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


 roll. Their contracts were turned club at that time was in last place 1 The attendance was almost nothing
 When I first walked on the field to see my team I found Christy Mathewson playing first base.
 MT. Freedman" l said to the own CT, with a club in last place by 14 games in the middle of the season, there is little chance of us doing much this year. We've got toSburld for next season. l will center on that and do what we can with what we've got"
 Began Releasing.
 In front of me l had a list of the 23 players.
 You can begin by releasing these" l said and l marked out nine names with one stroke of the pencil.
 But you can't do that" he said in astonishment, those players cost me a lot of money. Those nine men represent nearly s14,OO0.".
 Well, what of it?" I retorted. The club couldn't be any worse off without them. Their salaries for the rest of the season would amount to iuOIe lHddi tudt. we WILL really bS saving money"
 "But"-
 Wanted New Players.
 Don't forget, MT. Freedman, I am the manager of this club. l will de- eide who l want You can have those players if you want them for your own amusement, but l won't have them on the club"
 He threw up his hands in a ges ture of helplessness.
 What will you do for others?p he asked.
 I'm going to get Kid Elberfeld, Fielder Jones. Ed Delehanty. George Davis''-
 stop right therew he ordered. T won't have George Davis on my club. He's been here and I don't like him. I wouldn't give him s3,500 a year. l won't have him"
 But I'm going to have him, MT. Freedman. He's great player and I need him. I am the manager, you know"
 "AIl right. I can do nothing" he finally said. "Go ahead"
 Took Matty off First.
 In the meantime I took Matty off first base and put McGann there. we knew Matty to be a great pitcher ana did everything to encourage him.
 Soon we had a fighting spirit in the club and, though we ended the season last, we managed to win haif of our remaining games.
 That fall I set about in earnest to put together the club that I wanted. I got Mike Donlin from Cincinnati; George Browne, who had been re- leased by Philadelphia and I traded Charley Babb and Jack Cronin to Brooklyn fer Bill Dahlen. That, by the way, I consider the most success- full deal that l ever made. 1t gave me just what I wanted-a great de- fensive shortstop. There were mighty few better than Dahlen. l also got Jack Warner from Boston. Remem- Der. I already had McGann, Mertes and Billy Gilbert. On the New York club I had inherited Mathewson and Bowerman.
 Bresnnhnn Il Pitcher
 To prevent confusion let me ex- plain that Bresnahan was a pitcher then, Our conversion of him into an outfielder, an infielder and then a catcher is one of my most interesting memories of baseball. 1 will take it up in another chapter.
 With Elberfeld. Jones, Delehanty and George Davis ready to gC in I had the maklngS or tormldaple team. These men, as a mater of fact, though, never played with the Giants under my management though I got them signed to contracts. Under a subsequent agreement between the l two leagues I was not allowed to play them. They were sent back to other teams in the redistributicn of players.
 Just the same kept two or three of them on the bench for some time and paid their salaries. I'll never forget the expression on Andrew Freedman's face when 1 came back from a raiding trip with George Davis contract in my pocket I tossed it on the table. It called fer salary of s6,500. And this was the man Freedman said ,he wouldn't give $3,500.
 He threw up his hands. Later, aft CT he had left the club. Mir. Freed man told me that I was right; that he had been wrong from the start in thinking that an owner could suc-