Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-02-28
ALEXANDER O'BRIEN
AND O'TOOLE ARE
WORTH 100000
indianapolis Club Sold Three
Pitching Stars Of 1911 Seas.
on for Total Of $3.50; De.
troit Also stung.

Grover Cleveland Alexander. Buck
OBrlen and Marty O'Toole werc the
pitching sensations Of 1911 Two Of
these 'phcnoms'' oro IN the National
and one Is in the American league.
the Phihics own Alexander the Bos-
ton Red sox own o'Buen and the
nueh-advertised o'Tools belongs 60
Pittsburg.
Now. what would big league
owner give for the three? A baseball
man was asked. fIis reply was. zone
hundred thousand cash"
Not long ago these three pitchers
belonged 20 one club. The club sold
them all. and the total sum received
for the trio was $3.50. The difference
| that Just few seasons make ls Ssa.-
25O. which Is a pretty fair rate Of in
| crease IN valuation. The case Of these
three pitchers shows how scouts can
so wrong IN their judgment, and how
the best OF judges often 80 astral.
indianapolis s. the club that oWn-
I ed Alexander and O'Toole and
O'Brien. W. w. watkins is the owner
OF the indianapolis team. Charley
Carr, who a. to manage Kansas CITY
In the association this year. was man
aRer % tho Indianapolis club. Both
\ Carr and Watkins looked these three
/ pitchers over thoroughly and passed
them up. They brought draft price
which totaled $3.50.
Other cities az we'll az indianapolis
went wrong on these three men. They
were wandering around In the
bushes for several years before they
drew attention from major league
clrbs. And then, with the exception
Of O'Toole, they did not develop un-
"a they were launched In the major
leagues.
Detroit had chance at all three OF
/ them. n had draft In for Alex
ander. He cost the Phillies $500. One
other major league ciub besides De Z
trolt and F0Rle's club put In a draft
fos him. He had been tipped or 10
Detroit. but careful investigation did
not make his outoand-9ut purchase
appear like a good venture. Just To
cover the minor league field thorough
/ Iy Detroit put IN draft lie went
\ "a the Phlliies by draft and not an
I
ting him. Nine months later any OF
those clubs would have been willing
10 pay something like $4,000 for Al
cxander.
A peculiar thing about Alexander
i He pitched overland In the minor
leagues. He ala not show more than
the average bush" pitcher. one day
he hurt his arm and could not pitch
overland. 80 BE developed side-arm
delivery which he hgurod would not
be much strain on his arm. II was
this side-arm delivery that pitched
him 20 tho top notch In the majors
last SEASON.
O'Brien. pronounced the best
pitcher In the league Of Tyrus Cobb.
knocked around the minors for sev-
eral years Carr had him with the
indianapolis team In cuba. Frank
Navn and Carr talked about O'Brien,
but carr ala not see enough In him TO
advise Detroit 60 pick him up The
Detroit club also had scout look
O'Rrien over when he was pitching
down east, but the scouts report ala
not favor O'Brien,
/ O'Tnole's story Is known. Nobody
wanted him. They ail agreed that ne
WAS not M for major league society
Then suddenly somebody awakened TO
the fact that he was great pitcher.
Z Result; Record alo price.
Alexander. O'Toole and O'Brien,
these three were a long time comine
and were overlooked many times, nut
when they did arrive certain major
league maEnate would willingly give
$500. OO0 for the three.