- CARDS ARE SET FOR BIG SEASON, DECLARES BOSS
- Britton Believes That New Recruits Will Prove Big Help to Huggins and That Bescher, Doak and Meadows Will Star.
- PLANS TO START WORK ON NEW STANDS NEXT OCTOBER
- Concrete Grand Stands Will Be Built on Robison Field Site if Team Prospers This Year.
- Osteopathic treatment on Doak’s back during the past few months has brought him back into fine shape, according to Britton
February 21, 1916 Age 25
The St Louis Star and Times
ST. LOUIS. Work on the new grand stand addition at Robison Field will be started this week, according to an announcement made this morning by President Schuyler P. Britton. President Britton and his wife returned from Cleveland yesterday morning. The new grand stand section will contain 300 seats and will connect the main grandstand with what was heretofore known as the annex. The extra section will only be temporary, as Britton plans to erect modern concrete stands on the site next fall if the club has a prosperous season.
DREW PLANS IN 1911.
Plans for the mammoth stands were drawn up in 1911, the year Roger Bresnahan had the Cards in the thick of the pennant scramble until they ran into a train wreck at Bridgeport, Conn., about six weeks before the season closed. The club has not made enough money since that time to enable Britton to go through with his plans to give St. Louis one of the finest ball parks in the country.
The Cardinal magnate is confident, however, that his club will be a big winner this season. He believes that the ten new players Manager Huggins has acquired will strengthen the team to the extent that it will make a strong bid for the bunting.
NO FEDERALS WANTED.
Britton is not inclined to regard seriously the fact that rival clubs are being fortified by the addition of so-called Federal League stars. He believes that Corham, Hall, Williams, Steele, Jasper, Cruise and other Cardinal recruits are better qualified to hold down big league jobs than 90 per cent of the players placed on the market by the disbanded Gilmorean circuit.
Britton looks for Bill Doak, Bob Bescher and Lee Meadows to star for Huggins. The failure of the Cards to land in the first division last season was largely due to the fact that Doak failed to perform up to his 1914 standard. The blond slab-man wrenched a ligament in his back last spring and was of comparatively little use to the club the balance of the season.
DOAK ROUNDS TO FORM.
Osteopathic treatment during the past few months has brought Doak back into fine shape, according to Britton, who believes that the young spitball specialist is destined to enjoy the most successful season of his career.
Britton’s reason for predicting that Bob Bescher will show great improvement this year is the fact that he has been assured by Bescher that the finger which gave him so much trouble last summer has been kept in a plaster cast all winter. Bescher writes that the injured digit has not given him any bother since the cast was removed several days ago.
WHY MEADOWS SLUMPED.
Lee Meadows was the most dependable hurler on Huggins’ squad until his mother died about two months before the season closed. Meadows went into a slump after that and lost more games than he won. He is a very sensitive lad and his poor showing was ascribed to his grief over the demise of his parent. He has probably gotten over his despondency by this time and should be ready to give the Cards his best. Manager Huggins is scheduled to arrive in St. Louis tonight or tomorrow. The diminutive Cardinal leader will be kept busy all week closing deals for the transfer of players to minor league clubs and completing arrangements for the training trip. Huggins intends to leave next Saturday or Sunday for San Antonio. He will be accompanied by his pitchers will report at Hot Wells March 5.