Evening star., 1916-12-26
BY ]. ED GRILLo.

In base ball the inexorable lay is the
survival Of the httest. Unfortunately
That means tho survival Of the flttest
physically. II the fttest mentally sur
Vived It would be awful hard for any
youngsters to break into the major
leagues.
Each year some veterans quit the
major leagues forever as players. Some
Of them return later as managers and
scouts. The cry Of the club owners is
always for young blood. This they
must have to keep their teams always
recruited so that the minute a veteran
steps out they have q trained and fairly
seasoned youngster to take his place
The manager who does not work along
this line is continually finding himself
in tight fix.
In 1911 and 1912 Connie Mack secured
the country for one or two young in
nelders. Connie said that with such
youngsters as McInnis, Collins. Barry
and Baker. he hadn't the slightest ioea
of using any new infielders Tor Two
or three years. but he wanted TO get
his hands on youths who could pc de-
yeIoped gradually. OF all the infelders
that Connie tried out he was not aple
TO get the men desired heFeio,e {,
when Ia kef, Barry anu 'oAiiiiS
Athletics Connie was not prepared AS
ne had been in other seasons WHEN he
made changes IN his team
Two OF the greatest stars the game
ever knew probably closed their MAJOR
.ieague careers last october; h9an oi
these men played with fhlladeiIhia
teams. One was Napoleon l-alo'e anu ''ie
.Other was GavVy traVath-
Both were of the type OF players pe
loved by all fans that is-they were sius
gers For years Lajoie held the pat-
.ting crown. He was king pm siusssl
when he was with the Phillies. BACK IN
the Sos. He kept up his hard hittihs
.wnen ne was first with tie Athletics anu
-also when he went to Cleveland
For years he was called king ps iei-
low players and fans. With the exit or
sLajoie will go not only the creates,
..slueger of all times. but also one OF the
:most artistic and graceful heidefs III ,'ie
HISTORY of the national pastiTne-
Gavyy Crayath had 10 work fa!thfuliy
and hard before he got national repu-
.tation. He was with several MAJOR ieasuS
tclubs. including the Chlcaso. boston 99a anu ~
washington Americans, and faileo 70
.iuake good. In the old days GaVVE coulo
.hit like a fiend in the minors. but wheh
.he faced major league pitchers II was
different When with Washington ne
went tc bat something like ten times In
"a row and famed every time.
That was enough for Washington. and
.Gayvv was sent back TO the American
. m.
minors. Again the major league ciuos
.sought his services. This tune the Ma
tional League clubs had the bidding prac-
stically to themselves pittsburgh thought
III had landed Gavvy, but the Phillies
.elaimed prior rights and Crarath went
There Although more than thirty years
.old then. Cravath made good and was
'.star of the first rank for several years
The base ball campaign of 1915 was
.particularly satisfactory to the Cleve-
land followers. When the season OF
1915 ended Cleveland fans were in the
slough of despond. The Indians had
finished a poor seventh and there was
no money in sight to strengthen the
team for the following season. Pro-
fessional base ball was at its lowest
ebb and amateur base ball was the
tmonarch of sports in the sixth city. The
,pessimists could see no silver lining to
The clouds
In vain did Charley Somers, who did
much for base ball in Cleveland. en-
.deavor to extricate himself from the
sdiHicuIties so as to continue in control
of the team. Ban Johnson came to the
.rescue by discovering the livest kind of
"a wire to succeed Somers in James {.
Dunn of Chicago.
Dunn has endeared himself to Cleve-
land fans as he possesses personality
Conducive to popularity. Assuming
Control too late to bid for Frank Baker
and other stars, Dunn was forced to
wait until the season was about to
start. He then astounded the base ball
world by giving $4,000 and two play