Evening star., 1916-10-16
WAGNER WILL PLAY
FIRST FOR PIRATES
Sale Of Doc Johnston Gives
Veteran Shortstop Perma-
nent Job at Initial Sack.
SINCLAIR AFTER DODGERS
BY ]. ED GRILLo.

Instead of figuring on his retirement
from the game. the Pittsburgh manage
ment has slated Honus Wagner to play
first base for the Pirates next, season.
The club has sold Doc Johnston, whom it
obtained from the Cleveland club several
years ago, and who for a while played
splendid ball for the Pirates, to the Bir-
mingham Southern Association club.
In connection with this deal it is an
nOunced that Wagner, the. veteran short
stop. who broke into the majors in 1896,
will become the regular first baseman OF
the Pirates in 1917.
Most of this past season Wagner hit
over the 800 mark and he wound up the
season with an unofficial average of .29S,
being the tenth hitter in the National
League list
Wagner. has played first for the Pirates
on numerous occasions in the last two or
three years, and will be star in that
position, which will rot require the COW
er;ng Of as much ground as was called for
at short field, though Wagner pl;lJefi SEN
satonal ball in that position for months
this past season, before Manager Gaia
han started to experiment with young
SterS.
Wilbert Robinson, manager of the
Dodgers. is given the credit for plotting
his team 10 the pennant in the National
League. though the Dodgers were not
rated as being as classy, as two or three
of the other teams IN the league. Robin
son had just the right temperament to
handle the most temperamental bunch OF
athletes ever gathered on one team.
| William Phelcn OF the Cincinnati
Times-Star insists that the Red So2
were a much gamer team than the
| Dodgers, who frequently erred in the
the Boston players were at their best
when The situations were most pre-
caricus. j undoubtedly was this
which enabled the SoX to win the
world title SO easily.
Harry Sinclair of Federal League
fame, and the one man identified with
the defunct organization who more
than broke even in his connection with
it, because he managed TO get the best
players of the league and sell them fol
big figures. 70 the major league clubs
Is mentioned as a bidder for the Brook
lyn club OF the National League, which
is on the market.
Charley Ebbets will want a good
sized fortune for his holdings. and
while Sinclair is strong on talking fig
ures of great dimensions he is not like
ly to put up any coin unless it is pos
sible 20 get bargain.
There is story going the rounds
that Weeghnan. the head of the Chi
cago Cubs, will not retain Joe Tinker
as manager for next season. Those
close to the Cubs owner insist that
he is going to make effort to get
Frank Chance, who had a great sue
cess with the Cubs of former days
winning four pennants and two world
championships.
Chance, no doubt. would be willing
to come back to the majors. for he
still is ambitious to repeat the pen
naat-winning streak he experienced
at Chicago some few years back
Chance successfully handled the Los
Angeles team of the Pacific Coast
League last season.
There is not the slightest truth in
the story printed in the Evening Sun
of New York that the Washington
franchise will be transferred to either
Brooklyn or Toronto before next sea
son.
| Joe Villa. who is a most reliable
writer of base ball, undoubtedly was
| the innocent victim of an erroneous
| story, circulated by some one who is
| not familiar with conditions in the
| American League
| Ban johnson not so very long ago
| branded as untrue the report that the
Washington franchise was to be taken
/ from this city, stating that the Ameri-