Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-09-16
GARDNER THE ONLY
'|Nf|ELD REGULAR
OF RED SOX LEFT
Great Changes in Team That
Won Worlds Series in 1922
Larry Is Better Than
Ever.

iioW timcs and places and things
."'Hse' HOW baseball teams changol
Just Httia matter Of three years has
'"''e manifest change in the Red SoE
c""i' writes {. y. Barrett in the Boston
'c''ru zone are many Of those red-
nose" boys who won the American League
pehhaht and the worlds series but a
snort three years ago. There Is even a.
different owpcr of the club
only the outfield of the heroes of 1914
remains intact. Even one of the out1
fielders has gone, Rehg, though tits trua
he was but a substitute.
or the inficld which won tho worlds
series In 1912 only one man remains With
red hose-Larry Gardner Jake Stahl ia
out of baseball altogether. boarding other
peoples money as a successful bankerh
should. way out in Chicago.
steve Yerkes Is in the Federal League,
wagner gets into a game now and then
and still wears red stockings. Wagner
Is utility man as far as real baseball
of the active variety is concerned,
though he is invaluab BILE to the Red Soc
as chief of the Sox Board of Strategy.
ONLY WOOD AND COLLINS LEFT.
Wood and Collins are the only twu
champs. The Red Sox team. which per-
formed so well in the field but a short
| three years ago, has been shot to pieces.
and the members of that team are SCAT
| tered all over the country
But the queer part of the whole mat.
ter is that Larry Gardner the one man
Of the Red Sox inficld who did not seem
to have It in him to last. is the only one
| m. at ,t-ith -
Three years ago, a little later than this,
! Gardner had to be sent to his home III,
in Vermont to rest in prepare ton for ths
| struggles with the Giants for the supreme
| acy of the baseball world. Gardner was
| nervous at the time so nervous that It
did not seem that he could last long as
big league player.
He overcame the nervousness, however,
and played a rafting game in the worlds
| series. Every once in a while since then,
| however. Gardner has been troubled with
| a recurrence OF the nervousness
When a pitcher who is notably weak
| in fielding is in the box and the oppos-
| ing team starts to bunt at him and down
the third base line, Gardner either be-
comes very nervous or marvelously steady
and his mental condition depends wholly
upon the first play he makes
DEPENDS on HIS FIRST PLAY.
II a batter rolls one down the third
base line and Gardner rushes in, scoops
| 1t up and shoots it accurately to first.
| nipping the runner. he plays a great
| game for the rest of the afternoon both
in the field and at bat.
If he crrs on the first one he goes to
| pieces and it would be very wise meas-
! ure to let him take a shower and go homa
Immediately. for fear that his attack OF
| shakes will continue to the next day.
Yet, despite this handicap In tempera-
| mcnt, Gardner has fingered with the Red
! SoX for the very good reason that as a
| rule he grabs the first roller and all the
succeeding ones with surety and whangs
them to first right whore they should be
sent.
| He's a nervy chap. is Gardner. despite
| his nervousness. He has just started one
| of those famous batting streaks of his
and the fans can look to him this
year wind up the season gloriously, field
ing his position with accuracy and hit
ting the ball squarely on the nose.
| It's hard berth, that hot corner; and
| Gardner has long been at 1t. He'll not
only wind up the season we'll, but play
brilliantly through the worlds series next
! MONTH