The Washington herald., 1914-03-15

ability to recognize talent when he
saw it Jimmie" Archer. whom
] now rate as the best catcher in
the game, and Joe" Jackson, the
great hitter of the Cleveland club,
are couple of the stars who were turned
back after having come up to the majors
the first time.
jackson sent Back
The story of Joe jackson is an inter
esting one. He came to the Athletics IN
1903, and, of course, Connie" Mack saw
in him a great sIugger. but Joe was
just naturally homesick for his South
Carolina, and he left the Athletics in
Washington and went back TO Greenville
Again Mack brought him back and offer
ed to educate both Jackson and his wife.
Once more Joe ran out on the team
Then Connie" Mack did not believe he
could do anything with him, one of the
few players Connie has ever made such
an Acknowledgement about, and he cut
jackson loose entirely. Jackson led the
South Atlantic League in hitting the next
season, and Cleveland grabbed him. he
must have preferred the conditions in
Cleveland to those in Philadelphia, since
he has stuck there.
Through the irony of fate. Jackson has
always been exceptionally good in his hit
ting against the Athletics. And there is
none too much kindly feeling between the
Philadelphia club and Jackson. 1t seems
that he was Just a few points behind
Cobb i'm the batting averages toward the
end of last season after the Athletics had
cinched the pennant. and there was a
chance that Mack might send some OF
his second string pitchers against Cleve-
land to case off on the regulars. How
ever. Connie" with the strict fairness
of his kind. did not want to give jackson
any advantage over Cobb. as the great
Detroit outfielder had been forced TO bat
against the top-notchers right along, so
the best the Athletics had went to the
box in the Cleveland series.
Robs Rube oIering.
"Rube" Oldring was Just a few points
shy of the 300 mark at the time of this
series I have in mind, and he was eager
TO push his average over it so as to close
out his season in the select circle. A few
more hits would do it. and ''Rube" was
Tustling for those hits. He banged one
out the right field foul line, as I get the
story from members of the Philadelphia
club, that looked as good as a million dol
lars 1t had all the marks of a two-bag-
ger, but Jackson came charging over and
picked the ball of his shoe tops crashing
into the concrete side of the stand in or
der to make the catch before he could
stop. Thereafter. the Athletics worked
harder than ever to keep the Cleveland
slugger's average down, and no ball he
nit was stoo stiff for them to make a try
for. It is a great reflection on the hon.
esty of baseball that such sluggers as
Cobb and Jackson do no lobbying" for
hits when they are in such a tight fight
for the batting championship as they
were last season. By "lobbying"I mean
asking pitchers. to ease up against them
when nothing depends on the result Of
one particular game or series
Maps Not Popular.
The Athletics and Cleveland teams did
not jibe very well last season, anyway.
In fact, the Maps were not popular with
any of the other clubs in the American
League, according to the gossip i have
heard, and the story of the free fight be-
tween the members OF the Red Sox club
and the Cleveland team after one game
in Cleveland is well known.
-As soon as they started to be pennant
eontenders, they all began to strut, one
American League player told me Of the
Cleveland players. They wouldn't even
speak to the members OF the other clubs.
and they acted as if they were playing q