Huggins: If we had won half our games during the first month of the season we would have galloped away with the pennant.
February 15, 1915 Age 24
BY BILLY MURPHY. The St Louis Star and Times
St. Louis. The first harbinger of spring appeared at Union Station last night when President Britton of the Cardinals gave out the information that tickets for the annual spring series games between the Browns and Cardinals will be placed on sale at Mackey & Spiro’s 515 Olive street store today. The series opens March 27 at Robison Field.
Britton was at Union Station to bid good-bye to the Cardinal squad, in command of Huggins, which departed for the San Antonio training camp at 8:20 p. m.
The party was made up of Manager Miller Huggins. Scout Bob Connery, Infielders Zinn Beck and Rollie Darringer. Pitchers Harry Sallee, Dick Niehaus and Bill Doak: Cliff Brady, A. Woods, trainer; Charles Harmond, rubber; Jim Linck, Sid Keener, Wilbur Wood and Harry Pierce, scribes; Russell Froehlich, photographer; Mrs. Sallee, Mrs. Doak and Miss Keener were also in the party.
Before the Cardinals departed, President Britton announced that he had insured his players against accidents with the Lawton-Byrne-Bruner Agency Co. The insurance provides for accidents both on and off the field and the maximum amount represented in the contract is $250,000.
SOME LOCAL ROOTERS.
The little group of Cardinal enthusiasts who gathered at the train-shed gates last night were indeed loyal Cardinal rooters, and President Britton would have made no mistake if he had circulated season passes to Robison Field among them. Nothing but best wishes for the success of the Cardinal squad were heard and some went so far as to express the opinion that Robison Field will be the battle ground on which some of the 1915 world’s series games are played. Let’s hope so.
The Cardinal squad will arrive in San Antonio, Tex, Sunday morning, allowing the athletes ample opportunity to prepare for the strenuous course of training they will begin Monday morning. All the Cardinal players who were not ordered to make the trip from St. Louis will report to Manager Huggins at San Antonio Sunday.
Two athletes who will not report at San Antonio are outfielder Charlie Miller and Pitcher Reese Williams who are slated for minor league berths. There is also a possibility of infielder Kenneth Nash being released, within the next few days, as the Massachusetts State Senator has notified President Britton that he will be unable to report to Manager Huggins before June 1.
Unless Nash agrees to report at San Antonio within the next few days, Britton will arrange to send him back to the minors.
In expressing his views of the 1915 campaign, Manager Huggins said. “I feel confident that my team will do better this year than it did in 1914 for most of the boys have had the advantage of a year’s teamwork and know their positions thoroughly.
DEPENDS ON WEATHER.
“If we experience favorable weather in the training camp I believe the squad will return to St. Louis in such shape that we will be able to get a flying start during the early part of the season. Last year the cold weather and poor diamond at St. Augustine prevented us from rounding to form, and we failed to hit our real stride until the season was well under way.
If we had won half our games during the first month of the season we would have galloped away with the pennant. “Indications are that I will have the best team in the league this season, and if I do, believe me, the boys will be right in the thick of the battle from start to finish. I am not predicting a pennant because I don’t want my players to become overconfident of their ability and the team’s strength. But I have an energetic crowd of hustlers who are loyal to their employers and the St. Louis fans, so I feel assured that St. Louis will have no reason to look with disfavor upon the 1915 Cardinals.
GIANTS ON SAME TRAIN.
The Giants of New York, under command of Johnny McGraw, hit the same train with the Cards. The Gothamites go to Marlin Springs. In this party were: Mathewson, Marquard, McGraw. Thorpe, William, Piez, Press, Wendell, McLean, Schupp. Burns, Seymour, Chalmers, Bob Bescher, Beatty, Merkle, Reed and several lesser lights, in addition to Scribes Beatty of The Evening Mail and Seaman of The Sun.
Baseball Beat Writers for the St. Louis Star and Times
