Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-01-05
By GEORGE r. STALLINGS.


so far, have been dwelling mostly
on the dark side of the situation
faced when took charge of the Bos
ton team, tail ender. From now on
will have more to say about the
silver lining to the cloud. -
Last season, however, did not open
very brightly for the Braves. We did
not parade this tough luck to the
public, or we tried not to. Evers could
not do himself Justice until June be.
cause he had a badly sprained back,
and Rabbit" Meanwhile had tonsilitis.
1t was not long before Deal developed
a bad case of "charleyhorse, and
nothing will cure this disability of a
ball player except thorough rest. /
could not rest him, because there was
no one else for his place and he.play-
ed along gamely, practically on one
leg. =.
.Gaffney a Little Gloomy. ---r,--- -e- -.
The team hung in last place, and the
newspapers began to IBID" us, and our
friends were inclined to desert Be.
sides the team being torn to pieces
with injuries and sickness, the pitch.
ers were away off form on account of
the cold, raw weather, and my out
field was not hitting. 1t looked like
a bad ball club during those first two
months and half, and even Mr. Gaff-
ney was a little discouraged at times,
although he was out at the grounds
every day that We played at home,
roofing like bug. Those first weeks
of the season were some of the tough
est times l have ever put in with a
ball team, and often had to set my
teeth to keep off the gloom.
Along in June Evers began to get
back into condition with the warmer
weather and the pitchers started to
show more, SO | was encouraged, but
my outfield still worried me. | knew
If / had some hitting outfielders we
could start to climb, but where to get
hitting outfielders in midseason is a
problem to stump any manager. On
a trip to New York in May l met a
friend of mine My friends, by the
way, were not so numerous in those
days as they have been since the
worlds series. &c..
whats the matter with your club,
GEORGE" he asked me. T..
ut would be all right. if we had
some hitting in the cutfield," / an
swered The rest fthe boys are
coming along all right" . ..
He did not believe me, and Just
smiled, because he thought was pull
ing hard alibi.
told the same thing to Mr.. Calf
ney. s..
"Well, l wish we could get that hit
ting" he replied
Gets Outfield Shift Idea.
Then the idea came to me one night
just before I fell asleep and l got
up and wrote it down to be sure to
have it by morning That is an old
habit of mine-to write down ideas
which come to me in the night. since
| have found that in years past if
did not take this precaution they had
evaporated by the next day. Some of
my best plans hit me at night.
The scheme had was really only an
enlargement of practise that many
managers had carried on in a desul-
tory sort of way for several seasons.
Leaders had selected a pinch hitter
according TO the style of pitching.
They would send a right handler up
to bat against southpaw, or reverse
it.. Working on this notion, the idea
struck me that I would shift my whole
outfield, according to whether right
handler or left hHnder was working
against us. But | did not have suffi-
cient material at the time to try it,
so decided to pick it up quietly The
scheme was intended to supply the
missing batting punch in the outfield.
Gathers Up Necessary Men.
Devore has always been a lucky
player for me. l developed him in
Newark before he went to the Giants,
and the team had luck all the time
he was along. | made a deal for him
to come to Boston. Connolly was a
left handed batter who could sting the