The Washington times., 1922-12-24
PUBLICITY rs
DANGER0 GUS TO
TRIO OF KIDS
Kamm, 0'corneIi, apd Hale
May Suffer Same Fate Of
Other Baseball Phenoms.
By MALCOLM MAC LEAN.

~ mA4YONS1 &3AS A0ASNs
N HICAGO, Dec. 28.s- And
what sTe Msesrs. Wtllie
- Kamm, Jimmy 0'Connell
and Samuel Hale going to do
In the majors nAxt seasonf
This trio Of Pacific Coast Leaguers,
alleged to have cost . quarter Of
= million dollars, viii Be watched
with enormous interest by the fans
Of the nation.
WIN they b able to stand up
under the enormous amount OF puD-
licity they have rscsivsdf Or, like
others we will mention In . sen.
tence or two, will they falter ana
fall BY the waysidef
Veteran fans win recall how
Pitcher Marty O'Toole went to the
Pirates for the then staGgering sum
Of $4,000 or $4,000. He was un.
able to make the grade. The "a.
vance notices. flattering beyond
measure, did him no good.
Just before that time Rube Mar
guard also graduated from the
American Association, the sum PAID
for him being considerably lees than
that which went for O'Toole. Lay.
ish praise was poured upon Rube's
head by the writer's in the public
prints. For more than year Mar.
GUARD was useless. Mc0raw kept
him on the bench q long time. and
Rube finally did come through.
KANfM BROUGHT $lo0.eoo.
But here we encounter q situation
Of three lads from the coast. two
being priced at $4,000 per and
Kamm costing Comisltey q cool. yes.
. chilly. 100000. A good, round
mouthful that. gentlemen.
Eddie Collins, when 1t the top pf
hfs stride. q marvel OF the dtamo1d
and called by some the most valh.
able bali player of all times. went
TO the Sox from Philly for $4,000
and the baseball world CAPPED. It
didn't listen reasonable. But Dooie
was worth that sum.
Whether Messrs. Kamm, Hale and
O'Connell will come UP to specifica'
tions remains the big mystery.
The writer has observed all three
in action more than once. or the
trio. Willie Kamm is the most I'm
ished ball player. AZ q third sacker
he 10 gem Of the first magnitude.
We can think OF no other man TO
compare him with in the past two
decades except Jimmy Collins. Of the
old Boston Pilgrims.
KANGM'S HITTING DOUBTFUL.
Yes, Kamm is . third baseman
who, a. q fielder, has the edge on
anyone in the majors today. But
whether he can hit much in the big
league remains problem. Recent
averages in the Coast League tndi'
oate lhe finished seventh with
mark of .3l2. This In excellent. ~
shows he must have q waliop In
his bat. :,
Incidentally, he led O'Connell. also
Of the Frisco club. who goes 10 the
Giants and was picked largely be-
cause he could smash that old apple.
O'ConneIl batted 1856, according TO
press reports. and was tenth In the
list. :,
classes with Kamm. or didn't IN
the many battles we have seen MIN
IN. He appears somewhat indifier'
ent, or perhaps not quite aggressive
enough. They tell US ne mas I'M
proved In this particular respect IN
which case he may look better IN
the field.
Az for Hale. for whom Connie
Mack IA said to have paid the stag.
rerinS sum Of $75.000-well. he can
swat that agate. His mark Of 1858,
which put him third In the league.
indicstes this fact. But 1t was no
secret. Hale showed he could bat
when given q tryout In the majors
before. But he IL not . finished
fielder.
Their debut and their first SEA
son up here in the big show VIII %
one of the features OF the season.