Arizona republican., 1912-03-31
Richard Marquard Had the Unusual Experience of Finding Out; He Cost the Giants S11, ,O00 and Seemed to Be a Failure
LEMON, STILL JUICY
 GETS NEW SQUEEZE
With Confidence Restored Mara" Thinks That He is on the Eve of his Best Work; Signed Up for Three Years
Richard Marquard. in Baseball
 MagaZine.b

MaSaZlne-l
 They called me big league fail uIva. and suppose l was. know tried hard enough and worried enough about my record. but l failed for all that and the memory of that eA- uerience is still with me a good deal like a disagreeable dream.
 Baseball is not a game for failures. There is no room in its ranks for the man who can't make good. and so IT is harder to be q big league failure than it is to fail in almost any other profession.
 The public always pays to see winner. They expect and demand to see winners. They have no patience with man who can't make good, and il doesn't make any difference to them how hard he may be trying so long as he doesn't succeed.
 For two years or more l was called The great SI1 000 lemon" The spec tators used to shout it at'me from the bleachers: the press used to print u in big headlines. l saw it everywhere
 Ii I had made different entrance into the big league company. l be- lieve my experience would have been different too. AS il was the press vas far too flattering in the begin ming They gave me remarkabl. good send-off. but they oVer-rated my abilities. and the public grew to expect d great deal more than l was able to give them. But no eN- perience they say is lost. and sup nose the experience | have had though it has been unpleasant enough will be of some use to me now that l seem to have made. a fair start.
 played baseball ever since l can remember It was always the only game for me. and it is the only game now. There is no other like it. The only training I ever had was on the sand lots of Cleveland The wonder ful system of amateur ball clubs which the city of Cleveland has de yeloped give the boys of that city a neXcellent chance at baseball prac- tice.
 did not feel discoura ged. as I was young and had plenty of time and the fact that my work attracted the notice of one major league owner was pretty fair proof that l might expect more notice later on. It came all right in the shape of contract from Indianapolis. and it was in the American association that my pro fessional baseball experience began.
 That season I was in fine form. ] won fourteen victories straight. and from that time scouts from all the big league circuits were looking me over The press began to take notice too. and all kinds of flattering com ments appeared from time to time. T. there had not been so many of them. il would have been much bet ter all around.
 l do not know that the club es- pecially respected my feelings, but things moved rapidly after that time. and it was not long before l found myself the property of the New York Giants at the record price of $11.O0o.
 This seemed to be a fortunate eli max to z good summers work. but instead it proved the beginning of two years of very deep disappoinl- ment The papers devoted great deal of space to the episode: they dwelt on the price that was paid for me and drew vivid pictures of what my career with a major league club should be All this was well enough if it were meant as boost to young player, but it was entirely over done. It set standard for me that l could not possibly attain; it reused the expectations of the fans" to d high pitch. and when these eXpecta tions failed to be realized the public
 
 l shall never forget my first game jn big league company. It is still so vivid in my mind that I cannot look back on it now with any degree of comfort We were playing Gin cinnati. The people turned out in great crowds to see the new "phenom" pitch The records said there were 30,000 people present. but when l en- tered the pitchers box with my knees knocking together and looked up into the stands. l could see at least double that number. l was only eighteen at the time and extremely anxious to make good time. but I had small hopes of living up to the high ex- pectations of my work which the crowd seemed to entertain. and I was extremely nervous. The mere fact that l was so anxious to make good made it impossible for me to do my self justice. l could not bear to think what the crowd would say if should hit batter in my nervousness and in an effort to avoid this I was eX- tremely wild. Then when I tried to gain control by putting them over the plate, I had to depend solely on