El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-18
.6TiLINGS LIKES MERKLE'S Looks;
5AY5HE G0ULlBE THIRD BA5EMAN
Cheftain of Boston Braves Says Mere Is One of the
Best Players He Has Ever Seen; Were DeVery and
Farrell Forced to Sell Their Holdings in the
American League y Other Magnates?
BY DAMON RUNYON.

worlds champion Braves at a little din
ner given by James Gaffney last week
We did recall it. Moreover. we re-
called printing the statement
"All right" said Stallings, but am
going to say something further about
MeFkIe You'll think I'm crazy, but
then you thought I was crazy when
told you last winter that Charley
Schmidt would be big league ursL
baseman. believe'-and the big chleI
of the champs aimed an impressive put
somewhat gnarled finger directly at MS
auditors heart-'I believe that Merkle
could be made into great third base
man.
Am I crazy?" he demanded. There
was no response. There could be no re-
Spouse. A man who can make star
catcher out of Lank Hank GoWdy ana
win a worlds championship with that
Outfield has what you might can poellc
license when it comes to statements enc !,
'Merkle is marvellous fielder con-
tinued Stallings. 7 have never seen
better He has the ideal throw from
first to third. All right then; II ne can
field and throw why wouldn't he make
a great third baseman? He has the size
or at least, the size l ike around
third-and he is as fast as they come.
II I had him, granting that l had a
good first baseman, W .}.ild ., Ger '''iiiiy
experiment with him at third.
If it is true that James Johnston has
matched Freddy Welsh and Packey NC
Far1and for a meeting at Madison
square Garden. then that celebrated
document entitled AN act establishing
a state athletic commission and regu-
lating boxing and sparrlnS IN the STATE
Of New York" will be indicated.
It will be vindicated because this
meeting will truly consist of boxing
and sparring. There ought to be quite
a lot of both in the 10 rounds. FREDDY
could do the boxing and Packey the
sparring. or vice versa And as sclen-
tific exhibition of both boxing ana
sparring 1t should be about the best
thing that has come along for some
time.
For boxing and sparring give us Fred
DIV Welsh and Packey Mcfarland, but
for fighting give us most anybody else
X
If there is any truth in the rumors
floating about the baseball world that
Ban Johnson and his associates tried 70
make" Frank Farrell and Big BIZ!
Devery sell their holdings in the Amerl-
can league, it might be well Tor the
purchaser to review this angle or the
proposition very carefully.
II a baseball franchise, which is at
best a very vague and Intangible aftair'
is subject to the whims Of the ca
Dricious Johnson, then it strikes US as
a mighty poor buy. Maybe the rumors
are not true in the present case, but II
would not be anything new II they are
true.e Time and again in the past IheIe
have been cases Of freeZeouts IN DOth
leagues, and there. is. no reason to be-
lieve that Col. Rupert would be i'm
mune if the other members of the league
ever grew tired of seeing him around n d
We hold no brief for Frank Farrell
or Bill Devery we hold no brief for any
man or any set of men in baseballL-9ut
! this thing Of trying to force franchise
! holder to quit, whether or not he wants
I to. has somehow never fitted in with
] orr Deculfar sense of justice. and we do
: not concede that the END ever justifies
| the means, either
] X
! 1t is an. ancient baseball practice
| however. The blacklist mark on the
| escutcheon of the old National league
ana one that it will never be able to
/ efface, is the mulcting of the pic
, turesque Chris Won der Abe for his
baseball holdings in St. Louis back in
| the nineties :,
The gossip runs that Frank Farrell
and Devery have suddenly become un-
desirable to the American leaguers--
the one much more than the other. If
this is true, it seems to us that the
| American league has waited mighty
long time to discover their undesirable
| ity. The Farrell-Devery money and in