The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-05
PORTLAND WRITER M|S|NFORMED ON
 DERR|CK'S VALUE New First Sacker of Barons Was Highly Recom-
 mended to MOley
PORTLAND FAILS TO
 GET MEUSEL IN TRADE
Moley Says New Player Will Make Bar0ns Valuable Man-Appears to Be Natural First
 Baseman

Fans of Birmingham read with great | interest last week the Portland letter of l, the Sporting News in which few choice opinions of the new Baron. first base- l man, Fred Derrick, were given. It was a horrible story, according to the Port | land correspondent of the St. Louis pub | lication, and to read him Birmingham has acquired that which long since ceased to be worthless and Portland magnates chortled with glee over the willingness of Birmingham to get s,ucK.
 1 As matter of fact, it was @ case of | sour grapes.
 1 Derrick. was a high-spirited southern boy, gentleman and man with knowl- edge of baseball Molesworth had ample | information before he ever entered into negotiations with Portland for the sale of Derrick and in every instance Derrick was given the highest kind of recom- merdation.
 But to get back to the Sporting News. The correspondent. started out with the statement that Portland had at last got
 ten rid of all its dead weight. The sale of Derrick to Birmingham was an- nounced and with it what purported to pc the Inside of the deal.
 It was said that Portland at first of- fered to exchange Derrick for Meusel, the young outfielder Moley secured from the New York State league, where he was hummer. Birmingham, it was stated, had declined the proposition. Portland then asked Birmingham to set a price which it would p1y xor Der | rick and in reply named a very low figure which was accepted with alac- rity."
 Negotiations for the requirement of Derrlck have been going on since the close of the season of 1915 and so far from parting with him with alacrity. l the Portland club wanted two eyeteeth and leg for the infielder President smith when he attended the meeting of
 minor leagues in San Francisco got in l touch with Walter McCreedie of the Portland club and made advances look ing to the securing of Derrick, who was not satisfied with the treatment he was l receiving in Portland e@@r4-N S Matters did not progress far and 1t was not until Manager Molesworth had put out inquiries regarding Derrick that Birmingham went after him in earnest. Molesworth, as every fan in Birming- ham knows, has sources of information 1 unrivaled by those possessed by any oth- I CT minor league manager. Seldom in- I deed have they proven unreliable and
 he was greatly encouraged by the re- ports he received on Drrick.
 ELBERFELD RECOMMENDS HIM Kid Elberfeld of Chattanooga, than
 whom there are few better judges of
 baseball player, recommended Derrick
 as a sweet voting player. Other men who make their living out of their ability to
 judge ball player joined him in tout ing Derrick and In addition the play CTS record spoke for itself In Class A league, an organization undoubted- l ly faster than the Southern, Derrick led the league in fielding and batted .25O
 In lS4 games. If this is dead weight, it would not hurt the Portland club to car dy considerably more of 1t.
 | T met Derrick when was in Atlanta attending the spring meeting of the
 league said Molesworth. ''and I was very much impressed with him. He is young. takes excellent care of himself, and appears to be natural first base
 man. He is tall and rangy and has an enormous reach. He is we'll satisfied l to come to Birmingham and is much pleased with the change. He should make l us good man."
 There is another angle to the Derrick deal which does not by. any means re- 1 fleet credit on the management of the | Portland club. It is in connection with Meusci, the player they were so anx-
 ious to get, and who is already she prop 1 erty of the Birmingham club. l After Molesworth had secured this player from the Elmira club in the New
 York State league, the coast club awoke suddenly to the fact that the Baron | boss had a sweet young player They ! made efforts to induce this club to turn l him over to Cortland, in which they were unsuccessful. They then took another course.
 Meusel was offered a position with 2 Class A team at higher salary than Birmingham could afford to pay with a. salary limit of $2SO0 and an attempt was made to dissatisfy him with his prospects for the season of 1916 This despite the fact that he was already under contract to the Birmingham club. This is regarded here as a rather rough way to do business.
 Meusel, however, declined to be tempt ed and will report here with the re-
 mainder of the Barons on March 1b