Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1911-08-24

ers; Arson, first base; Glenalvin, sec
ond base; Burns, third base; Cooney,
shortstop; Carroll, left field; Andrews,
right field; and O'Brien and Foster,
ubstitutes-with the solitary eXcep-
tion of Burns, a lot of half-broken
colts, many of them newcomers in the
league and with regulations still to
gain.
There was never a time during the
and on several occasions we were
right up in the front rank. When Oc-
tober came in we held third and dur
ing the short season that followed we
passed FnlIadelpn1a ana LOOK seconu
position. 1t certainly was an achieve
ment to be proud OF, and if you think
failed to flap my wings and crow a
little you are not familiar with A. G.
Anson's makeup.
With the downfall Of the Brother
hood thought, very naturally. that it
would be comparatively easy matter
to strengthen the Chicago club ma
terially. 1t didn't turn out that way.
/ didn't even get my old players back,
some of them retiring from the dia-
mond altogether. and others being
scattered far and wide among the va
rious league teams. That involved a
constant lookout and anxiety on my
part to secure new players. was
certainly easy game for the kid with
the baseball bug in those days.
didn't dare to refuse any applicant a
try-out for fear that might be turn
ing down championship timber
The season of 1891 was almost as
bad year for baseball as its prede-
cessor. A war broke out between the
National league and the American as
I ISOLATION because the latter refused to
abide by the terms of the national
agreement. The result was that sal
aries took soar upward. At the
time good players were exceedingly
scarce and the demand was constantly
growing.
SO my team that year was again a
sort of experiment. but it turned out
| to be mighty successful one. Pfef-
| fer came back to us, but he was no
longer the Pfeffer of old Ryan was
| another prodigal son who returned to
his fathers house, but all the others
were comparatively unknown to fame.
| 1t proved to be very strong organ
ization, and | am satisfied it would
have landed the pennant but for the
fact that the jealousy Of the old play
ers engendered by the Brotherhood re-
/ Nf
youngsters, many of whom were new
corners in the league, to carry off the
1 honors. l have never doubted that a
| conspiracy was entered into to pre-.
vent the pennant from going to us that
season, and that 1t was arranged that
| New York should give enough games
to the Bostons to throw the champion.
ship to the Beaneaters at the last mo-
ment, leaving us in second place. We
made whirlwind fight for the top
| place and no fault could be laid at my
door or at that of my players because
the Giants dropped enough games to
the Boston club to prevent the honors
being gobbled by colt team.
Hutchinson, who did most of our
| IW1IluS IudI ScdSOu, WAS tOpuOLCu-
er. He was graduate of Yale, gen
tleman II ever there was one, and a
| player who used his head as well as
| his hands when he was in the box.
Gumbert and Luby were both talent
! ed players, and but for his reckless
ness the latter might have been a
star of the first magnitude. Dahlen,
then on his first trip with us, was a
tower of strength to the team, as
agile as cat, sure catch and an ex-
ceptionally strong batter. The rest
of the infield and the outfield were
away above the average in playing
ability.
That race of 1891 was one of the
closest and most strenuous in the his
tory of the league. Opening the sea-
son In third place, we never went low
er. but out OF the twenty-four weeks