Arizona republican., 1912-07-15
DIGGING UP STARS FOR MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM IS N] SNAP

YOU. MT. Fan. did you ever realize
 where all the new ball players come from every year and how they are discovered? We'll they are found by the baseball scouts who travel the coun- try over in search of new talent. And this same job of scout or gum shoe man is a mighty important job in these days of keen competition. Every team with championship aspirations employs a high class scout.
 There are perhaps twoscore of scouts regularly employed by the teams of the major leagues. but of them all none stands higher or is more widely known in baseball the country over than the official Sherlock of the New York Americans, Arthur Irwin. His speciality is not spending huge sums for men who have already made good in big company, but rather searching for youngsters. helping them along by pointing out faults in their styles and eventually handing them over to Owner Farrell ready to go out and perform for New York.
 Irwin first hung up his hat in Owner FarrelIs office July E, 1906 There is today in the Highlanders' squad just one man who was then performing in a New York uniform. He is Hal Chase Practically every other member of the squad today is a Highlander through 1 the work of Irwin, and so well has he built the team up that the new mana ger, Harry WOlverton. is showing very | little disposition to make changes. His comment is, 'I think we have a good 1 bunch of ball players. and I do not see why l should begin peddling them around to other teams
 1 ITO begin with" said Irwin. ''it seems sometimes as though scouting for a baseball club is nothing but travel. I saw somewhere the other day detail ed statement showing that Bobby Lowe, the Detroit scout, traveled over 10000 miles last year looking for new
 material, and I guess my itinerary was i just as long. That is the principal dis
 agreeable feature of the work, for it is
 also very lonesome. Sometimes I have been forced to stay in a town several
 days with no one to talk to but the ho- l tel clerk. and l assure you I longed for | company.
 That hasn't anything to do with scouting, however. Like everything else. there are various ways of looking | for good ball players. Some scouts
 wander around trusting to luck to To- cate good men. Others content them selves with paying big sums for star
 performers. Charley Murphy of the
 Chicago Cubs locates candidates by
 sending hundreds of circular letters to
 small club owners. sporting editors and
 fans generally all over the country
 each spring asking them to furnish him
 with the names of players who might
 make good in big league company. The
 system MT. Farrell and 1 think the
 best. however and which I use, is to go
 through all the leagues from the little
 city leagues up, with no particular
 player in mind. but sizing them up inn
 partially. Having been in baseball a
 great many years, I am usually able to l tell whether a man has the goods
 even though he may have glaring
 faults, which, to the fans. make him
 seem an ordinary player.
 Watching a game I frequently see such a man. His position and move 7 ments in batting may be wrong. He may not run properly or effectively cover his position. but if he looks as ) though he might learn (some never
 can. you know) I go to him after the
 game and tell him how he might inn
 prove his work. Usually ball players
 on the small teams have the faults be-
 cause they never were told that there was anything the matter with their
 playing. When the trouble is pointed
 out. however, they usually try to cor rect their style. After giving such man a couple of lessons, I go away for a few weeks. and upon my return. if l see the player has corrected his style
 and his work is improving. I watch him further. If. on the other hand. I find him playing just the same as be-
 fore I move on to the next stop and be- gin all over again
 [ There are many reasons why I be-
 lieve our system of getting players is
 the best. With major league baseball :. organized as it is today. I don't think it is good policy to get star men at l fabulous prices. for there is nothing to } assure you that the new find will play tremendously with the men you all ready have. The chances are better t with a young player, for by getting him } early you can gradually break him into the style of play the team is using s This feature of baseball is today more t important than ever before and it is
 accordingly more important that the 2 new material shall be the right sort of ? stuff. Sometimes it takes a couple of e years to break a recruit in. but if he e finally arrives the time is far from lost.
 Q Most scouts do not average a new
 player a year so there is some truth
 in the assertion that if a scout succeeds
 in landing and developing one big star
 during his career his record is looked
 upon as good one. Sometimes it
 takes a scout a long time to get what he is after. Pittsburgh tried for twelve . years to get a good first baseman. It U took the St. Louis Americans ten years
 to get a third sacker that was satisfac- tory. Detroit had six men scouting last year"