The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-03-03
OF HACK
SPENCER TO BIG
SHOW IS MIRACLE

. 3
The news from Detroit that Ed
(Hack) Spencer, has signed his 1917
contract with the Tigers and will be
considered their first string catcher
the coming season is of interest be-
greatest comeback, perhaps, that the
game has known in years.
Spencer was about the best catcher
in the American League from the time
he Joined Detroit last summer until
he was forced to quit the game to
nurse an injured hand. He ought to
begin this spring right where he left
off when the digit was smashed. and
with even greater pepper. Hack has
a remarkable history. He was with
the St. Louis Browns decade or so
ago, but did not take any care of-him-
self and finally was sent to Boston.
There he got into an argument with
Fred Lake, then manager, and jump
ed the league entirely.
Because the big backstop harbor-
ed the de1usion that he was able to
drink booze as fast as they could
make it, he went from bad to worse
until finally he couldn't even hold a
job in a minor circuit. Spencer was
just about as near down and out from
drink as anybody could be and re-
cover, but he decided before he hit
rock bottom that it wasn't worth
while, and so he began a "cone back
that is almost without parallel.
After trying various kinds Of
cures and getting no permanent ben
eft from them. he made up his mind
to cure himself by sheer force OF will
power. He went into lumber camp
up in northwest and did the hardest
sort Of manual labor for a number
of months without touching any IL
quor, though there was a demijohn
under practically every mans bunk.
When he thought that he had thor :.
oughly mastered the craving for booze.
he took job as bartender for a time,
just to prove to himself that he could
resist temptation. The cure proved
complete, and for about three years
now he hasn't had SO much as glass
of beer. AS soon as he stopped drink
ing and worked the alcohol out Of
his system. he began to mend physi-
cally. He decided that there was no
better way Of making a living than
by working at his old trade OF catch
ing, so he went back into professional
ball.
at first the managers were inclined
to- be skebtical. 1t didn't seem pos
sibIe that Tub" who had been such
a notorious "bar fly could pull hirn-
self together, but he finally got
trial and convinced the Vernon man
agement that he really had >regain-
ed his former skill.
In 1915 he caught 113 games and
batted .257. Last year he showed to
such excellent advantage on the Coast
that President Navin decided to give
him chance. He reported to Detroit
in the summer and in the 10 games
that he appeared in proved bigger
star than he ever had been with the
Browns or the Red Sox. He. bat
ted $40, fielded excellently and his
throwing was as good as any seen On
the American League circuit last
year.
Thus, after an absence Of some sew
en- years from the big show. Hack
returned to it a better player than
whe1 he left it and a perfect physical
specimen in spite of the fact that
he had picked" his body in alcohol
for several years. He'd be the dis
pair of a prohibition lecturer looking
for a horrible example.
Hack Spencer is above the ordi-
nary ball player in many ways He
is whole-souled and generous, modest,
yet most entertaining talker He
comes Of fine family and was head
ed for college when he concluded to
get his education in, the world of ex-
perience instead. After the best
schooling his home town in Pennsyl-
vania could furnish, he went to Ithaca
to enter Cornell University, but got the
idea that the "exams" were to be held
after midnight in the bright light dis
trict and attended so assiduously that
he never got any farther. He was a
star football player as we'll as "a dia-
mond star in preparatory school and
SO, after failing in his college examin-
tons, he took to baseball as a profess
sion.