- New Contract Tendered Cardinals’ Southpaw Star, Seems to Have Oiled the Machine Satisfactorily – ”Sheriff’ Pitches Brilliant Game.
- Friction Disappears
May 19, 1914 Age 23
By W. J. O’Connor St Louis Post Dispatch
WITH a new contract – $500 added – in one hip pocket and resin dust in the other, Harry Sallee yesterday pitched as though the Federal League had gone bust. One cannot tell whether the contract or the resin made the Old Master so effective, but one has a hunch that it was the combination that won.
Sal was himself; he possessed all of the cunning and wizardry that made him the premier southpaw pitcher of the League last season, in spite of the Cardinals. His winning percentage in 1913 was .640 for 34 games, with a club that finished last on a percentage of .340. Sal won 19 games, almost one-half of all the conquests gained by the proteges of Huggins.
Against the Superbas Monday, Sal looked like the sheriff of old. After one particularly brilliant round he walked in from the box with Huggins, proving conclusively that he “ain’t sore on the boss.” And it was Huggins who gave Sal the strongest support, after a slight slip in the first round. Indeed, the Old Master and the manager worked hand in hand as though they never had been peeved.
Clear the Way, There!
It was this interesting reconciliation which made the Cardinal croakers doubly assured that Mr. Huggins’ men now are surely on the trail to first division. Fickle fandom which a few days back made an inexorable demand for Hug’s “bean,” yesterday shifted its battle cry to “It looks like first division!” thereby stealing some of L. C D.’s stuff.
Sal’s victory over the Superbas, 3-0, was his second bang-up performance in eight days. He subdued the Reds, Benton up, 2-1, a week ago Sunday and, judging by his work against Brooklyn, he is set for another noisy season. It will be remembered, too, that in 1913 Sallee didn’t get going until late in May – but once on his way, he went right through to the top.
Thirty-two men faced Sallee during the nine rounds, and only one got as far as third base. He was cut down at the plate on a double play in the first inning, but had Huggins not booted a ball, Sallee would have rivaled Willie Doak’s performance against the Phils, who failed to get a man past second and only one that far.
Huggins’ Error Not Costly.
Doak held the Phils to four hits. Sal did the same thing to the Superbas. In the first inning a scratch by Dalton, followed by Huggins’ error, put a runner on third, with one down. Then Wheat flied to Wilson, who made a wonderful throw on the line to the plate. Cutshaw had the toss beaten, but he forgot to touch the plate, so Snyder touched him while he was dusting off. In each of the other rounds Sallee made the enemy play dead.
To watch Sallee when he’s right is to see perfect workmanship on the hurling hill. His control is perfect if he’s set to win, and he was geared that way Monday. The one pass charged against him should be written into the official record as an error for Bill Klem. Bill booted one when he passed Stengel in the fifth with the call 3-2. Sal had Stengel “crossed” on a curve ball that broke in close, but over the corner, so help me John K. Tener!
Sal Chaffs Mr. Wheat.
It’s fun for Sallee to give a batter three balls in a row and then “curve a few.” He worked this on Wheat in the seventh, and forced Zachariah to roll to Huggins. He gave Stengel three successive balls in the same inning, and Stengel, who had walked in the fifth, figured he had the edge. Then Sal curved three, and Stengel fanned. The two hits made by Dalton were scratchy infield taps. The slam by Egan in the eighth and by Daubert in the ninth, were clean, but neither runner passed first base.
Sal really was right for the first time this season, and with him as a pacemaker for such kids as Doak, Perritt, Griner and Robinson, Manager Huggins should manifest concern! Yes, he should!
Cowsmilk Has Soured on the Cards; He’s a Cheese, Says Hug
COWSMILK, the little gloom cloud who aimed to impersonate a ray of sunshine (not shoeshine), has soured on his job as Cardinal mascot. He’s gone away. Where Cowsmilk “has went” nobody knows, as Bert Williams would say. As the hot weather approached, Cowsmilk’s popularity on the Cardinal bench waned, and it was noted that he often was forced to sit in the sun, where he collected a deep coat of tan. But he left unceremoniously one day just after a circus called and the next day the Cardinals started to win. Of course, Cowsmilk is missed by the fans, but if he ever returns he’ll pay to get in just like regular people. His uniform rests in the ash can just back of the Cardinal clubhouse.