Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-20

was signed and now Doom is receiving a
salary surprising that being handed out
to many players in the major leagues
But that was only the start. Lefty Baum.
gardenr, another eX-Phil star, was next ap.
preached and he, too was signed. Doc La
Fitte who pitched for Detroit, fell into tho
net and Lohr, who played with Cleveland
last year, followed Frank Bettger, his play
ing manager and captain formerly of Gin
cinnati and manager Of the Media club last
year. consented to play, and soon the club
was ready for the field
There was no haggling over terms. Poth
when he made up his mind to get player
allowed nothing TO stand in his way. lie
paid the players the salary they demanded
but he figured that his investment would
not be a total loss His close bargaining
with the other players kept the payroll down
to a respectable size and his business in
stinct told him that enough cash customers
would be on hand every Saturday to almost
pay the expenses. And he was right.
Frank Poth has been in baseball for ten
years, but was content to keep in the back
ground and allow the others to get the
glory. He is of a naturally retiring DISPOSE
tion and never seeks the limelight unless
aroused by what he calls a bum deal"
One of those things occurred in 1915 when
he managed the Clifton Heights club in the
Delaware County League. His team was
playing Chester and George Mullin the old
Detroit hurler, was on the mound for the
enemy. Poth noticed the peculiar delivery
| Of Mullin and his batters hitting
weakly at his offerings. Confident that
something was wrong, Frank stood behind
| the screen and discovered that the emery
ball was being used This was against the
| rules, so he called for one of the balls
| stopped the game and entered a protest TO
| the head of the league, He was fighting
mad.
I'M not stand for this kind of work." he
| wrote, "and It Is up to you to throw that
| game out. l shall wait until Tuesday for
your reply and want fair deal"
A meeting Of the league was called and
| Poths protest upheld. However, official
word was not received in Clifton Heights
| until Wednesday, and Poth made good his
| threat to quit the league. He proved to all
| concerned that he was not bufiing. He ad-
mits 1t when he is wrong, but when he is in
| the right a square deal is what he demands
and he usually gets it,
Large Crowds at Games
As many as 1000 fans squeeze their way
| into the Chester ball park on Saturdays,
| regardless of the big-league opposition in
| Philadelphia. The admission charge is but
| twenty-five and thirty-1ve cents and the
| spectators gaze upon dollar baseball. Each
| week the crowd gets larger and it is be-
| lieved that before the end of the season the
park will be packed to capacity at each
game.
Poth insists that his team play good base
| ball at all times and will not allow the
| players to let up for an instant, After win
| ming the first six games in a row, some one
| asked Frank why he didn't lose a few
games, just to make the race more interest
| ing.
Nothing doing" was the hot retort my
| players will play at top speed all of the
| time, and insist that they try to win every
| game they engage in. There will be no
| laying down as long as I have charge. The
| people Of Chester want winning baseball
| and they shall have II If only dozen spec
| tators show up for the games. Everybody
| will get a square deal, and il we lose
| game it will be because the other fellows are
| better than we are"
There are other big league stars on the
| team. Joe Knots once played in the Tri-
state and Southern Leagues, Murray pitched
| for Holy Cross Brown was on the Winston
| Salem and Savannah teams, and Jimmy
| Sharpe was with the New York Giants in
| 1908 and the Detroit Americans in 1915
| Harry Pierce was Jersey City player
| ogden, the first baseman, is said to be good
| enough TO play on any team but his busi-
ness connections will not permit him to play
more than once a week. He formerly was
| captain and star pitcher for Penn Charter
Turner and Spauldng play in the outheld,
Brown shortstop and Pepolosl<i second base.
Strongest in Country A
It is one of the strongest semipro teams
in the country and has defeated Syracuse
and the famous Jersey City nine. The lat
ter club has defeated many of the National
League teams in Sunday games.
Chester's closest opponent in the pennant
race is Upland, the team made famous by
| Frank Baker, Upland is couple of games
behind and the most important battle Of the
| year will be staged Saturday, June 80, when
the two clubs meet in Upland Baumgartener
will pitch against Chief Bender and the
game will be we'll worth seeing. II is pre-
dicted that the largest crowd that ever wit
messed a Delaware County League game
viii be present.
The Delaware County League was organ
ized In 1903 by ]. Borton Weeks, Of Ches-
ter, and is the only Incorporated semipro-
fessional league in the State. Mr. Weeks
has been the principal factor and is re-
sponsible for its success.
Ph9tesEagh illustrating this story appears In
the Pictorial bectiOn.) -