The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-09
FOURTEEN YEARS
 OF HERMANN

August Hermann will today round out his fourteenth year as g. National League magnate, as it was on August g, 1902. that John T. Brush sold the Cincinnati club to Garry" George B. Cox. and Max and Julius Fleischman, the price being .$150,000. Hermann was chosen president of the club, and he has held that job ever since. In pulling off the deal by which Christy Mathewson became manager of the Reds, Garry has scored a ten-strike with the ferocious fans of Redland. The Herman regime in Cincinnati has not been notably successful either from a sporting or financial view point. In the fourteen years that Garry has controlled the baseball destinies of Redland the club has probably had as many good players and as competent pilots as any in the league, yet Cincy has never come with in measurable distance of a pennant. Unfortunate trades have been the bane of the Reds. and it remains to be seen whether the most recent and notable of these swaps will fall into the same category. If Matty Is permitted to
 
 ideas, the prospects are hopeful, but the Cincinnati owners have often been accused of putting in at the wrong time. Patience on the part of the owners and fans seems to be what is indicated, for it is a well known fact that Rome, Ga, was not built in twenty-four hours.
 When the Hermann interests took charge of the Reds in 1902 Bid" Mo- Phee was managing the club. Joe Kelly was Herrmann's first choice as pilot, and he remained at the helm three years, finishing fourth, third and fifth. In 1906 Ned Hanlon was en- gagged to lead the Reds, and the club finished sixth both years of his in- cumbency. John Ganzel was in charge in 1908, and achieved fifth place. Clark Griffith began an administration of three annums in 1909, finishing fourth the first year, fifth in 1910, and sixth in 1911. Umpire Hank O'Day tried his luck at the Cincinnati game in 1912, finishing fourth, and Joe Tink- CT led the club to seventh place in 1913. Then came Herzog, who was no more successful than his predeces- sors. and now Matty the Great is to see what he can do toward realizing Herr mann's cherished ambition of looking upon a flag when 1t is red.
 Hermann started life as a printer, and later became politician by trade. He was not slow in making a hit with his fellow magnates when he entered the baseball field of endeavor. When the big war between the National and American leagues was brought to a peaceful conclusion in 1903, the new president of the Cincinnati club was made chairman of the National Com mission. As chief justice of the Su- decisions have usually been accepted cheerfully, and 1t is only rarely that his judgments have been questioned.
 Hermann was long a power in Cin- cinnau politics, but he retired from ac- tive participation in that game about six years ago. Lately he has been showing symptoms of a recurrence of the political fever.
 Most of the Cincinnati players of the early days of the Hermann regime have now vanished from baseball. Lee Foh1, the Cleveland pilot, wore Red uniform in 1903. and Miller Huggins, the St. Louis pilot Joined the Reds in 1904. Of former Red pilots, Kelly and Ganze1 have since won pennants in the International League. Joe Tink- CT copped a Red Flag, and Grifiith has put Washington in the American League running.