- FOUR MORE CARDS ACCEPT CONTRACTS SUBMITTED BY HUG
- What Federal League Must Do To Succeed
- Butler, Wilson, Snyder and Glenn Prove Loyal to the Banner of Organized Baseball.
- Mowrey Scorns Feds; Sin With Pittsburg
January 18, 1914 Age 22
By W. J. O’Connor. St Louis Post Dispatch
Four Cardinal ball players turned their backs to the Federal League yesterday afternoon when they gripped pens and made their marks on contracts submitted by Miller James Huggins, the busy little manager. The young men who were saved from shameful lives with the outlaws are: Owen (Chief) Wilson, Art Butler, Frank Snyder and Catcher Glenn. Three of them never have appeared in a St. Louis uniform.
The capture and subjugation of these four men brings the total of loyal workman up to 11, while there still remains to be signed a crowd of 16. Some of these are in Europe, while others are disguised as farmers in far-away Louisiana and North Carolina. Scout Bob Connery, armed to the teeth with contracts, is now on the lonesome trail of Messrs. Whitted, Oakes and Perritt, who are hiding somewhere in the Southwest.
Dolan Only Jumper.
If Connery can land these three elusive fish, Manager Huggins will be ready to face the barrier with comparatively a full team. He admits even now that he has lost Cozy Dolan, the third sacker scoured from Pittsburg. Dolan, in a fit of frenzied finance, signed a contract with the Baltimore Federals, who are bossed by F. Otto Knabe, the rotund Teuton who played with Dolan on the Phillies. None of the other Cardinals have been so reckless or ruthless, as far as Huggins can learn.
The players now signed for 1914 are: Wilson, Butler, Glenn, Snyder, Hauser, Huggins, Hagerman, Doak, Sallee, Robinson and Miller. The unsigned division is made up of: Magee, Evans, Wingo, Oakes, Perritt, Suggs, Hopper, O’Connor, Beck, Niehaus, Griner, C. Miller, Nash, Williams and Roach.
Williams Is in Germany.
Magee, Evans and Wingo are touring the Old World with John McGraw and Charley Comiskey, while Mr. Williams, who is a pitcher and not related to Gus of the Browns, is wintering in Germany, where his folks reside. Huggins will not go to Germany to sign Williams.
Having slightly recovered from the fear he recently entertained of a Federal raid, Manager Huggins was sufficiently composed last night to announce certain definite training plans. He says his first squad of recruits, composed of all the battery men and the juvenile infielders and outfielders, will report for work at St. Augustine on Feb. 23. That means that many of them will entrain for camp on Feb. 21. The second squad will reach the Florida camp on March 1 and get ready for the series with the world’s champion Mackmen.
Hug leaves tomorrow for a short trip to Cincinnati and other quarters but will return in a week to make further arrangements for the training camp.
From “Wray’s Column”…
The Thirteenth Labor.
FROM where we sit. It looks like nothing short of Hercules, or some other superhuman agent, could “clean up” all the things needed to make the Federal League resemble a major league even Indifferently.
This is not written as a wanton knock on the battling Feds. The nature of the obstacles may be seen from the following summary of WHAT REMAINS FOR THE FEDERAL LEAGUE TO DO in order to get it in motion as a big league organization by April 14:
- Get at least $150,000 backing for six of the eight teams.
- Erect grand stands of big league caliber in six of the eight cities by April.
- Land seven major League players of standing for each club of the league.
- Find a corps of League players of standing for each club of the league.
- Find a corps of experienced baseballmen to handle the intricate business of each club.
- Arrange spring training trips and find teams to play against, when all the minor leagues are hostile.
- Put teams in Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburg able to equal or outdo big league competition.
- Lure some of the REAL stars, like Cobb, Johnson, Speaker, Matty and others from the ranks of the majors.
- Find managers capable of molding unknown material into finished teams in three weeks’ time.
- Wipe out a strong prejudice in favor of organized baseball.
Slim Chance to Make Money.
THESE are some of the obstacles to be overcome by the ambitious and fighting Federals. If the organization can even approximate these conditions on opening day, however, it will have a chance to get by. In only two cities will there be a conflict of dates with organized baseball teams; and winning clubs in those two cities will make up for the drawback.
The more one thinks of the situation, the more he will believe that Hercules, even with his past record in view, could make a reputation by putting the Fed League across the plate as a moneymaker, its first season.