Evening star., 1917-09-10
FRED CLARKE SPONSOR
FOR PIRATES manager
Hugo Bezdek a Close Friend OF Vet
eran Pittsburgh Leader for
Eight Years.

Surprises frequently are heard Of in
base ball, but the biggest one that was
sprung in the National League this
season was the appointment of Hugo
Bezdek as manager of the Pittsburgh
Pirates. 1t was rumored around for
weeks that Jimmy Callahan was to be
deposed. and many guesses were made
as to who would succeed him. Barney
Dreyfuss put one over on the prog
nosticators when he elected Bezdek. an
unknown quantity. to pilot the Pirates
through the remaining games of the
schedule.
Who is Bezdek?, was asked. especi-
ally in Pittsburgh. In Chicago. OF
course, many people knew him be-
cause of his foot ball ability at the
University of Chicago. In other towns
his name was hardly known, and the
fans could not understand why Drey-
fuss selected a man of no experience
as a minor or major league manager
Had he been a player OF talent the
followers would have been satished
that Dreyfuss chose wisely. but BeZ-
dek never had been heard of even as
a base ball player at college.
Dreyfuss Goes Slow
Dreyfuss. however, knew what he
was doing. He did not make his Sc
lection on short notice. He pondered
over it for a long time before he Sc
lected the squatty former foot ball
star to lead his men. Besides. he had
Bezdek in his employ for eight years
as a scout, and was convinced by some
of the players he recommended that
he had talent to manage big league
team.
1t was Fred Clarke who first dis
covered Bezdek at the University Of
Arkansas about eight or ten years
ago Bezdek was athletic coach there
at the time and the Pirates played
his team an exhibition game. His
club played such smart base ball for
a college nine and Bezdek so i'm
pressed Clarke with his conversation
that the ex-manager of the Corsairs
recommended him as scout and
Dreyfuss put him to work.
After leaving Arkansas Bezdek ac-
cepted a position with the University
of Oregon and during the summer
secuted in the Pacific Coast League
era1 efficient ball players who are still
members of the Pirates. He found
Bigbee, Boeckel, Jackson and several
others.
Confident Of Success.
President Dreyfuss is confident that
Bezdek will be a success as a major
league manager because he takes
great interest in athletics, is a stu
dent of base ball and a shrewd handler
of men. In addition he knows how
to develop athletes because he has
had practical experience in educating
them at the colleges Dreyfuss looks
for Bezdek to prove to be one of the
greatest leaders in the game because
of his ability to take young ball play
ers and bring them up to the ranks of
major leaguers.
From the men Dreyfuss Is collecting
it is apparent that he is boarding all
the youngsters in the country for
Bezdek to develop. With the excep-
ton of Carey, nearly every man on
the team needs to be developed. More
men are needed. The club must have
first baseman. and Dreyfuss is max
ing every effort to obtain Fred Moll-
WITT from Kansas City. There are few
better in base ball.
The Pittsburgh owner apparently 1s
giving Bezdek all the help he can. as
he Is continually on the hunt for new
material. Dreyfuss has come to realize
that he must get a ball team to make
the game pay and arouse the dying en-
thuSiasm of the fans at home.