The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-17
LESLIE MANN, YOUNG BRAVE OITFIELDER,
 9 TOMORROW

s s
 The citizens of Springfield, Mass, and Lincoln, Neb.. who have been. honoring Leslie Mann with banquets, brass band concerts. torchlight pro- messions, and such festive doings, have been a little previous, for to- E morrow xs the day when the youth ful Brave outfieIder celebrates Les lie will be twenty-two years old to- morrow as he was born in Lincoln on Nov. IS, 1892: That was a mighty important year for the Nebraska cap- itals as Willum Jennings Bryan was Just breaking into the limelight as Congressrnan. and stood at the thresh- old of the career that was to put Lin-s coIn on the map in large letters
 Mann now divides his allegiance betkeen Springfeld. Mass. where he debutted into professional baseball and where he is a student, and Lin coin, his birthplace. After the the honors with Walter MaranvilIe at a banquet given by the fans of the western Massachusetts metropolis. Leslie had rather to play second fid- ale on that occasion. however, as MaranvilIe is a native son of Spring
 ndeld, ana thus entitled to the shade in the cheering
 Late last month Mann visited Lin- coin. where he was met with a pa rade headed by 8 brass band, after which he was the victim Of a public reception and a banquet Bryan himself never got d more enthusiastic greeting from the people of Lincoln. Which was as it should be- for whats s a. mere Secretary of State compared with a baseball star whose pockets are bulging with Worlds Series coin :?
 As previously rernarke ed. Mann played his first professional ball in a Springfield unif ornn- In 1913 he was captured by the Braves and played
 his drst game in Boston on April 30 Of that year. with the Phillies as tfs opposing tenn, He played in 120 games last year. and finished the season with swatting average Of .253, and 2 heId- ing percentaSe of .s60, This year his batting average was PAS. There is nothing remarkable about these fig I izres but Mann is a lot better than he looks in the statistics. He appeared in three games in the worlds series and got two hits from seven times at bat, scoring one rum Mann is 3 School. and after the baseball season | is over he forgets the diamond and sets to the task of absorbing useful
 and other information from texts
 books.
 Tomorrow will be the twenty sixth anniversary of one of the epochal events of baseball. for on Nov. IS. Iz1sSs, the AIane6a sailed away from San Francisco on the first leg of the flxst globe girdIing journey of base 1 ball players The Spaldfng round
 the- world tour was made by the Cshl-
 cago club and picked team called
 the AI1-Aner1eas. While the stunt has
 since been duplicated by the McGrasw I Comiskey bunch. the recent worlds tour lacked the novelty of the first when baseball was practically un-
 known in all the countries visited. n E1S74, the Boston and Athletic clubs l.had introduced the diam ond pastine 1 in England and Ireland, but the
 Spalding elobe-trotters gave the ot11- I CT countries visited their first taste l o1 the American pastime Of all the countries visited, Australia greeted
 the game with the most enthusiasm
 and since then baseball has been
 gradually winning it's way to public
 flavor in the Antfpodes. Financially
 the missionaries Of baseball lost 2
 big wad Of money The best crowd o1 i the whole tour turned out at Belfast
 Ireland where the invaders played I before l5.0oO people Many Of ths | players of that tour are dead, but oth' I CTS are still very much alive sta blS s1 John K Tener, the National Leagus lI nresident