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GENERAL
NEWS
VOLUME XIX. No. 11.
Those Who Control Big League Base
Ball Clubs Are All “Se/f Made Men”
With Hardly an Exception All Started From the Bottom
Rung of the Ladder and Accended Step By Step, History
of the Climb.
(By Monty.)
New York. —With hardly an excep
tion, those who head the big league
baseball clubs of today are what could
be termed "self-made men.” Nearly
every one of them started well down
on the ladder of life and, though didn't
of his own persistent effort and ability,
climbed up rung by rung to a position
where his name Is knuown now
throughout the country. In the list
we have a milk wagon driver, a bar
tender, bank clerk, a lumber salesman,
a small coal dealer, a whiskey drum
mer, a civil service employe, a small
■nard politician, a hotel bellboy, a soda
water clerk, a baseball ticket seller,
a dry goods salesman, a baseball play
er, newspaper reporter and the origi
nal maker of baseballs as a business.
The System.
On the system that "the last shall
be first,” it is now in order to con
sider Benjamin F. Shibe. Thirty years
ago. when the game was just begin
ning to amount to something, Ben
Shibe thought he saw good prospects
for a man who would make baseball
as a business. So he "went to It”
and began to supply all the baseballs
used by the National League. Then,
when the great firms of Spalding and
Reach were organized, he obtained the
contract to make all the baseballs for
both. He was taken in later as a
partner by both companies, and he
continues to make all the baseballs
sold by them and used officially by
the National and American Leagues.
The latest recruit to the ranks of
club owners is a shining example of
the self-made man. Joseph J. Lan
nln. who now controls half the stock
of the Boston Red Sox, began his ca
reer as a bellboy in a hotel, of which
he became owner by saving his tips.
He also is now the proprietor of sev
eral other hotels including the big
Garden City Hotel on Long Island, one
of the best hostelries in the East out
side of New York City, and he also is
well endowed with real estate in an
around Boston —all bought with mon
ey earned from the nest-egg of his
bellboy's tips.
Varied Career.
James E. Gaffney, head of the Bos
ton Nationals, has had a varied ca
reer. He began as a milk wagon driver,
later became a policeman, worked up
in the force and then resigned to be
come an alderman. He now is one
of the ruling spirits in New York
Democratic poltticial affairs. The soda
water clerks on the list is Charles W.
Murphy, president of the Chicago
Cubs. He ’tended fountain in Cincin
nati during the years of his youth, and
then drummed upon the side a lucra
tive business selling moderate priced
jewelry to his customers.
Harry N. Hempstead, president of
the New York Giants, was a salesman
In the late John T. Brush's enterprise
in Indianapolis known as "The When
Clothing Store.” He sold overcoats,
trousers, vests, overalls and jumpers,
hater he married a daughter of Mr.
Brush and was put in charge of the
store, where he showed so much ability
that his father-in-law bequeathed his
interest in the Giants to him at his
death.
Charles H. Ebbets, "knocked around”
Brooklyn as a boy and finally landed
the position of head ticket seller in
the grandstand of the Brooklyn base
ball club twenty-five years ago. From
there he worked up by gradual steps
until he now is president of the club,
a position he has held continuously
since 1898.
Had Civil Service Position.
William F. Baker, owner of the Phil
adelphia Nationals, held a position in
the civil service in Brooklyn when a
young man. Later he was civil ser
vice commissioner of Brooklyn and
then became Deputy Police Commis
sioner of New York under Mayor Mc-
Clellan, subsequently being promoted
to the position of police commission
er. Besides his basebal venture, he
also is interested in a big wholesale
millinery establishment at the present
time.
Bahney Dreyfuss used to be a whis
key drummer in Louisville. Ho made
so much money that he was able to
buy stock in the old Louisville club of
the National League, of which he be
came president in 1899, the last year
the club was in the league. He went
to Pittsburg club as its president and
owner in 1900, and he has been there
ever since.
August Herrmann, president of the
Cincinnati Reds and also chairman of
the National Commission, was employ
ed in a minor way in political affairs
in Cincinnati before he became head
of the baseball club. He was a sort
of a canvasser or agent of political
leaders in certain phases of the w’ork.
Built Up Coal Business.
Charles W. Somers, owner of the
Cleveland Americans, built up his coal
business until he now is a millionaire
besides being head of the Naps.
