The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-02-19
BARRETT QUITS
DIAMOND GAME
Sprained Knee Shortens Ca
reer of One of the Great
est of Out6elders.

Detroit. Feb. 19.-Jimmy Barrett
has quit the game.
Inc hero of hundreds of phenome.
nal catches in major league outfields
decided to settle down to busi-
ness. Jimmy has engaged offices in
the now Dime Savings Bank building,
and will become the agent for the
scripps motor engine.
The passing of Barrett means the
retirement of one of the greatest field
ers in %baseball's history. There are
sun several good years of playing left
in Jimmy. but his wife and children
protested so strongly that he decided
to chuck away his uniform and write:
Sorry. old man, but I won't be able
TO play" to three Of four managers
who would like to have him on their
payroll next season.
Barrett can retire with a record. tho
sight of which is pleasing. There have
not been many outfielders who could
compare with him. There are out.
fielders who can hit better than Jim
my could. bu: only in rare instances
has his fellow as a fielder been found.
Jimmy could go back as fast and
as far on a fly ball as any man in the
game. grab them out of the air with
either mitt, and was a faultlcss judge
OF a ny. He could make a catch while
at a dead run, and had the grace Of
Larry Latoie. He was a wonder at
throwing. and non can remember
where Barrett made the wrong play
after grabbing the ball; he always
knew where to throw it.
a sprained knee marred the career
Of Barrett. He received the injury
while playing with Detroit in 1905. II
the knee-cap had been broken he
might have been saved many playing
days, but as 1t was a sprain it caused
Barrett to be careless. He got back
into the game before the injury had
properly healed. and there was a re.
1t was two Or three years
before the hurt was entirely erased.
and then Barrett had lost much Of his
speed.
Starts With Veteran Stars.
He broke in about the same time
that Lajoie and Chance and that crowd
started. He came to Detroit in 1899.
when Stallings n Burns were the
big fellows behind the club. Detroit
was then in the Western league. The
played With the Reds thai season. and
in 1901 he came back to Detroit.
He played here until he was injur-
ed in 1905. Part of 1906 he played
in Rochester in the Eastern league.
and later managed Dayton. Ohio. In
1907 and 1905 lie vas q member of
the Boston Americans. During those
years Jimmy hit better than at any
previous time in his career. He was
not the fielder he used to be n paid
more attention to hitting.
In n game between Boston and
Detroit. played here when the Tigers
were making their fight for the pen
in 1907, Jimmy made five hits
off Ed killian in n game. He got his
fourth hit with two men out in the
eighth inning, and he was the only
who had hit h l~eft-handed Ed
ward safely up to that chapter of the
game.
Following Barrett's fourth hit the
Red Sox opened on Killian and beat
him. In the same year Barrett beat
with q home u in the
twelfth inning. That clout put the
Tigers in first place. Barrett won a
lot Of games for Boston with timely
clouts. He was the teams star in a
pinch.
Joins Milwaukee in 1909.
Milwaukee numbered Barrett among
its players in 1908 and 1910. After
injured again and had to come
to Detroit and rest the remainder Of
the season. The following year he
was manager Of the Milwaukee team.
Barrett became a remarkable fielder
because he put his time and study on
that part Of his duties. Constant
practice made him a keen judge Of
fly balls. He. developed his speed and
combined the two. He has given the
same amount of study and attention
to motor engines. He has studied
them until he Ia intimately acQuaint.
cd with the working parts and the in
tricacies Of the new game which he
intends to play.
Jimmy has a good territory. em-
bracing Detroit. st. Clair river and
lake and all the space from Port HUI.