December 17, 1920 Age 29
The St Louis Star and Times
Pittsburgh: Willie Doak, the star spitball pitcher of the St. Louis Cardinals, who has been seriously ill at his home in Knoxville, a suburb of this city, is greatly improved today and expects to be out of doors in a few days. He has been too ill this week to discuss the probable chances of the spitball getting a new lease of life for next season, which is the best news that Bill could get.
After the 1920 season closed he took part in a few post-season games in Upper Monongahela Valley in sectional battles that aroused considerable rivalry between two towns up there. He pitched a number of games in November and it is believed that he caught cold then. Paying little attention to it, he started to work a month ago and the cold kept getting worse until last week he was forced to take to his bed, a temperature of 102 being discovered by the family physician, who has been battling against the dread disease, pneumonia, since that time.
Last night the popular pitcher took a turn for the better, and as he has always taken good care of himself, it is thought that he will gather strength quickly and that his illness will not impair his natural ability to put them over when the season of 1921 rolls around.
Perhaps when Bill recovers he’ll take in a movie…
