Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-17

| OF cOndlt1OnS OBTAINING IN the IlifHoF ied
the magnates of President Hickey's {
| financial reverses by starting next year
| organization as comprised it in 1917, Y
campaigns from box Office standpoint
state of the treasures Of most of the
/ several years Of Improbable business a
pessimistic regarding the outlook for
| forfeit their franchises and players, W
| When the plan for a merger of four
| of the strongest clubs with quartet
from the International League first was
preached it was hailed as a life saver
by some of the owners. but those Of
| them who would have been left out in
the cold succeeded in blocking the
amaIgamation. AS result the Inter-
national generally is expected to dis
band for the period of the war. Wheth-
er the A. A. leaders will be able to see
their way clear to resuming operations
is question, but it is hard to figure
how they can expect to weather the
storm next season with the same clubs
that made up the wheel last year.
.6e 6eala yesterday at his home in
Humboldt, Iowa, of Frank Gotch, re-
tired champion heavyweight wrestler
of, the world, removes one Of the most
81
the annals of sports in this county,.
Gotch had been ailing for nearly two
years and for the last two months had
been practically bedridden. Although
noted for his stamina uraemic poison
Ing undermined his health and caused
his untimely end. Gotch was only for
ty-one years old
Gotch acquired fortune in wrestling
and by judicious investments in Iowa
farm lands. his estate being estimated
at more than 100000. His. wrestling
weight was 215 pounds. 1t was at this
! mark that he tipped the beam when
he won the American championship in
1904 by defeating Tom Jenkins in one
this country. Four years later he won
the undisputed championship of the
world by defeating George Hacken-
schmidt. 'the Russian lion,' in Chi
cago.
There was no fall in this match, sbut
Hack quit exhausted after two hours
of punishment at the hands of the
Iowan, who demonstrated his superior
ity over the alien at every angle Of the
game. Again in 1911 Gotch defeated the
Russian, the match taking place at the
White Sox ball park in Chicago. The
| $4,000 gate for this affair holds the
record for mat shows. Gotch's famous
| toe hold was introduced and perfected
| in his match with Hack.
The only man ever known to have
thrown Gotch was Fred Beel. who pins
ned the Humboldt mans shoulders to
/ the mat in New Orleans in the first of a
/! three-faH match in 1905. Gotch won the
second and third falls. however: and
later defeated Beel with ease.
Gotch was a great friend of Jim JEFF
fries and before the latter lost his title
to Jack johnson the two champions
made a tour of the United States. at
/ tracing large crowds everywhere they
appeared. Their exhibition here was
! held at Convention Hall and local fol-
! lowers of sports wildly recall the iran
| tic efforts the comparatively little Joe
Turner made to elude the grasp OF the
giant Iowan-
| Washington's lone representative in
the 300 class Is Sam Rice. according TO
the official batting averages OF the
American League for 1917. released for
publication today. The local outfelder
/ is credited with mark of .382. Clyde
Milan. second Griffman on the list, at
| tanned .294. six points above his broth
er Horace and nine ahead of Joe Judge,
rity with .284 comes Morgan with .266.
Menosky. .25S. and johnson, .254. Nine
teen points below Walter. at the .2Se
level, is found Foster. and then there
.20s. and Ayers. .2e6. Shanks barely nm
ished In the 200 class. beating that
level by two points, while eight Ma
nssa to h aadan LEI
a
.191; Henry, 100; Crane. JIG: Shaw.
| 154. and Harper III. Du Mont brings
| up the rear with a record OF .035. being
credited with two bingles We saw
widely heralded at the time, But we
cannot recall when that other safety
was registered George had something
on Jones, at that. for the Tiger hurler
failed to get a single hit In twenty
four games, although he did score a
run. something Du Mont cannot boast
Of
Rice not only got seven more hits
than Zeb Milan in the some number OF
games: he got more out of them. Sam
my chalking up twenty-five doubles and
seven triples to fifteen and four, re-
spectively, for Clyde. In addition, Rice
led the Nationals in base stealing with
thirty-five thefts. Joe Judge. although
finishing below both outhelders. made
as many doubles as Milan and out
stripped both in the matter of three
baggers. his total of fifteen giving
hin, second honors for the league. only
Cobb's total surprising it. The first
; sacker also banged out two home runs,
! while neither Rice nor Milan was able
to get four sacks out of a single blow.
Morgan and Menoskey were the only
| Griffmen, aside from Judge, able to
turn the trick.
Ty Cobb easily outstripped Sisler and
Speaker for the batting leadership of
the league. his mark of 1888 being
thirty points higher than that Of the
st. Louis star, his nearest competitor
among the regulars" Iris Speaker.
who dislodged Cobb as batting king in
1916, fell of to 1852 this year. OF the
world champion White Sox Murphy,
with .314; Felsch. with 30S. and Jack
son, with .30t, finished in the charmed
circle. OF the nineteen players who hit
800 or better eight participated in less
than fffty-five games.
| In addition to topping all the batters.
Cobb also led in stolen bases. with
ffty-fve, and in the total number of
hits and total bases obtained on them.
| his record of forty-four doubles and
| twenty-three triples being the best OBJ