t.
Instead OF sitting down and crying
over the milk that had been spilled,
the club folks started right in to mend
their fences SO that they might stand
chance OF regaining what they had
lost even II nothing better came of
IT, My salary was advanced to $500,
and once again | was shfted-thls
time to right field. did not say so
nt the time but | knew then as well
ms | do now that the change was an
other piece of shortslghteGness.
Now, don't Jump to the conclusion
that ! did nothing during those win
ters in Philadelphia but strenuous
gymnasium stunts to fit me for the
road Even IN those days the Quaker
City enjoyed the reputation of being
model village but | found It some
what lively In spots, certainly more
80 than Marshalltown. When left
the Iowa town was at the know.itall
age, when the world seemed populated
with idiots-all except myself. re-
garded the old gentleman as too hide
bound in his ignorance to be worthy
OF any attention whatever. When
arrived in Philadelphia some of that
fooishness had been knocked out OF
me, but was still in the rough and
needed mighty vigorous trimming.
My robust constitution and outdoor
life had done lot to encourage the
animal in my makeup, and was as
full of nonsense as an unbroken thor
oughbred colt and about as likely TO
kick over the traces when anybody
attempted to tighten the rein on me.
There were plenty ready to give me
good advice, but took mighty good
care to steer clear of H. In nut
s,shell, baseball was my preference, but
] was ready for any other old game.
with this view Of the problem Of life,
some Of my experiences at that period
were not OF very exalted nature,
hardly creditable, in fact, to a young
man who aspired to become a great
ball player but have the consola,
tion OF knowing that they were due
more to freshness and ignorance than
70 actual viciousness.
had a mighty good opinion Of my
ability to hold my own In all contests
that demanded strength and sndur.
ance, and II was . good thing that !
sometimes ran up against snag One
instance in which my pride took tre-
mendous tumble was in 1879, the Hrst
year I played with the Athletics. II
was a throwing match pulled Of at
the Union grounds IN BROOKLYN b.