The Washington herald., 1911-12-04
TRANSFORMATION
OF THE ATHLETICS
Plank Only Member of 1901
Team with Mack.
THE CLUBS FOURTH LEADER
Nap LajOie, Lave Cross, Harry
Davis, and Danny Murphy Are
Years-AthIetics a Comparative
Iy Young Aggregation.

ne OiQ IN In6
League is rapidly disappearing, and af-
ter a decade of baseball We find very
few Of the original players who started
the season of 1901 still in the league in
any capacity.
The only member of the original Ath-
letic team still connected with the club
is Eddie Plank, whom Mack secured that
year as a young collegian from Gettys-
burg. Lajoie is the only regular who
played in the opening game at Twenty
ninth street and Columbia avenue who is
still in the big league. Larry was lost
" to the Athletics early in the season of
1902 through the injunction proceedings
Of the late Col. John 1. Rogers, then part
owner of the PhillieS. Lajoie went to
Cleveland and he has been there ever
since.
Many baseball fans are wrong in
their opinion that Harry Davis, who has
just left the team to become manager of
the Clevelands, is the last of Mack's orig
inal team The first man to play the inI-
tial sack for the Athletics was Charlie
Carr. 1t was not until the middle of the
season that Mack pulled Davis out Of
railroad office to take the job on first
base
The original lineup of the Athletics
was: Hayden, right field; Grier, center
field; FultZ shOrtstop; Lajoie, second
base; l. Cross, third base; Seybold, left
field; Carr, first base; Powers, catcher;
Fraser, Bernhard, Plank, pitchers, and
1ockhead, Sub-infielder.
Dan Murphy, who has been selected
to succeed Harry Davis as leader of
the team, is the fourth captain the Ath-
letics have had in eleven years. Lajoie
was captain the first year and Lave Cross
held the job until after the Athletics won
their second championship in 1905. But
Lave's showing in the worlds series
against New York that year made il
evident that Mack would have to look
around for a new third baseman, and
1t was no surprise when the announce
ment came that winter that Cross had
been released. a youngster named Ar
thur Brouthers was placed on third base
and Davis succeeded Lave as captain OF
the team.
Third Base Hard Problem.
Brouthers didn't fill the bill at third
in 1906 and "Rube" Oldring was placed
on the bag for part of the season, but
he. too, was not the proper man for the
place. though Mack had signed "Rube'
as an infielder. He was finally shifted
to the outfield, where he was big sue
cess, taking the place of Hoffman in
center field
The third base hole was a serious
BlODltll 10 MACK LOT lnTee years. In
1907 he started out with Jack knight
on third. Jack was brilliant but erratfc
Mack finally traded Knight to Boston
for the veteran Jimmy Collins. The
peerless third baseman found II hard to
keep down to playing weight, but Mack
started the season of 1908 with Jimmy
still on third. That year he let out Monte
Cross and Simon Nichols was played at
short. f. Collins, who had been tried
at almost every position, was finally
placed on second base and Murphy shift
ed to the outfield. Collins was a big
success from the start but the team
was weak on the left field side of the
infeld. Barry was with the team as a
substitute, and Baker Joined them that
fall.
In 1909 Mack started out with Baker on
third and Barry at short, which rounded
out the present great machine
Hartsel another veteran who will al
most surely leave the team before next
spring, Joined the Athletics with Monte
Cross in 1902. At that time Bonner and
Castro were trying to fill the shoes of
LaJoie at second but both were found
wanting. After the Fourth of July games
in this city Mack made a gumshoe trip
to Norwich, Conn, and signed Dan Muir
ply. Dan Joined the team in Boston
on July s, and made a most sensational
debut, getting six hits out of six times
at bat, including a home run. The Ath-
letics won that game by score of % to
9. and from that time on Murphy's repu-
tation as slugger continued until the
present day. He finished out the season
of 1902 with the Athletics, batting at a
zoo clip and LajOe was entirely forgot |
ten. But that wiuter the baseball rule
makers adopted the foul strike rule and
the rule affected Murphy more than any
other slugger in the country. No more
100 averages for Murphy, but he picked !
up again after getting accustomed to |
the new rule and he has always been |
in or near the 300 class. In 1908, when |
Seybold dropped out, Murphy was shifted |
to right field. where he played even bet |
ter than at second base.
Athletics Not an Old Team
Outside Of Murphy and Plank, the old |
est members of the Athletics are Lord |
and Bender, who Joined the team in 1902, /
but "Bris" was sent back to the minors |
for one year, which breaks his continuous |
performance record. Next comes Oldring |
and Coombs and then Barry and Eddie /
Collins, so it will be seen that the pres
ent champions are a comparatively young |
team, and Mack will never again be in !
danger OF having his team go all at /
once as was the case after winning the /
championship in 1906 RAY ZIEGLER. ,