The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-02
BRESNAHAN GETS !
PLENTY Of CREDIT
Sports Writers Congratulate
Him On Way He Has
Boosted Cardinals

st. Louis. Nov. 2.-Congratulations
are due Roger Bresnahan. The Car
dtnal commander can well afford to
be proud over the Cards showing this
year. Here's what the club did:
Improved Its standing in the cham.
ptonshtp race two notches, jumping
from seventh place to fifth position.
Boosted It's percentage from .412 to
.5o3,. q gain Of ninety.one points,
which excels the work Of the cham.
pion New Yorks.
New York ran second last year to
Chicago. with a percentage Of .591.
Today the Giants are first, with a
gain Of sixty-nine points.
It Bresnahan can maintain the
same ratio Of improvement next year,
a berth In the first division is as.
sured.
Under the capable leadership. of
Bresnahan the Cards have displayed
consistent improvement. Roger took
command OF, the club in 1909. assum.
ing control of what appeared to be a
hopeless aggregation Of tailenders. The
team and. h prophets predicted an
eighth place berth for Rogers men
in 1909.
Fools tile Wise One.
Nothing like that for Bresuahan.
however. With little or nothing in the
way OF material to work on, he got
BUSY and bought. traded, exchanged,
"bunkoed" other ball managers out Of
players enough to make his team
climb. one notch in the championship
race-in other words, finish seventh.
and incidentally improve its percent.
age Of .3l8 to 1856.
Ihat was going some for a new
manager, and the wise guys began to
Keep their eye on Roger. The next
year Bresnahan had some coin to in.
vest in new players, and. he also en-.
sineered a:couple Of trades that estab-
!ished. his reputation as the David
Harum Of the national game. When
ne got through he. had q ball team
n a boosted his percentage from 1853
70 :4l2 and came within an eyelash
Of beating out Brooklyn for sixth
place.
This year vas the duke" cut loose
n stood the National league on it's
head. For months he had the Cards
nghting for the flag. McGraw, Chance,
Clarke and DOOM doffed their Cha.
peaus to the boss of the Cardinals.
During June and July, when the Cards
were going great guns, the team drew
capacity crowds at home and abroad,
n boosted the bushes of the Ma
tional league tremendously. While his
p,ssners STOOD up. Bresnahan had his
men IN the pennant fight. II Steele,
Harmon and Sailee had served Roger
as faithfully As Vanguard, wiltse and
MatheWson worked for McC. aw. local
fans believe the Cards would have
landed one. two; three sure as shoot.
ing.
Pitchers What He Needs.
Al! Bresnahan needs for 1912 Is a
couple Of: reliable pitchers to round
out his twirling corps. He developed
Two great men this yea in Harmon
and Steele. If he should be lucky
enough next season to uncover two
more reliable fingers like Bill and
6oD; g 70 no telling how high the
|. Rogers. Cards OF 1911 succeeded IN
compiling. the, highest percentage the
st. Louis. National league club has
gained since 1901. Patsy Donovan
handled the Cards Of 1901. That was
the year before the American league
invaded st. Louis and captured ali Of
MI. R~obinson's stars. The 1901 Cards
finished fourth and put together a
percentage of $40. Oliver Tebeau's
st Louis team Of 1899 beat that notch,
lin!snlne NTH IN a twelve-club circuit
ana pfitng up,a percentage Of 1856.
donovan landed the Cards fifth in
!So2 and piloted the team eighth in
1903. That costly mistake cost the
%loquacious =. j. his fat lob. Charlie
Nichol managed. the Cards in 1900.
M had the club in fifth place at the
conclusion Of the pennant race. A
bad start in 1905 cost Nichols his lob.
Jimmy Burke succeeded Nichols as
manager. Then John McCloskey took
tne club " ran It for three years.
succeeded McCloskey.