Seekamp Will Pilot First Squad and Connery Second Team Homeward.
March 18, 1915 Age 24
BY HARRY F. PIERCE. The St Louis Star and Times
SAN ANTONIO, TEX.. Bozeman Bulger, New York sport scribe and feature story writer extraordinary, breezed into the Hot Wells’ Hotel last night bearing a message for Miller Huggins from John McGraw. Bulger is making a tour of the major league training camps, and McGraw took advantage of his visit to San Antonio to pen Huggins a few words anent the Perritt deal.
Huggins refused to divulge the contents of the missive, but after a long talk with Bulger, the Cardinal leader declared that McGraw must meet him in San Antonio before Friday morning or one Miller James Huggins will journey straight away to the Giants training camp at Marlin Springs and force a quick termination of the current negotiations or bring Polly Perritt back to the Cardinals.
After three days of futile effort to effect long distance telephone connection with the Reds’ training camp at Alexandria, La., Huggins has given up all hope of having a talk with Southpaw Rube Benton before the Cincinnati club returns to the home station.
Rain, combined with cold weather yesterday, forced Huggins to call off the scheduled morning and afternoon practice workouts. Most of the athletes remained about the hotel all day listening to Cosy Dolan’s reminiscences of his trip to Honolulu with the All-Nationals last fall.
DOLAN’S THRILLER
Dolan’s description of target practice engaged in at night by sea coast batteries thrilled his listeners until Dolan went to the extreme of describing the trajectory taken by the projectile from a twenty-inch gun. Dolan claimed a lantern had been fastened to the missile to trace the course of its twenty-seven-mile flight, and that when the shell exploded on a target barge the lantern was hurled clear back to the fort. That was more than any of the unsophisticated could believe, and Dolan was requested to smother his yarns.
If Old Sol’s work is not seriously impeded by rapidly approaching clouds today, the Cards will meet the San Antonio Broncos in their final exhibition game at Block’s Park this afternoon.
Tomorrow morning the entire squad will break camp and depart for Austin. Tex., to give Chief Wilson’s home folks an opportunity to see the city’s idol perform. The usual presentation of silver to the town hero is expected. The chief hopes it will be the kind of silverware Uncle Sam manufactures in Washington, Denver and Frisco.
The squad will be divided into two teams at Austin, the first squad going to Fort Worth for two games and thence to Dallas to play two contests before departing for St. Louis.
SPLIT CARDINAL SQUAD.
The second squad will Journey to Denison, then to Paris and then on to St. Louis. They will reach home Wednesday night, while the first squad will roll into Union Station Thursday morning.
Editor’s note: It would be a fateful trip to Denison. Rogers Hornsby came to the attention of the Major League St. Louis Cardinals during an exhibition series between that team and the Railroaders in spring training in 1915. Cardinals’ manager Miller Huggins told his only scout, Bob Connery, to look for minor league players to fill the roster of their financially struggling National League team.( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Hornsby)
The first team will be in the charge of Secretary Seekamp if Huggins chooses to visit Marlin Springs.
Miller, Daringer, Beck, Snyder, Roche, Long, Dolan, Cruise, Meadows, Lotz, Robinson, Perdue and North will travel with Seekamp.
Bob Connery’s team will be composed of Hyatt, Glenn, Niehaus, Steele, Sallee, Doak, Dressen, Butler. Betzel, Brady, Riggert and Wilson. Hank Robinson will pitch in Fort Worth Saturday and may then be shipped to Paris to perform with the Yannigans Tuesday.