The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-04
THEY CALL MANY
But Big League Bosses Choose
Few Rookie Recruits.
Large Sums Spent Yearly Seek
ing New Diamond Stars.
BY JACK VEIOCK.

with rockies during the training sea-
son costs the club owners in the ma
jor leagues scads of coin every year.
And the returns are small, Steve,
ridiculously small, for the old say
ing goes-many are yelped for but
few get regular meal tickets.
Figuring on a very conservative
basis. the sixteen major league clubs
lose in the neighborhood of S150,000
each year in experiments alone. This
is over and above the amount set
aside to defray the actual travelling
expenses of the squads which make
annual pilgrimages to the land of
cotton and sand burrs.
The outlay of money for new play
ing material ranges from $3.50 to ST.
500 for every player who comes up
the ladder to the charmed circle. A
certain per cent of these players are
drafted and a certain per cent OBJ
tanned thru outright purchase. In the
case of drafted players the majo
leaguers can generally get out on the
player who fails to make good with a
small loss by sending him back to the
ivory field from which he came. But
in disposing of purchased players who
fail to come up to the standard the
merry magnuts are more than lucky
if they get SO per cent of the purchase
price when disposing of surplus ivory.
All Big CANDLES
The youngsters CLEANED from the
sand lots of the smaller leagues are
CANDLES pure and simple. Less than
per cent of them make a go of it.
Players who are thOrOly seasoned in
the larger minors are depended upon
largely for filling the gaps left by de-
parting stars who have seen their best
days, and as rule these players come
high, for in order to get his pick of
hon I Io
fore the drafting season opens
Few players combed from the
minors will be numbered among the
regular squads of major league teams
This year. A number of big league
clubs have made purchases of players
who have had their fling in the majors
already and are depending on them to
fill the bill.
Pitcher Jimmy Middleton, pur-
chased from Louisville by the Giants,
is practically the only member of a
squad of over twenty recruits who will
stick. McGraw has spent something
IKE $4,000 in trying out these re-
cruits, and Middleton is his reward
Other clubs seldom spend as much
as the Giants for new material. For
when McGraw goes out to secure new
props for his club he does it on a
large scale. But the other clubs have
to gamble just the same, and all take
equal chances.
SOluc VI TIC 1oESC Deus.
The Dodgers, for instance, consider
themselves lucky in having Tavern
Fabrique, their new shortstopper. And
they are lucky. The Browns claim
to have a find in Pitcher Pennington,
and one or two other recruits of Field
er Jones's picking have shown flashes,
but must have more seasoning.
Detroit has found a promising hurler
in Howard Ehmke, secured from SYRIA
cuse, and the Braves are sweet on
Johnny Rawlings and Outfielder Mas
ing on Joe Kelly, secured from Chi
cago. And Kelly is a veteran in one
sense, for he has been up three times.
Bill Donovan has found a utility
| player in knapp, who comes from a
southern club. knapp stands out as
the real find of the year for the
Yanks. The Athletics, with Thrasher
as promising fielder, may vote them
selves a little credit, and Clarke Crit
fifth believes that in Joe Leonard,
whom he secured before the 1916 sea-
son closed, he has found player
capable of taking care of third base.
| Aside from these players-and per-
haps only half of them have been
definitely decided upon as regulars
| the major moguls have turned to ex-
perienced men. In Chick Gandil
| Manager Rowland believes he has
found the solution to the first base
problem at Chicago. In Joe Wood.
| Lee Foil has added to the bulk of
his pitching strength. and the Chi
cago Cubs are banking on Charley
Deal to fill the shoes of the Great
Zim, now a Giant. Connie Mack has
brought Ping Bodie back and the
Yankees are hoping against hope that
Ray Caldwell will not throw a shoe.