Evening star., 1925-12-07


ers considerable amusement. l re-
menber one time Long Tom Hughes.
pitcher for Washington. came over
80 the Detroit bench and began get
tInG fresh nth our players. | said
to Hughes, Come Oh. get out of
mere. and Hughes answered. What
do YOU mean by telling me 10 get
out" You haven't got an ounce OF
brains left. All that Rusie didn't
knock out of your head you left in
the bottom Of the swimming tank at
Cornell"
Back With Brooklyn.
In 1900 l was again with Brooklyn,
and we won the pennant once more.
, The next year / was a member Of the
Philadelphia Nationals, managing and
captaining that team. ] had played
first base for Brooklyn during the
two years | was there and | con
tinued at first for Phila delpha. An
injury to my arm prevented me from
playing short. AT the end of two
years in Philadelphia my arm was
about gone. so | retired from the ma
Jor leagues, returning TO Baltimore,
where l had ii chance to manage that
team in the Eastern League.
! was graduated from Cornell in
with my brother in Scranton, Pa.
during the off season.
| remained with Baltimore until
the close of the 1906 season, when !
was drafted by the Detroit club and
made my debut in the American
League in the spring of 1907. In De.
troit l succeeded William Armour as
manager of the club. There was
some good playing talent, but the
club had not played in the best OF
luck for several seasons. This luck
turned in the year l joined the team.
We won Il pennant in 1907 i'll
stirring finish, and we won again the
following year. This 1908 America.
League pennant race was probably
the closest Of all time, and on the last
day of the season three clubs had
chance OF land on top. In 1903 we
again won a pennant. The first two
years we were beaten by the Chicago
Cubs and in 1909 we lost to Pitts
burgh, the series going to seven
games. / remained as manager of
the Detroit Tigers until the close of
the 1920 season. Then I resigned and
returned to the National League,
joining the New York Giants as as
sistant to Manager McGraw.
Where Interest Lies.
That. in brief, is my personal
biography. l do not think you are
interested much in the details of what
little l have accomplished, but | know
that you are interested in hundreds
of others that played base ball before
became identified with the organized
sport and those who have appeared
in the major leagues since l Joined
the Louisville club, in 1891. In the
chapters that follow l will write OF
these men-managers and players.
want to tell you about some of the
stirring games l have witnessed and
some of the freak plays.
l want to tell you about the leading
players at the various positions and
try to explain why they became
famous. I have been closely associat
ed with major league base ball for 81
years and in that time i have seen
many come and go. Some We're un-
usual characters. fellows with out
standing oddities; some were great for
one thing and some for another.
/ will tell you about those l have
seen and met. and what follows VIII
he in the nature of observations and
not autobiography. In the next
chapter, 1 shall name the leading bat
terS-at least the men that were the
leading batters in my opinion-and
try to rank them. Also, in later
chapter | shall pick three teams that
| believe to be the best three of all
time.
have participated in or witnessed
more than 5000 games. ] have seen
many great plays and many unusual
ones. Some of these will be described
to you. AS some one has already OBJ
served. there were never two games
in base ball played exactly alike. Also,
there are no two people in the world
that are precisely alike. SO base ball
offers a vast variety of men as well
as Of plays--some good, some great.
some mediocre, some Indifferent and
some bad.