The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-14

my players were slipping. The first | indication of this is In the legs | When I notice that an infielder or an
 outfielder has lost that quick spring | in going for a ball-that spring of youth immediately begin looking | for his successor. It would be stupid l to walt until he has lost a lot of games for you.
 So I stepped out and made trade that at the time was sensation. | wanted Al Bridwell of the Boston club. Bill Dehlen, one of the great est defensive players of all times, had begun to slow up His legs were getting a little old had to have that
 hole filled and filled quickly. I also | needed a man to take Dan McGann's $ place at first base, man to fill in
 until I could develop several young sters that looked promising.
 A Mammoth Deal
 I traded McGann, McGinnity, Bow erman, Dahlen. George Brown and Cecil Ferguson, the latter young pitcher, to Boston for Al Bridwell | and Fred Penney. As I have said, the
 announcement of this deal caused a baseball sensation. To the public 1t appeared that I had practically trad ed all of my old 1905 club. They wondered why wanted Penney, who was then getting old and had been
 manager ofxthe Boston club. Despite his age. Penney had kept wonderful care of himself and knew the game. He was perfectly willing
 to work for me as player, notwith- standing the fact that he had been a
 manager. I want to say right here,
 too. that Fred Penney gave his whole heart and soul to the Giants. He was a big help.
 Youngsters Come Through During this period Gs07-1s0S)
 had luck in picking up several young sters who began to show promise.
 They were still lacking in polish-not quite ready-but I could see they had the goods and I set about to nurse them along while the old-timers held down the jobs and showed them the
 way. A young ball player can gain much knowledge of baseball by sim ply sitting on the bench, going in oc- , casionally as a substitute. and thus absorbing the finer points-the at- ! mosphere of the big leagues.
 1 Among these youngsters were Her zog. Merkle. Gowdy and later Fletch- | CT and Doyle.
 Gowdy came to us from the Dallas club of the Texas league, where he played first base. He was frequently around the hotel with us while we were playing exhibition games there Saturday and Sundays. We trained at Marlin the rest of the week. He had a great throwing arm and could l hit. Besides that, he loved baseball always wanted to pick up new points 1 by asking questions.
 Gowdy Behind the Bnt i I bought Gowdy. Early in the | training period, though. I saw that he was not natural first baseman. lie was not quick enough on his feet i thersupon turned him into a catcher. Always I have been rather proud of his later success. You will | remember that it was Gowdy's great catching and hitting that played such | prominent part in the worlds se-
 ries when the Braves beat the Ath.
 letics four straight Dick Rudolph
 who also had been Giant. worked
 in perfect harmony with Gowdy, and | they made a great battery.
 | I was soon to need second base
 man. It was evident that Gilbert was losing his speed. I tried Merkle
 in that position before he finally | found his real place at first. It was
 Larry Doyle who came along in tho latter part of tho 1907 season ant
 finally got the job.
 Larry Doyle was one of the mos
 popular men that ever played on my | team. He is also one of Nthe few | players that I stuck in the game
 right off the reel. might also say
 that he made the poorest showing fol
 start. That first day he was very nervour and made four or five CT,
 TOTS. I saw it was necessary to keeI him there. though. to restore hii