Omaha daily bee., 1917-01-14
ROuRKE SIGNS UP
-FOUR new PLAYERS
Gets Two Pitchers, Singing
.-Outfielder and a Reliable
Catcher.
MARTY o'TooLE TO BE BACK

Four new athletes to fill the holes
left in the 1916 pennant-winning ma
chine by the graduation of Eight OF
the champs to faster company were
purchased last week by Pa Rourke.
In addition Pa has procured Marty
O'Toole again, Columbus, who farmed
him out to Omaha last year, having
sold him to Rourke this time.
The four new players secured by the
Omaha magnate include two pitch
crs. catcher and an outhelder
Harry Benton and Wayne Barham
are the hurlers. Benton comes from
the Winnipeg club of the Northern
league and Barham from the Van
couver club of the Northwestern
loop. Rourke also got Hal Brokaw,
the outhelder, from Winnipeg. The
catcher is Larry Pratt, who comes
from Columbus.
Faith in Canadians.
Rourke is putting lot of faith in
the two Winnipeg recruits. Benton
ranked second among the hurlers Of
the Northern league for both sections
Of the split season, He pitched a
total of 200 innings during the CAM
paign. winning seventeen and losing
five games for an average OF .773 He
allowed l40 hits and fifty runs. He
struck out lS5 batsmen and gave
bases on balls to forty-hve.
ri
lot of work. He is said to have
plenty of speed and a wide assort-
ment of curves and hooks. St. Paul
looked him over last spring, but, hav-
ing full staff of experienced hurlers,
turned him back to the Canadian club.
Brokaw was the class of the league
in the outfeld. He led the league
in fielding. hanging up an average Of
99l, which is considerable average
He ranked sixth among the league
hitters. He made l06 hits and fifty
nine runs mills games for an average
of 1903. He also stole thirty bases
last year.
Benton, Rourke believes, will fill
the hole left by Lou North who went
to the St. Louis Cardinals, while Bro
kaw is expected to prove even better
than Shag Thompson in center.
Pratt Is the Goods.
Larry Pratt, Pa believes, will plug
up the hole in the backstopping de-
partment. Pratt is finished catcher,
as a receiver he is better man than
Ernie Kruger and he's wonder at
cutting down base stealers. He is not
as strong a hitter as Kruger, but
Rourke, who has seen him play sew
eral times, says he will slug the ball
consistently even though he doesn't
quite reach the 800 mark.
Of Barham little is known except
that Rourke has received excellent re-
ports of him. He is a. youngster who
went to Vancouver the latter part of
the 1915 season. He won a majority
OF his games last year and couple
of scouts who looked him over re-
ported'to Rourke that he has the stuff
to be star in the Western and is
surely potential big league timber.
By securing the return of O'Toole
Rourke does not have to worry great
ly over his pitching corps. North is
is the only loss and already he has
signed up Benton whom he thinks
will prove just as good a hurler as
Lou, and Barham he believes will also
make good.
Rourke still has a few vacant posi-
tions to fill. He must get another
catcher to assist Pratt, although there
is. Of course, the chance that Kruger
will be sent back by the Giants. He
is also after first basemen to take
Ray Miller's place. This is his big
task. He also wants another out /
fielder.
Several Deals On.
Pa has several deals on and several
OF the big league clubs have promised !
him some of their surplus talent
Rourke is due to get a couple OF
rockies from Muggsy McGraw and
will probably journey to Marlin,
Tex, the Giants training camp, after
the training season starts to pick out
a couple of men.
After he gets a new first baseman
Rourke probably will hold his inheld
intact, playing Ireland at second,
Krug at short and Burg at third