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Show SPEAKING OF SPORTS By ROBERT McSHANE Rloaid by Wtitorn Nwspopr Union 7 HpHE Indianapolis club of the American association annexed a grand guy recently when Charles Leo ("Gabby") Hartnett was named playing-manager. Gabby went back to the minors after 20 years In the majors, 19 of them with the Chicago Cubs. During Dur-ing those 19 years, Gabby played on four pennant winning teams and managed one of them. The jovial, red-faced catcher came to Chicago In 1922 from the Worcester, Mass., club of the Eastern East-ern league. For almost a score of years Gabby was the outstanding catcher in the circuit and the idol of Chicago's great North Side. In July, 1938, he succeeded Charley Grimm as manager of the Cubs and was the greatest single factor in bringing a pennant to Wrigley field. His twilight home run against the Pirates that year will be remembered remem-bered as long as baseball is played. When Gabby was releasedfby the Cubs at the end of the 1939 season, to be succeeded by Jim Wilson, he bad earned a lifetime batting average of .297 and a fielding percentage per-centage of .984. During his 19 years with the Cubs, Hartnett played in 1,926 games. At bat 6,282 times, he accounted for 1,867 hits. During this time he made only 142 errors, averaging slightly more than seven a season. He led National league catchers in fielding percentage for seven years 1925', '28 and '30, and '34 through 37. He caught 100 or more games a season for 12 years, eight of them consecutive, for a league record. Gabby accepted 452 chances without an error from August 19, 1933, to June 20, 1934, also a record, and caught 1,759 games, more than any-other any-other backstop. Cold statistics aren't enough to furnish an adequate indication of Gabby's worth to any ball club. The big Irishman is a baseball player through and through. Like any real ball player, he hates to lose. He never quits fighting and he expects his team to battle it out every inch of the way. Indianapolis fans will like the beefy Hartnett. His popularity In Chicago never was questioned. It's true that he lost some of his bluff geniality when he became manager of the Cubs, but conditions at Wrigley Wrig-ley field were not too -promising at any time during the Hartnett reign. Gabby had too many problems on his mind and many of those problems prob-lems still remain to be solved. |