Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-04-02
BOBBY WALLACE OLDEST
PLAYER IN THE MAJORS

No. ,.. \
Since Fred Clark retired and since
the famous arm of cid Cy Young fail
ed TO respond TO warming up the
title of dean of them all for continued
major league service belongs to Rody
Wallace, of the st. Louis Browns, ma
tive of MillyaIe, Pa, and boyhood
friend of Ed Hickey and a hundred
others who starred on amateur and
professional diamonds in the carry
nineties. He has been in the majors
two years longer than Lajoie. IT,. =.
Wallace starts on his eighteenth
year when he departs for the training
ground with the Browns in March. He
began with Cleveland as at pitcher in
1895, and in the succeeding year and
in all the years following he piled the
trade of third-basing and short-stop-
perry with the old Cleveland Spiders
and then the st. Louis Browns.
Hans Points Him Out. ,........ -.
Hans Wagner lounged awkwardly
against. q cigar stand in the Great
Northern hotel in Chicago one day last
fall. Groups of players from the
Pittsburg Pirates and the st. Louis
Browns were tanning. The Browns
were playing the White Sox that same
day, while the Pirates met the Cabs.
do you see that fellow over there
smoking that thick cigar?" asked
Honus, pointing to well-dressed and
refined. looking individual who was
carefully selecting some smokes at the
other end of the counter. .-> :
We'll" continued Honus, that s
Rodys Wallace, of the Browns. We
don't get to see each other very much
nowadays, but / remember him well.
He has been playing in the big leagues
longer than any of us now that Fred
Clarke has quit and Cy Young is
through. -, :..oo...... x -
Call Him "Bobby."
Out in st. Louis they call him bob
by" but over in Millyaie, opposite
Pittsburg, where they know him bet
ter, they still call him ''Rody." Abou:
nineteen years ago Rody was even
better known there than he Is now,
His associates in those days were such
eminent baseball artists as Emmett
Heidrick, Claude Ritehey, Tom Nc
Creery, George England, Bill Scnminx
Ed Hickey, Al Wagner, Hans Wagner,
Martin Mitchell, George Smith, Guy
Hecker, Grant Briggs, Elmer Smith,
Pete McShannick, Jim Grove and Tom
my Quinn. There. were hundred
i others, nearly all OF them still living,
scattered around Western Pennsyiya
mia ~. -
Roderick j. Wallace was born n
MilIVale on November 4, 1874. He is
therefore nine months younger than
Hanscs Wagner. He played around the
lots of MillYale as p boy, went swim
niing In the Alleghany,< near the old
Forty-third street bridge, and often
took his part in. the battles with the
feudists- ON the opposite bank, VINO
yelled "Heinies" across the stream at
the Millvalers. Later he played with
the Franklin Independents, OF Frank
lin, Pa, but it was with Clarion and in
! the old Iron and Oil League that he
came into prominence. "
Tebeau Spots Him. ....-. Z {.
While with Clarion he played in an
exhibition game against the old Cleye.
land Spiders, managed by Patsy Te-
beau. Wallace looked good to Tebeau
as pitcher and he grabbed him up in
1894 for a trial. But Wallace did not
do much pitching for Tebeau discov,
cred that in Wallace he had fielding
genius whose craft could better be ap-
piled over around third base. AS a
pitcher Rody won four games and lost
one while with Cleveland, but he be.
came an ainfielder and as such grew
famous. Wallace is q batter on the
order of Otto Knabe. now OF the Phil
lies. He isn't counted among the hard
hitters, and only twice IN eighteen
years has be batted above the 300
mark. What Scout Billy hurry once
said about Knabe, fits Wallace pretty
well. Murray was discussing ,Knabe
one day and he said: g al ~. 800. go.
ri don't care what baseball figures
chow Knabe can. show a $40 batting
average for the season, and yet he has
been more valuable to his team as a
run, producer, than many of the men
who azure in the 300 division
Great Fielding Career. ~. ..,.- 49,. !,
Wallace was one of this class. But
as fielder he was sensation, and to
this day it is. hard for the Browns to
ST MY 7NItE lAOLu Tic, I1AS-SOiIiDSu uuSI
leagues who can shuttle Il. along more
consistently, than Rody, - In 1899, the
year that the Cleveland players were
transferred to the st. Louis Nationals,
Wallace, of course. went along. Then
came the war;. Rody, figuring that he
could better himself, jumped over with
the st. Louis Browns, in the American
League, and he has been there ever,
since and probably will be there mex:
season. '-..>.. IT,. L..
In 1910 Wallace had the misfortune
to be made manager of one OF the
weakest ball clubs in the majors. He
tried every remedy to jog the Browns
along bit, but he Jared no better than
his predecessors, and the 1912 season
was not very old when Rody's resigna-
ton was in the hands of Owner He'd
ges and George StoVall was on the job!
/. Wallace's complete major league re-
cord is as follows:
Club. Year. r. H. SD. AV
Cleveland (N) 1895 16 .21 3 oil
1896 II 80 %
1897 80 III II I'D