TYank J. Harrell, a number of years
ago, was a bartender in the famous
saloon of Jimmy Wakely at the cor
ner of Forty-second street and Sixth
avenue, New York City. He saved
his money and invested in real estate
and race horses, becoming a partner of
Davy Johnson In owning a big stable
of thoroughbreds. The star of the
stable was Roseben, holder of the
world’B record of 1:22 for seven fur
longs. Farrell also was paired up at
one time with Julius Fleischmann, of
Cincinnati in proprietorship of a rac
ing stable. Finally he turned his at
tention to baseball and bought the New
'■or' • >Tlcan League club in 1906.
.... >■ Gordon, then was presi
dent. Farrell spent 1130.000 before a
single gan e was played by the team
lunder his ownership, paying out this
sum for the creation of the old park
at 168th street and Broadway. He has
THE AUGUSTA SUNDAY HERALD
been the president of the club ever
since.
Only a Figurehead.
Frank Navin, though the president
of the Detroit Americans is only a
figurehead for IV. H. Yawkey, who
owns the club. Yawkey, through keen
judgment, built himself up from a lum
ber salesman to owner of a tremen
dous lumber business, now valued at
several million dollars.
General Charles H. Taylor, father of
Connie Mack, of the Athletics, and John
McGraw, of Giants, Differ in Managing
They Are As Widely Separated in Temperament and in Their
Managerial Methods As the North and South Poles. Rank
As the Greatest Leaders in Baseball’s History.
(By Frank G. Menke.)
New York. —Connie Mack, of the
Athletics, and John McGraw, of the
Giants, as widely separated in tem
perament and in their managerial
methods as the north and south poles,
rank as the greatest leaders in base
ball’s history.
But which is the greater?
It’s a natural question that follows
such a situation, and it’s a question
that at first seems hard to answer.
Yet, after studying the records of both
men, It seems that the honor of being
the greatest leader must rightly be
given to McGraw.
This staement is made in face ol
the fact that Mack has won as many
pennants —five in number—as has Mc-
Graw end that Mack has grabbed
three world series chmpionships in
four starts, while McGraw has won
but once In four starts.
Ability of Players.
The success of the Athletics has
been due mainly to abilty of the play
ers; the success of the Giants has
been due mainly to the wonderful un
canny power of McGraw to weld a
bunch of mediocre ball players Into a
pennant winning combination.
In 1913 Mack won the American
League pennant because his team as
a whole ranked as not only the best
in that league, but the best In The
world. With McGraw It was differ
ent. He entered the race In the spring
of 1913 with only one reliable, brainy
pitcher—the wonderful Mathewson—
and with a team that, on paper, and
In actual natural strenght, ranked be
low three other teams in the National
League.
Yet the Giants won the pennant by
a wide margin. Why? The answer
is, McGraw! He took his ordinary,
mechanical ball players and made
them into a machine. Then he oiled
the machine with his own wonderful
fighting spirit supplied the brains that
his men lacked, thought for them, act
ed for them and did about everything
but play the game for them.
Couldn’t Have Been in Race.
With any other manager but Mc-
Grw at the helm, the Giants never
would have been In the race last year.
When the team crumpled up early in
the summer and seemed to have gone
to pieces utterly, other manages
would have felt that there was no
chance to finish in the lead. But Mc-
Graw was different. He never gave
in and he never let his men quit. The
more they were pummeled and pound
ed around by their rivals, the faster
he sent them back at their opponents.
The situation in 1913 was no ex
ception to what it has been in other
years. Fate seems to have ruled that
each year Mack Is to have a wonder
ful galaxy of brainy players, and that
McGraw is to have nothing but me
chanical men.
Look over the list of the men who
have played on the Giant teams since
McGraw took charge back in 1903.
Excepting Mathewson, there never
has been one man on the Giant roster
who compared in brains with Eddie
Collins, Danny Murphy, Harry Davis
and the other hea/dy men that Mack
has had.
Noted for Brains.
Mack started in the American
with a team noted for its
brains. And' it wema that each year
when some star has droped from the
Athletic firmament another has risen
to take his place. Always on the
Athletics’ roster have there been men
of brains, men who could do their
own thinking, who could plan their
own actions.
In McGraw's case he has had under
him year after year only men who
were mechanical baseball stars, with
Mathewson the exception, of course.
Yet he ha« taken these men, lent them
eorne of his own brains, aroused their
latent fighting blood and has kept the
Giants at or around the top for ten
years.
