Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-12-19
J||VX PERCHES ON
SOX FIRST BASE
FOR q SEASONS
Initial Corner for White Hose
Team i'm Chicago, Hoodoo
Says Sanborn.
Bv I. e. SANBORN

| Chicago, Dec. 1S.--Except for two
men, the position of first base on the
| White Sox team has been a jlnx job IN
the twenty one years since Charles A.
Comiskey invaded Chicago with his ST.
| Paul club in the winter of 1900.
| The two exceptions are Frank lsbell
and John (Shauno) Collins, and those
exempts may owe their immunity from
the hoodoo stuff to the fact that they
played many other positions besides
| first base. There may have been other
minor exceptions in the cases of young
| sters who have tried and failed to
make good on the initial corner Of the
south side diamond but the jinx seems
| to have pursued all the others who
have acquired the right to be considered
regulars on that JOB.
lsbei Plays Every Position.
Isbell was the original first baseman
| of the White Sox. He came to Chicago
with Comiskey, and although several
| others, whose names never etched
! themselves into the memories of south
side fans, displayed 1ssy from the bag
i temporarily. he kept on reverting to
the task season after season, until Jiggs
/ Donahue claimed the berth in 1904.
/ Isbell then switched to various other
| positions. both infield and out-in fact,
| in one season he occupied every posi-
I ton on the team. In the last game of
/ that year, because it was discovered
! from the records that .Issy had done
everything except catch. he went behind
| the bat with two out in the last haif
| inning and the final batsman fouled out
| Possibly for his versatility lsbell es-
| capped the hooioo. for he graduated from
| the Sox into minor leaguedom, and IS
! now the prosperous owner of the WEN
| ita Western league club.
| Fans Mourn Jiggs Donahue.
The man who got nearest to being
| regular first baseman for the Sox dur
! ing Isbells reign was the original Coy
! Dolan. who died before his years of
usefulness Of the diamond has passed.
/ Sox fans all recall the unfortunate
! end of Jiggs Donahue, who fell vie
j tim in his prime to q sickness which
cut short his career and ended IN his
i death. Donahue shared with 1sbell and
I George Robe the honors of the world S
series of 1906, the only baseball Derby
that has been played between teams
representing one city. His playing at
! first base contributed as much to the
| victory of the White Sox as did the
/ four two base hits by Isbell or the three
bagger by George Robe with the bags
/ loaded.
Chick Gandil succeeded Donahue for
a brief spell only before he was sent
to the minors for more seasoning, only
| to return wears later to the south side
team after be had played with the
/. Washington and Cleveland teams of the
! American league.
Gandii and Chase Now Out
| Gandil could not hit curved ball
when he first came to Chicago from the
! hut of
| TO Montreal he learned to cope with
/ the low benders which drove him out
| of the big leagues. He was a world 5
champion in 1917 and might have been
! in 1919 but for the gamblers He was
| one of the eight Sox players implicated
1 i'll the sensational scandal and did not
| come back An unsuccessful attempt
! to manage an outlaw team i'll the north
| west finished Gaudil's diamond career.
Following Gandil came several who
| tried their hands at firstbaSing with
| out much success until Hal Chase was
! obtained and starred III the position
until he jumped to the Federal league
| in midseason. Once more John Collins
t finished the year on first.
Barred from Outlaws.
Chase was one of the first major
1 league players TO be implicated with
/ gamblers, While ne was Win tue Slu
| cinnati club in 1913. but escaped pun
ishment until the following year. when
he was with the Giants and tangled
up others with him. including Heine
! Zimmerman. Chase recently was barred
| from PLAYING with an independent team
| on the coast.
| or the youngsters tried olt Babe
| Borton came nearest to making good.
| Borton recently was suspended by the
Pacific coast league following reyela-
tions regarding the scandal pertaining
to the coast circuits pennant race in
1919.
Among those who tried for the Sox
first base job and failed were Bob Has
brook and Ted Jourdan, neither of whom
inhabited the place long enough to be
come infected so they had good pros
poets of minor league careers before
| them. With each failure John Collins
gravitated back to the job and finally
achieved much distinction there this past
year