Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-20

GLEN ELAND. June 20.-Each passing
year chants out the swan song of some
pattle-Scarred veteran of the major
leagues. The demands of age cannot be
ignored; youth will be served, and every
little while taps being sounded for
the retirement of one more diamond hero
who has DOTTED his hat for the last time
TO the plaudts of thousands.
This year tends one to believe that the
death knell of one shortstop at least is
dangerously near the sounding point. This
time it seems to be that grand player,
Rhode Wallace of the ST. Louis Browns.
Ihen, too, reports from Pittsburgh,
though optimistic, still have a tang of
forebodng about them that cannot be
ignored. Wagner's knee is good today.
How long will it last? fans ask For
physicians appear to be a unit in de-
claring that injuries to ones knee have
a discomfiting habit of bObbing up a
long time after everything seems to have
been covered over about the member.
The fact that two of the greatest
shortstops the game has known have
both been kept out of the initial con-
tests leads one to peruse the dope sheets
in the effort to find what other great
shortstoppers have held down when they
have passed from the public eye. together
with a little detail about their success
sorS.
Last year appeared Ray Chapman from
Toledo Chapman blaZed a lurid trail
from one end of the American asSocia-
ton to the other with the Mudhens. and
it was only a question of time before
he broke into the majors with Cleve-
land. His work last year, combined with
his peppery qualities, proved a sensation
This year, though his record of hobbies
probably eclipses that of any other
player in the same job. he seems again
to be making good. His batting and
base running far offset his errors, and
there seems ittle doubt that before the
year is out the fans will watch his labors
in an admiring way and then remark
with satisfaction, well, there's Jack
Turner all over again..
Before Jack Barry made a name for
himself as a member of the Philadelphia
forget one Monte Cross His last year
with Connie Mack was 1907. Cy Nichols
and Eddie Collins succeeded him, and
then Barry appeared. Since then, almost
without break, he has been playing
the position. and still is going we'll.
But to little old New York goes the
honor of trying out the banner number of
shortstops in a desperate effort to find
a worthy successor to Norman Elberfeld,
the famed 'Tobasco Kid Elber-
Sooo u
was that his legs, battered and SCARED
from warding runners off second base
bag. went back on him, and he started to
slip; In 1907 he shared the place with
short time in 1908. Then Neal Ball fell
heir to the job, being succeeded in turn
by Austin, Knight, Roach Foster. john
son, Mcmillan, Martin and Stump.
rms year finds Chance in as bad
predlcament as ever before. Derrick
started and went out because of illness
Sterret came next, being followed by
Hartzell and Peckinpaugh. the present
incumbent. How long he will last is
as .problematical a query as is any
dealing with the exact age of the pyra-
mids.
Back in 1906 Charlie O'Leary had
things all his own way at Detroit,
threatened only, by the few final out
league career as a regular ended that
year. Schaefer hove on the scene in
1907, wing with O'Leary for the short
field job until the flag end of the sea-
son. Then came Owen Bush, fresh
from his laurels in indianapolis, and
promptly tickle fandom forgot every
one else. Bush grabbed off the job al
most without an effort, and except for
a brief interval in 1910. when he was
hurt has held it down ever since. Oh,
yes. Manager Jennings is well satisfied
with DOME, thank you, and none others
need apply. Right at the present time
the Shortstopplng point is the very
least of Hughey's worries.
Things in this line are just as quiet
and serene in Washington, where George
Mcbride holds out. Previous to 1907
George wasn't even known. In that year
Altizer. Perrine and O'Brien endeavOred
unsuccessfully to show they knew some
thing about playing shortstop. Then,
quietly and unostentatiously. Mcbride APP
peared unsung and unheralded, and from
that time on the big league averages
have shown but one name, that of Nc
Bride. as playing short for Washington.
He is in there again this year. steady as
lighthouse on rock, yet doing moth
ing really spectacular. His work Is the
same day in and day out, and only if
he become disabled in any way will Ma
tional fans and Griffith fully realize what
an unassuming star he is.
The same holds true for Hene Wagner
of Boston. When Freddie Parent who
had been lowering in the Hub short field
for years and years, was released to
Chicago. long drawn wall of anguish