How many will dispute us when
we say that Mack, at the head of the
1913 Giants, would not have breezed
home a winner? Mack would have
been a failure as manager of the
Giants, and would be a failure as the
manager of any team numbering on
its roster men of such calibre as thj
present day Giants.
Driven, Not Led.
The Giants must be driven, not led.
Mack can lead, but he can't drive. The
Giants must be nagged, scolded,
abused, almost maltreated to get them
to do their best work—and to keep
them keyed up to the highest tension.
Can anyone who knows Mack, kindly,
gentle, fatheTly Mack, imagine him
driving his players, abusing them, call
ing them names and threatening them
with everything short of assassina
tion?
Mack directs his men from the
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 11, 1914.
John I. Taylor and a partner of Jos
eph J. Lannin in the ownership of the
Boston Red Sox, was once a news
paper reporter and advertising solici
tor. He now is the owner of the Bos
ton Globe, besides being a big figure
in baseball.
Charles A. Comiskey, who is now
touring the world with his Chicago
White Sox and the New York Giants,
was one of the greatest players of
baseball in the olden days. He was
first baseman and manager of the old
St. Louis Browns that won four
straight American Association pen
nants in the late eighties. He saved
his salary and joined hands with Ban
Johnson in forming the American
League in 1900.
Robert E. Lee Hedges, owner of the
St. Louis Browne, was a bank clerk in
Cincinnati once, and later cashier.
bench, uc'ing a score card, a lead pen
cil, his fingers, his logs as the means
of importing signals. But he gives sig
nals, directs his men in this fashion
only in a crisis. At other times he
lets them think for themselves, act
for themselves. And his men have
shown through the years that they are
capable of doing it.
Hopelessly at Sea.
But if Mack adopted the same tac
tics with the Giants, what a sorry
spectable would be presented. With
out McGraw on the coaching lines,
shouting orders, mapping out their
plan of battle, the Giants are hopeless
ly at sea. They play a.>» men in a
daze; as men without the power to
think or to act Intelligently.
Mack and McGraw are alike In one
respect. Both are believers In the
theory of keeping promising recruits
on the bench for one season, or more,
if necessary, boforo putting them In
the game regularly. Mack kept Col
lins under cover for nearly two years,
while the Philadelphia fans wondered
why he cluttered up his payroll In
stead of farming out the eollegion.
Mack’s wisdom .soon became apparent.
Collins, on the bench watching the
veterans perform, learned more about
the major league game in two years
than he would have learned In 20 years
In the minors.
McGraw kept Marquard on the pay
roll for two years while the Giant
fans were dubbing the Rube a “SII,OOO
lemon.” They figured Marquard was
a bloomer. But McGraw figured that
he merely was blooming and that some
day he’d rise up In his full bloom
and look like the rarest flower In the
major leagues.
Ranking next to McGraw and Mack
as successful managers are Hughey
Jennings of the Tigers and Frank
Chance, former Cub manager, now
leader of the New York Yankees.
Chance resembles McGraw In temper
ament and in methods. He Is a
driver, a man W'ho Is feared by his
players. No man ever worked under
Chance to love him as the Mackites
love their leader. Yet Chance drove
his men to the top of the National
League in 1906,1907, 1908 and 1910, and
annexed three world series titles.
Jenning.s is another type. He Is a
driver, yet he tempers his driving with
words of kindness. He makes his
charges realize that he Is boss and
what he says must go. But his men
do not fear him. They know that this
read-headed, nervous, energetic Irish
man Is their friend, and that although
he is a .ytern taskmaster, he appreci
ates good work and always Is ready
to reward It.
Jennings’ skill as a leader has been
tested perhaps more than has that
of the other three. Time and again
there has been internal dissension *n
the Tiger ranks. Jealousy caused
squabbles that would haved lsruptod
a ball team with only an ordinary
manager.
But Jennings proved himself a dip
lomat as well as a manager. He
made the warring players patch up
their differences; he cemented breach
es that .seemed almost beyond cement
ing, and he restored the Tiger gang
to a peaceful, happy family after a
fiercely contested feud.
200 TANGO STEPS TAUGHT
BY PARIS DANCE MASTERS
Paris—Parisian dancing masters
are now teaching 200 steps of the
tango, and many of the more difficult
steps are being tried at the public
resorts.
