Evening star., 1924-11-07
CHAPTER vi.
BY II. q. SALSINGER.

TY COBB had experienced his
first great disappointment.
He had thought he was max
ing good, but the Augusta manager,
Strouthers, had released him after
his first two days as professional
ball player. Now he was in a sore
predicament. His father was op-
posed to professional base ball. He
had asked his son Tyrus to forget
his desire about playing profes-
sional ball Cobb had come 10
Augusta against the wishes OF his
father and here he was-jobless.
He finally resolved to call his father,
feeling sure that the elder Cobb
would ask him to come home. He
called him, said he had lost his job,
but that he had a chance to go with
a smaller club.
"All right, take the job. Don't come
home a failure. You've decided on
professional base ball and now show
that you can be a success at 1t. Try
and do your best, but don't come
home until you succeed" Cobb's
father told him.
Ty Gets q Contract.
Cobb went to Admission and got a
contract with that club. AT the time
Admission was in the Southeastern
League, an organization that has long
since passed out.
1t was not long before Cobb be-
came the star of the league. In %
games with Admission he batted for an
average of $40. Augusta fans began
reading about Cobb. They remember
ed he had been dropped from the Au-
gusta team. They began criticizing
the management.
Letting ball player go who later
makes good with another club is the
dread of every owner and manager.
Nothing brings SO much criticism and
nothing so hurts gate receipts as to
show faulty judgment on the posi-
bilitieS of recruit. Augusta was In
slump and the patrons were saying:
IF they hadn't let that kid Cobb go
we might be somewhere in the stand
ing. Look at what he's doing for An
niston. He's hitting $40 and"
StroutherS. firing of the criticisms,
triedt to get Cobb back. He wired him
an offer and Cobb's reply ran some
thing like this:
II won't play for you in Augusta
and I'll never play for you anywhere
else
Several weeks later Strouthers lost
his job. His release of Cobb was one
reason and a losing team was another
and the chief reason. In Strouther's
place came George Leidy. The Angus
ia fans were still demanding the re-
turn of Cobb, and Leidy. acquainting
himself with the facts attending
Cobbs departure, wired him an offer.
guaranteeing him fine treatment and
assuring him that Strouthers was no
longer connected with the club in any
way. Cobb accepted Leidy's offer and
returned to Augusta.
His Real Discoverer.
When Cobb returned to the town
of his debut he came under the man.
agement of the man who really dis
covered him-Leidy.
Leidy was never a big Lacquer.
He never had the mechanical ability
to make the majors and as a man
ager he would never reach that high.
for few men who have not played
in the major leagues have ever man.
aged clubs in either big circuit.
Leidy was one of an army of sew
eral hundred men whose managerial
careers are confined to the minors.
Only a small portion of the base ball
public ever hears of these men. They
shift often. Their jobs rarely last
beyond season unless they produce
a pennant- winning team or one that
finishes we'll up. They drift from
team to team, from league to league,
and few last longer than four or five
seasons.
Never able to attain the base ball
heights, they try to do the next best
thing-develop stars for the major
circuits. They want to see others ac-
complish what they were never able
to attain.
Such manager was Leidy, q
medium sized man, with a weather
beaten face and knotty fingers. A
retiring man, unassuminE, modest,
plain, frank and honest. He had