The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-08-13
HERz0G gave
BAKER START.
Giants Third Stacker IS Real
Discoverer Of Home
Run King.
PLAYED THE OUTFIELD
Maeimaa Was Signed BY RidsIey
(Md) Cub at S
Week.
PLAYED THE OUTFIELD
Franklin Baker. whose mighty wal

lops won the worlds series for the
Athletics from the Giants in 1911, has
Few II any peers as q third baseman.
. He Is one cog. and a main one, in the
workings OF the 100000 infield of the
Athletics.
The strangest part of his advent into
professional baseball and his early de-
velopment Is that it was one of the
Giants, Charley Herzog, who virtually
discovered him and guided him in his
early training. 1t was also Herzog who
made third baseman out OF him.
Bakers story follows:
Charley Herzog of the Giants, II
was who virtually discovered me and
made me a third baseman. owe my
early training to him. Possibly I should
never have become a professional base
ball player II it had not been for Herzog
and a man named Preston Day.
Il was playing ball on an amateur
team in Trappe, Nd, where was born,
with little idea of adopting baseball as
a profession. liked the game and played
it continually during the season.
Gets IS . Week.
AT Ridgley. Nd, they supported a
semi-professional ball club. This Mr..
Day, to whom previously referred. hap
pened to see me play in two or three
games and recommended me to Herzog,
who was then managing the Ridgley
team.
'.Herzog sent for me. He offered me
IS week and my board That 50
sounded like a million to me- That
was in 1906, and I was nineteen years
old.
when 1 Joined Ridgley I was an
outfielder. Like most youngsters, 1
had played every position on a team,
but generally cavorted about the out
field.
AT Ridgley Herzog watched me play
and decided that I was better fitted
TO play the infield.
AT that time he was playing short
stop, and he needed third baseman,
so ] was given the place. ] finished
the season there. and the following
year Joined the Cambridge (Md.) team.
freaks Right In.
During the spring OF 1908 I was
given a trial with the Reading (Tri-
State League) club, and after playing
there through the months of May and
June I was purchased by the Athletics,
but was permitted to finish the Tri-
State League season with Reading.
IF I remember correctly I Joined
the Athletics on September /, at Chi
cago. 1 arrived there in the morning.
i
ME Mack, but deemed myself big
Lacquer, and breezed into the hotel
without the least temerity.
Il presented myself to the manager,
and that Afternoon was played at third
base. I have been At third ever-since.
HerzoE Teaches Him.
when I first Joined the Athletics I
was, of course, possessed of certain
amount of natural ability.
My experience with Herzog and later
with the other two professional clubs
that I played with stood me in good
stead. but when l bumped into the
American League / discovered that 1 lid
not know nearly as much baseball as l
thought did.
There is a great deal more to.baseball
than Just fielding and hitting the ball
Those are the essentials, but it is just
like any other business-there are many
other things that a fellow must master
before he can hope to compete success
fully against the seasoned players.
Same More Complicated.
Baseball as it is played in the big
leagues today IS a complicated game
much more complicated than ii may ap-
pear from the stands There is a reason
for every move that is made. OF course.
there is some haphazard, take-a-chance
Playing.
There is in every line of endeavor. but
even in these instances the chances are
taken with a well-defned purpose, and
the chances are not, as a usual thing,
taken individually.
BY that / mean a team in major
league baseball must work in unison.
THE batter must know what the base
runner is going to do: the base runrer
must know what the batter is going to
90; the fielders must know what the
pitcher is going to do, and the players
must make a study of the weaknesses
of one another. -
Not alone is it necessary for the pitch.
ers and catchers to study the different
batters, but the rest of the players must
study them. 1t all helps in the winning
of games"