Afternoon tea dances are numerous,
and In the evenings restaurants which
allow the tango are crowded with
dancers. American dance tunes,
some of them of not very recent
origin, are played to a considerable
extent. One song containing the
strains of Dixie is often heard.
Occasionally, the one step, and
"fish" walk, and of course the waltz
and two-step are danced, but prefer
ence is given to the tango.
PRESIDENTIAL* MANDATES
ONLY LAWS PROMULGATED
Peking—Since the Chinese parlia
ment ceased to exist, the presidential
mandates are the only lawn which are
being promulgated. According to
Western Ideas they are often curious
documents. The picturesque Oriental
phraseology of former imperial edicts
Is largely retained, but they are gen
erally more accurate In statement of
facts, and they hear evidence that
the man behind them is a stronger
character than the ex-Prince Regent,
who, two years sgo. gave up his son’s
throne with very little fighting
ANDREWS BROS. CO.
SVO Broad St. B Augusta, Ga.
Dining Room furniture Greatly Reduced
Furnish vour Dining Room now, while the prices are down and
pay for it on Our Club Plan. The terms are so easy that you
will never miss the money , and before you know it yon will
own a handsomely Furnished Dining Room.
$40.00 Mission Sideboards, extra heavy,
for .$32.50
$25.00 Mission China Cabinets, full size,
for $19.98
$20.00 Mission Table, 48x72 inches, extended,
for .. $16.49
$2.50 Mission Chairs, leather seats, for .. $1.98
$22.50 Gpi den Oak Buffet, 44 inches wide,
for'.. $16.50
SIB.OO Golden Oak China Cast', with rounded
sides, for $14.98
SIO.OO Golden Oak Table, 42x72 inches, extend
ed, for $8.49
Mission Library Furniture
■>p| ugw
tyiw’r ?W | jjj’ihui
p— pnm P~JJ
jjpnnro jpmra li ; ! l im
I piwn wire tjj 8 §3 am
$25.00 Mission Hook Case, Fumed Oak. . $19.98
SIO.OO Mission Rockers, leather upholstered,
seats $7.49
$5.00 Mission Stools with leather cushions,
for $3.95
Cane Couches in Mission
or Natural Finish
$12.00 Couches for $9.98
$16.50 Couches for $14.00
SIO.OO Couches for $8.75
GLOBE WERNICKE BOOK CASES
While we cannot reduce the prices on Globe Wernicke Book Cases, as the manufacturers fix the
prices on these goods themselves, you can save money by buying now before the new prices go into
effect. On and after February Ist there will be an advance of 10 per cent on these goods.
Tops $1.75 to $5.50
Book Units .. „ $2.50 to $5.50
Bases $1.75 to $3.50
OUR HOUSEFURNISHING CLUB PLAN
Enables you to buy the same as for cash with a small fee for carrying. This is entirely offset
by the Purple Trading Stamps which we give on monthly payments.
See Dry Goods A«f On Page Two, Society Section
Telephone
Stands
$7.50 Telephone
Stands with stool,
for $5.98
$6.00 Telep ho n e
Stands, with stool,
for $4.98
$2.00 Golden Oak Cane Scat Chairs,
for $1.74
Bed Room, Parior and
Sewing Tables
$7.50 Mahogany or Oak Tables, with 24x24
inch tops $5.98
$5.00 Mahogany or. Oak Tables, with 20x20
inch tops $3.98
$2.50 Mission or Oak 'rabies, 24x24 inch
tops.. .. $1.98
$2.00 Mission or Oak Tables, with 20x20 inch
tops $1.74
$25.00 Solid Mahogany Sewing Tables, to go
at SIB.OO
$22.50 Solid Mahogany Sewing Tables to go
at. $17.00
SIB.OO Solid Mahogany Sewing Tables, to go
at $16.00
SIO.OO Solid Mahogany Sewing Tables to go
at $7.98
$8.50 Solid Mahogany Sewing Tables to go
at $6.74
Library Tables in 4ff the
Leading Woods
$30.00 Tables,
now .. .$25.00
$25.00 Tables
now .. .$21.00
$20.00 Tables
now ~ .$17.00
$15.00 Tables
now .. . sl2 50
$12.50 Tables
now .. ..$9.98
SIO.OO Tables
now .. ..SB.OO
DAILY AND SUNDAY. $6.00 PER YEAR,
GENERAL
NEWS