The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-09
OTTO HESS, 34 TO- MORROW, IS PATRIARCH
 OF BOSTON BRAVES

While Otto Hess, of the pitching staff of the Boston Braves, has not set the baseball world afire by his twirling, he has several claims to dis tinction- First and foremost, he is the oldest player, with one exception, in the 1914 lineup of the amazing Braves. Otto will be thirty-four to- morrow. and in the race for patri- .archal honors he is surpassed only by old Fred Mitchell, the backstop, who was thirty-dve last August. Hess is also the only forei gn-born player on the roster of the Rostonians, and the only native of Switzerland in the big leagues. He was born in Berne Switzerland, and only escaped being a hotel waiter. mountain guide cheese maker or yodeIer by ennigrat- ing to America. Hess has lost more games than he won this year, by con-. siderable margin, and the same was true last annum, but his services have fitted in nicely with Stallings' jockey ing methods, and have not been with out value in the phenomenal race made by the Braves.
 Of the other members of the Bos- ton pitching staff, all are compara- lively mere kids. Rudolph is twenty six, Coorehan twenty-five, Davis and Tyler tWenty-four, James twenty-two, and Strand nineteen.
 The patriarch Mitchell. as previ-. ousIy stated, is thirty-f1ve Catcher
 
 twenty-four. The veteran Evers is the most ancient of the infieIders, the famous Trojan having passed his thirty-hrst milestone. Schmidt ad- mits to twenty-seven years, Whited and Smith are each twenty-four, Deal is twenty-two, and MaranvilIe twenty one Outhelder ConnolIy is twenty seven, Josh Devore .tWantgas Gather twenty-five, DuEeY twenty three, Gilbert twenty-two, and Mann tWenty-one.
 Four of the Braves claim New York as their native state. Massa- chusetts, Texas, California, PennsyI- vanfa and Ohio each contributed two native sons to the Brave aggregation. 1 Tine others, in the ration of one per each, hail from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Washington, Nebraska. North Carolina, South Carolina, Mary land, Tennessee and Louisiana Man ager Stalhngs is forty-hv6, and was born in Georgia, the home of the H. l lstrious Ty Cobb. :,
 As the sole representative of 1 Switzerland in the major leagues Hess is like his fatherland-a neutral Essurrounded by warning nationaIities. Of players of foreign birth or descent
 the. Irish take the lead. but of late ! years the Germans have been giving
 the Ancient Order of Hibernians a hard race for supremacy, The base
 ball woods are now full of the
 Kaiserss men The Swedes have had several big league stars, including the immortal Cap Anson- The French contributions to the diamond talent,
 while not numerous, have been Illus
 trious, and include the great and only Napoleon Lajoie. The Polish repre-
 sentatives in the baseball hall of fame include Cove1eski and Konetchy,
 among others, Abbatiochio heads the
 Italian list, and Cuba has sent Mar sans and others. Men of English l Scotch and Welsh are well represent ed but they are. mum eriealIy inferior
 to the Irish The Africans, although
 barred by the color line from league baseball, have had their Johnsons,
 Jacksons. Walcotts and Dfxons of the l diamond as well as of the ring. And
 then thereS are the Americans- l Chief Bender and Chief Meyers, to mention but two of the small but l select company of real Americans 1 who have won fame and fortune in
 the great American game