Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-01-07
FIVE GREAT STARS
ARE HANDED GATE
Lajoie, Brown, Fucker, Tinker
and Schaefer Play Their Last
Game in Big Yard.
ALL PASSED DECADE MARX

ne passing from inc Dig yard OF
Napoleon larry Lajoie, Mordecai
Miner Brown, George (Nap)
Rucker. Herman Germany Shaefer
and Joe Tinker has furnished the hot
stove league with an earful Of gossip,
for il is something out OF the ordi-
nary when FIVE base ball stars of such
magnitude are given the gate at one
and the same time. ..'
All OF these FASTENERS have been
brilliant performers in their day. But
the passing of Lajoie, "the daddy OF
EN- ALL is likely to attract most at
iention. What the Frenchman
couldn't do with bali and bat has
yet to be invented The ease and
grace with which he performed at
second and the way he walloped the
pill when at bat have excited the adj
miration Of base ball fans for many
years,
Lajoie virtually jumped from the
sand lots into the big show. His
minor league experience was confined
to three months. work with the Fall
River New England league team in
1896. In August of the same year he
was signed by the Philadelphia Ma
tionals Since then he has played in
the major leagues continuously and
his twenty-one-year record shows
batting average OF 1888 and fielding
mark OF $50. As member OF the
Philadelphia Nationals and the Cleve-
land and Philadelphia Americans he
has at one time or another played
every inheld position, with the exccp-
ton OF pitcher and catcher, and in
1897 he played the outheid for the
Phillies.
Tinker Comes Next.
OF the other big leaguers who have
drawn the pink slip, Joe Tinker comes
next to Lajoie in point Of major
league service. 1t was in 1902 that he
started his career with the Chicago
Cubs He was placed at shortstop,
and with Johnny Evers at second the
fans were quick to discover the
brilliancy that featured the work Of
the two keystone artists. After ten
years Of shortstopping for the Cubs
Tinker tried his hand at managing the
Cincinnati Reds. but suffered the
same fate as the other ffty-sevcn va
rieties OF Red pilots. Later he be-
came manager OF the Chicago Federal
league team and was at the helm Of
that outfit when the old ship Fed"
went to the bottom. Last year he
piloted his first love, the Cubs, but the
team failed to get anywhere and in |
consequence Tinker got the ak.
miner" Brown, Ike Tinker, won
his greatest fame as a member Of the
old Cub machine, He started his
major league career with the St.
Louis Cardinals in 1908 and a year
later was traded to Chicago. After
hooking up with the Cubs it didn't
take the MINER very long to estab-
lish himself in the front rank of big
time pitchers. The Cubs were pen
handwriting outfit in those days and !
the grand twirling Of Brownie"
game after game and year after year,
proved big factor in keeping the
team up there. Since Joe Tinker has
purchased the Columbus American
association team II would not be sur
prising to find Brown wearing Co.
lumbus uniform next season. A strong
friendship exists between the two old
stars and 1t goes without saying that
Joe will place the miner" i the lat
ter can still show a sample OF his
old-time flinging.
snap" Rucker Goes.
Another pitcher who is no longer !,
10 keep up the big league pace is
Nap" Rucker, for ten years the star
southpaw of the Brooklyn team.
Rucker has been one OF the greatest
left-handed pitchers the game has
ever known. And a remarkable fea-
ture Of his career Is that he was able
to build up such brilliant record
with only sccond-division team be-
hind him. 1t is said that Rucker will
be retained to act as scout for the
Robins.
Germany" Schaefer, who COM
pletes the quintet Of released pas
timers. has been a popular performer
under the big top for many years. He
first appeared in the major Leagues
as member OF the Cubs in 1901. AZ
ter two years with Chicago he was re- |
leased to Milwaukee. In 1905 he was
signed by Detroit and held down
the job at second base for the Tigers
until 1909, In that year he was traded
TO Washington. When Germany
began to show signs OF slowing up as !
a player he turned his attention to ,
coaching. His witty remarks and
funny antics on the coaching lines I
made a big hit with the fans and
Schaefer became base balls greatest