The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-06
PAT MORAN, NEW LEADER OF PHILLIPS
 39 TOMORROW

Patrick J.. Moran. the new leader 1 of the Philadelphia National League club. is an old-timer at the national game He will begin his fortieth year tomorrow, having been born in Fitch burg, Mass, Feb. T, 1sE6, and he has been playing professional ball since i1897: Like his predecessor as. pilot of the Phillies, Charley Dooins he has always been baclSstop by trade. Ali ter quitting the active practice of his profession in 1912, he became a coach | for the Philadelphia Nationals, and l it was his work in that capacity that gave the Philadelphia management the idea that Pat had the anakings of a manager. G 1 Moran was a catcher from the very beginning of his baseball career, and, with the exception of brief expert ence as third baseman in Boston sew eraI years ago, has never played any other position. When he broke into the game with the Lyons club of the New York State League in 1897 he had just passed his maJority.s He caught a couple of seasons for Lyons, and in 1899 he got a boost up the lad der with the Montreal team of the
 Eastern League After a couple of seasons in the Canadian metropolis Moran broke into the major league com pslny with the Boston Nationals in 1901.f Pat spent five years in the Bean City; and in 19O6 he went to the Chicago Cubs.
 Moran was with the Cubs during
 the period of the greatest glory of the famous baseball machine led by Frank Chance. As the able assistant ! Of lawn K1fIrg, he helped the Cubs to win three National League pennants
 in a. row. In I 91o Moran became the tpropertY of the Phillies, and with the l club lie rounded out his career as a
 ,Tiss 7I5hilI;as have si,ffered severely l in the last year, and Moran has a stiff job on his hands in attempting to bolster up the weak spots He has number of promising youngsters whom he hopes to develop to i'll the places of the vanished stars of former years.
 | The club which Pat Moran has un- Idertaken to manage is the hard-Iuck taggregation of the National League. IPhiladelp hia won the first pennant of the old National Association, the pre- fdecessor of the National Leagues in l1s7l, but since the organization of the National League Philadelphia has never noated a pennant. of that cir cuit.s The old Philadelphia Athletics club was a. charter member of the tNationaI League in 1878, but was ex- peHed after the first season. In 1888 Philadelphia was restored to member ship in the old major circuit, at the same time New York was admitted. Alfred J. Roach was the first presi 1 dent of the PhIllies, and held that job ten years The Phillies have had
 many heads and numerous managers in the thirty-one years the club has existed, but the coveted rag has all ways eIuded them.
 1 The Phillies first looked like flag
 contenders in 1887, when the club l finished second in the race. For eight tyears thereafter the Quakers were a
 l first division bunch. but not quite I good senonghsto gain the lead. In 1901
 ths PhilIies again got into the run
 ming. and finished second. After an #other slump they again began to
 climb up. Tn 1911 Red" Dooin was
 made manager and the Philadelphia
 fans began to beIieve that the brick
 topped backstop was the Moses who would lead the team out of the wider mess. In 1913 the Phillies put up a game struggle and hope beat high in l the breasts of the bugs The star of
 i1ls fortune was still in the ascendant
 however, and the Phillies had to be
 satisfied with second place. In 1914
 they finished sixth, and at, the close fof the season Dooin was dropped from
 his managerial erninence and the job
 was wished on Pat Moran