Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-02
News
CENTRAK ASSN.
BASEBALL NOTES

A circular letter has been issued to
the clubs of the Central association by
Presid ent Justice prohibiting the play
ing of. ante.season contests with two
Central clubs as opponents. keokuk
and Ottumwa has two games sched-
uled for April % and "a.
Optimism is great little fault for
anyone to sport around. But some OF
the sports writer's in our sister city,
Herrville, seem to spread 1t on too
thick In announcing the signing OF
player, who has yet to make good, one
writer says that the lad will play in
higher company in 1913. w. Thone, q
st. Louis first baseman, is the Object
of the 10y stuff. Remember his name
and see if he makes good ip 1912.
Were up in the majors to stay"
said Third Baseman Arthur Pheian'
cycling his newly welded wife, VINO
sat nearby talking to Mrs. Mike
Mitchell. II have played on grassy
diamond long enough to become &C
customed to it and will work my nead
off to remain with the Reds. Season
before last worked on a skinned dia-
mond-one which was barren of any
vegetation-and the result was that
when l went to Cincinnati last spring
was afraid to play the ball. l let 1t
play me, as had been the custom in
the Texas league, and was therefore
sent to the Southern league to nave
q season on the grassy field"
Phelan looks to be thirty POUNDS
heavier than when he Joined the cluD
last spring, comments CINCINNATI
writer. Both Grant and Almeida have
a clever youngster to beat If he goes
back to the minors, and, withal, one OF
the most promising recruits the Reds
have had for the third cushion since
the breaking into the league of one
Honus Lobert He knows how to go
about the work of making good, ana
all that Is necessary now Is a chance
to show the ability which thousands
of fans in the South believe he pos
sesses.
Concerning Los Angeles infielders,
writer in the Sporting News says:
Hogan has Patterson for first base. he
is about the fastest big man IN the
league. He is good base runner ana
a demon with the willow.
Eddie Herr the new boss of the
Hannibal suffragettes, Is advertising
for players in the current sporting
papers.
A, J. Brown Of Rifle, Colo, is look
ing for Deacon Frank Lohr, who form
erly played with Waterloo in the old
Iowa league.
OF Hank SEVERED, the Cincinnati
correspondent of the Sporting News
SAYS: The only positions that really
offer any encouragement to the young
sters are on the pitching staff and one
place in the backstopping department
There are four contestants for the
catching positions, the one newcomer
being Mike Murphy, husky youth
who came from the Texas league, and
who has just finished five months OF
training in the coal mines OF Pennsyl-
vania. His rivals are Larry Mclean,
Tom Clarke and Hank SEVERED, all OF
whom have served year or more
with the Reds. However, this Murphy
is not discouraged by these odds, and
feels in his bones that he has a good
chance of displacing that noted Nor
wegian navigator of bases, SEVERED
Murphy was compelled to 60 to work
this winter because of misfortunes in
his family, and right Loyalty and
heartily did he tackle the Job.
Hank SEVERED and Larry Mclean,
two of Murphys rivals, went with the
"other" rockies to Columbus, while
Tom Clarke will follow with the
second squad. -.
BILLY Sunday was the only success
full made ball player I ever heard of
in the history of base ball." said
Fred Pfeffer recently in a tanning bee
at his Theater Court buffet in Chi
cago. Billy Sunday is now w. A. Sun
day, the noted evangelist, but back in
1885 he was a teammate of Pfeffer on
the championship White Stockings of
which A. G. Arson was the leader.
"Not a man on our team except
Arson had any confidence in Sunday
when he Joined the club, nor for a
long time afterwards, for that mat
ter" continued Pfeffer. "Anson liked
Sunday because he was like lightning
in getting to first base. Sunday was
not a great hitter. He could scarcely
be called a great fielder, but he was
the fastest man of his time in Logging
1t down to first base. My, how he could
run! But after Billy was on first |
would sooner have had Arson there,
and none of us accused Anse of being
the best base runner of his time. We
thought Billy was too daring.
"But Arson insisted Sunday would
make ball player So he was taught
to bat, to field, and to run bases.
Arson spent more time with him than
with all the rest of us put together.
What skill Sunday attained was devel-
oped. Most of us finally admitted that