Evening star., 1923-12-23

and IN a month or so the sick one
well In two or three seasons Doc
the league, fighting with the best c
He did this with the Clevelan
balls sick man of Ohio when Fohl, ;
some success by making good team
OF the Indians in 1915. The club h
There was a change. The Indians
finished seventh in 1915. In the next
spring came the trade which gave Iris
speaker to the Tribe, and that year
Fohl brought them home sixth. In
lsl7 came Il big jump to third and in
The short war" season of 1918 he was
second-second to the Red Sox, the
wreck of which he will now take
over. The Indians were fighting for
told of elsewhere in this article
Foil left and went to st. Louis.
Repeated in ST. Louis.
He accomplished almost the same
thing in the Mound city The Browns
had finished fifth in 1919. Fohl
brought them home fourth in 1920
third in 1921 and second in 1922, only
ship of the American League.
y manager who can show such re-
suits as these, with different teams
different types of teams and different
Classes of players, surely, deserves
recognition as a master builder In
the business of base ball 1t is be-
cause he recognizes the peculiar fit
ness of Fohl to be the 'Old Doc" who
can revive the patient that Quinn
has given hm the job with the Sick
Man Of Fenway Park.
Fohl never was a great base ball
nl3yer or even rated good big
league player. Almost all of the men
who are leading the big teams of to-
McGraw, Robinson, Speaker, Cobb
Sisler Chance, Fletcher, Bancroft
1Iuggins, Killefer-all were stars
Pat Moran. and Bill McKechnie and
the smart" type. But Fohl wasn't
even good catcher. He played only
five games in the big league. He
caught one game for the Pittsburgh
ptrates in 1902. With, catchers like
"Chief' thinner around there wasn'i
much chance for a youngster. F'ohl
was with the Cincinnati Reds in 1908
and worked in four games. After that
he struggled with various clubs IN
!he minors, always showing an apti-
tude at building up and zreviving the
lame and the halt till he got his op-
portunity in the big show again as q
leader.
"Tenacity" His Middle Name.
IF Fohl had middle name-which
he hasn't-tt would without doubt De
Tenacity. That's the outstanding fea-
ture of his record-a stick-to-it-ive-
ness. a never say y-die spirit that de-
fies all obstacles and overcomes all
setbacks. Truth crushed to earth
rises again, and so does Lee Fohl.
Calmly brushing off his clothes. he
goes back at the business OF produc-
ing a winning ball club.
Some time ago, as stated, he was
the manager of the Cleveland Indians.
1t was his first big league job: He
was trying his level best to build up
the Indians, and after obtaining
SnaaLer .Dd develnpfnR several others
now stars on the Cleveland layout he
was slowly working the team into a
commanding position in the race.
The Boston Red Sox came to town
one day-they seem to work into his
career. The game was close. Con
siderable depended on games just at
that time-it was in July-and
there was a lot of excitement. The
Indians were ahead when the Sox
started a rally late in the game, and
Babe Ruth was put in to bat for
some weak sister.
Fohl had to make a quick decision.
and he yanked out his pitcher and
CoumbeF4ed Sen1 nnG'eer coumbea ns as
The bases Were FULL and the. new
pitching selection of Fohl's sped one
hall over the plate. Ruth socked it
out of the park and the Sox won
Of the Indians and Speaker succeeded
him.
Then He Built Up Browns.
The next year he went to St. Louis.
ook over the Browns and proceeded
70 build them UP. Slowly and care
fully he went, gaining a little each
year, till in the fall of 1922 he was
just a game behind the Yankees, who
had to finish away from home, while
the Browns practically had the month
Of September on their home lot.
1t looked like a soft place for the
st. Louis team to work through for
rs first pennant in many. many years
Aiong came the Yankees. They
We're to play three games, and every
one knew that the pennant probably
depended on the result.
The Yankees won the first game
the Browns the second. and the third
came down to the ninth inning with
, the Crowns one run ahead Dixie
Davis had been going smoothly for
the Browns and it looked like the
leadership of the league for the
Mound city.
A hit and couple of errors put a
couple of Yankees on base in the ninth
and Fohl yanked Davis out He put
in Pruett. a young left-hander who had
pitched creditably the day before. but
who cannot stand any great amount OF
hard work Pruett was wild, passed a
man, committed some more blunders
and Urban Shocker came in just ir
time for Whitley Witt to spin out the
as it turned out. won them the pennant
That second case of bad guessing or
pitchers cost Fohi his job as manager
IN st. Louis. When Quinn, his firm
friend. who had been business man, man
10 come to Boston as president, there
was no hope for Fohl in st. Louis
He was dropped by Phil Ball in Au-
gust, busted off his clothes, signed g
contract with Quinn and will start al
over again as a doctor. He's good al
that, but a bad guesser on pitchers.
Hard Task with The Red sox.
It's just such a man Of dogged de.
termination, refusing to be cast dowr
by defeat and disappointment, who is
needed to work on, the Boston Red Son
which won an American League pen.
nant in 1918 and three others. will
three other world championships in the
six years before that.
1t will be no easy task rebuilding the
wreck left by the Frazee adTninistra
ton in Boston. There isn't man ol
the 1918 championship team left. There
isn't an infleld star, an outfleld star. ol
a catching star to build around. There
is just one pitching star, Ehmke, the
go to Boston, because Ty Cobb didn't
happen to like him. Flagstead. is the
best outffelder; George Burns, cast-of1
Of three clubs, the best infielder and
hitter.
Fohl will have to begin closer to
the ground than he began in Cleve-
land and far closer than in st. Louis
In one he had Speaker and Coveleskie
in the other Sisler, SEVERED and
Shocker. In Boston he must begin
from the ground up. It will be a
tough fight, and. the Boston fan who
expects q winning team inside of two
years or perhaps three is foolish. The
day of base ball miracles is over,
even with a genius like Fohl.
In the first place he will have a
har6ar time than in either Cleveland