The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-18
.MOLEY EXPECTING FAST YEAR, SAYS ATLANTA SCRIBE Purchase of Derrick Indi- cates This, Writes
 Innis Brown REGARDS MOLEY AS ANOTHER WISE MAN Progress of Other Clubs in Strength ing Teams Is Cause for MOley's
 Action, Continues the At
 lanta Writer

It is always refreshing to glimpse our 1 selves as others see us and especially is this true of baseball club. Molesworth l is justly rated around the circuit as a manager of acumen and anything he may do is regarded as significant in every Southern league city.
 Consequently the announcement of the purchase. of Fred Derrick to plug the hole at first base has caused unusual comment as indicating that Moley is look. ing for fast year and is preparing ac- cordingly.
 Innis Brown writes entertainingly along l this line in the Atlanta Journal as fol- lows
 There is one pilot in the Southern league who is already beginning to ap- preciate the feelings of a gent in a game of draw" intent on standing pat behind two pair. when another sportsman backs up a raise before the draw by calling for two papers. Already Chubby Carlton Molesworth is beginning to feel that may be he had better start on the get" while starting is still good.
 Several days ago Moley landed in the city of furnaces, fires and fumes, and by I the time he had cleared himself of the l clinkers and cinders gathered in travel from his home in Maryland, began to talk
 of how he was just about all healed for the coming campaign in the Southern league. The gist of Moley's observation was that he had nearly everything he would need save a shortstop and maybe
 an outfelder to make the rest of the pilots around the circuit lay wake nights
 the next free-for-all.
 MOLEY A WISE ONE 1 But Moley has exercised the preroga- tive gracefully accorded to wise men. He has changed his mind. Either he has been seized with a tendency belittling his
 old talent, or else he has marked the
 signs of the times as denoted in the
 maneuvers of the other club leaders over I the circuit. At any rate. he has wound up with conclusion that maybe after
 all he will be just as well to latch onto l something good, while the latching is abundant
 1 Wherefore the Baron boss has acquired !, the rights and titlements to Fred Der
 rick, with a view to setting him to the I task of guarding the initial bag for the l Slagtown outfit. Derrick has been ac-
 quired by purchase from the Portland club of the Coast league, and from now , on Moley plans to put out of his mind any 1 solicitation over the job of doorkeeper for his club.
 Derrick is Georgia boy. and no doubt will be glad to get back nearer. home for the coming season. The change ought to suit him fine, and on the other hand, the deal appears to have given the Barons frst-classl man for the job. Last season Derrick rapped the ball for an average of .250 and swiped 2s bases. The preceding season he hit. 29S and stole 8 bags. In addition to his offensive play he ranked third among the first sackers of the league last year in fielding.
 LOOKING FOR TROUBLE ''Molesworth,s move in grabbing a good l reliable man for the job in preference to stalling along with misfits and job lots shows that he believes that he is going to run into real trouble during the ap- preaching season. Moley is 8 smart base ball man, and his opinion is we'll worth while
 There is general feeling all over the circuit that the league is going to see about the best ball season year it has seen in several years Up until the time that Moley grabbed Derrick, he had mada no move toward strengthening his 1915 outfit. To be sure he had taken on several youngsters among whom he may find one or more real ball players. But he lad made no move to land other players Of known calibre to bolster the weak spots in his last years crew.
 OTHER CLUBS ACTIVE
 But if Molesworth has been slow to add new forces, other clubs in the league with one or two exceptions have been be- stirring themselves at lively clip to strengthen their battle lines. Mobile has yet to announce just what has been done toward helping Charlie Schmidt's crew, and Elberfeld has as yet taken no first class new performers. but the rest have all been hustling.
 Down in Memphis Dolly Stark landed Brandley Hogg and Pete Knisely, both of whom are known to have the quali-.ca- tions for playing tip-top ball in this league. Also a couple of new men were purchased from the St. Louis Browns Bob Allen and Charlie Starr at Little Rock have grabbed such a bunch from the Browns that they are likely to get srecial transportation rates on hauIs,, < them in and the same goes for the Nash vile Vols Johnny Dobbs has been passed over big bunch of material by the Cleveland Indians.
 The trend of the maneuvers has been to lay aside experimental stuff and nall talent of known and established rat ing"
 C0pH0MADEC WTN