The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-11
BY HARRY GRAYSON Shorts Editor. NEA Servlce

know I have no right to make very much comment, but 1t seems
 to me that the facts about the
 number of players that have gone
 out from the St Louis Cardinal or agnization to other major league
 clubs ought to be very conclusive
 answer to the criticism that has
 been made to the. effect that
 Branch Hickey has held players
 down--kept them in the chain gang.
 have just gone through the re-
 serve lists of the National and
 American Ledgues. 1t Is possible
 that l have omitted some that
 should be included, or included
 some that properly should be omit | ted.
 The following list, according to | the up-to-the-minute major league
 records, includes all players in the
 National and American Leagues
 who obtained their starts from tional League farm system. No less than 57, not to mention the
 35 on the Cardinal reserve list, 33
 of whom are either total or partial farm products. broke in that way. Reformed Cardinals
 But let's get down to reformed Cardinals = players who escaped
 from the so-called chain gang. It will convince you that players of
 merit were not hobbled, their ca-
 reers blighted, by being vessals of the St Louis system.
 Rogers HOrnsby, the St Louis Browns manager can thank the Cardinasl for himself and the out fielders. Ray Pepper and Clarence Mueller.
 The Detroit Tigers purchased Heinie Schube from Cardinal farm. They also obtained Catcher
 Eugene A. Desautels from the
 same source, hut their shipping
 him back only once more proves
 that Hickey was right in the first l place.
 The Cleveland recruits, Walter
 Carson and Alb Wright, and the
 southpaw, Forrest F. Twogood, are
 refugees from the Cardinal chain gang, and, to date, none has shown anything to cause Hickey to or- ganize a posse.
 Among the mighty few good ball
 players that Hickey traded off or made d mistake on was Walter Stewart, the frail Washington Southpaw. Ray Prim, another left
 hand pitcher, comes to the Sena-
 tors this spring from Albany none
 the worse for wear in a Cardinal chain store.
 The Cardinal chain gang contrib-
 uted Cutflelder Wallace Moses to the Philadelphia Athletics; Second a uAt t,an n rxy xsyI1 uI, ,Sn aS,
 has been returned to Newark by the Yankees; and last season sold Southpaw Fred Ostermueller and Catcher Gordon Hinkle to the Red sox.
 Frankhouse Belonged
 Getting into the Cardinals own league, take q look at the Bos-
 ton Braves. They'd be in a fine
 fly without the Cardinals, from
 whom they obtained Fred Frank
 house, Flint Rhem, Bill Lewis, Johnny Tyler, and Rupert Thomp- son. And how about the Brooklyn club, whose Ray Benge, Jim Buch- CT, Tonny Cuccinello, Linus Frey, and Jimmy Jordan served time un. der Warden Rickey?
 Did you know that Charles Grimm, manager of the Chicago Cubs, played 50 games for the Cardinals under President Hickey in 1918? And that Lon Warneke and Chuck Klein once were under contract to Cardinal subsidiaries Perhaps that is why Grimm was | 50 eager to take Tex Carlton from the Red Birds and Catcher Jimmy O'Dea from their Columbus sub.
 sidiary. A pitcher, Bill Lee, and his new catcher, Walt Goebel, waddled out of the Crimson Can. ary incubator.
 Don Hurst, who was sold by the Cubs to Columbus of the St. Louis
 chain this year, is only picking up
 where he left off to venture forth
 in q foreign field.
 The Cincinnati Pinks
 Charley Dressen's Cincinnati
 Reds look like pale pink edition of the St. Louis Red Birds with | Chick Hafey, Jim Bottomley, Paul Derringer, Sparky Adams, and the high-priced recruits, First Basema n
 Johnny Mize, $55.000; Shortstop Billy Myers, $28,0OO; Third Base-
 man Lewis Riggs, and Outflelder
 tval Goodman. Mize, MyersS Riggs and GGoodman are direct from
 Cardinal hideouts.
 Al Hollingsworth is another who managed to escape the tenacles of
 the St. Louis octopus.
 Pitcher Allyn Stout went to the
 Giants in a three-cornered deal,
 Pitcher Theodore Kleinhans wound up in Newark in the barter that
 switched Dutfielder sammy Byrd fro nithe Yankees to the Reds,
 which serve both right. V The Giants have Catcher Gus Mancuso,. and Pitcher Alfred Smith to show for Cardinal efiiciency. Not to mention Bill Terry's headaches. The Phillies have pitcher Syl- vester Johnson, Outfielder George 1 Watkins, and Pitcher Jim Bivin, who won 20 and lost 14 in working | for Tulsa and Galveston last. year. The Cardinal farm contribution to the Pittsburgh Pirates is Pitch. CTS Darrell Blanton and Harold Smith, First Baseman Gus Euhr, Shortstop Tommy Thevenow, and West Haven Red Devils, sS to e7.