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Show WON OUT IN GAME BY PERSEVERANCE 'Chic' fiandll, the phosphorescen I ; first baseman of the Washington club , I whose sensational work on the field and with the stick was one of the I leatu'es of the American league's play last season, was a distinct surprise sur-prise to not a few baseball authorities authori-ties o i the Pacific coast who have since admitted preseverance and will j power Invariably win j When Gandil cast ins 'm v. ith the 'rest of the pa?tlmers in th Pacific Coast league a few seasons ago and I was bought by a big leafrue club there were a number of prominent person? who atserted that Gandil would never remain for any length of time He could not hit a curve ball, they argued "Chic" was capable of straightening out the kinks in the fast ball, but when the pitchers re-rirrerl , to paralolas at best Gandil offered but a feeble defense. This set the persons with the knowledge supreme to cackling that Gandil would never stick. The first trial they were substantiated. Gandil was shunted to the minors after a ?.hort and 79Ty unsatisfactory sojourn The pitchers, aware of the fact th3t Gandil could noi hit a enne bull u- him continually on the di?b be did not relish, and in the parlance of the diamond, dia-mond, "they drove him out of the league ' He as sold to Montreal in the International In-ternational league. Here "C'hle" took I diligent pains to rectily hlB fault. He knev he was powerless against a curve ball, and every day he practiced prac-ticed for an hour at a time hittinc 'nothing Nit one curve ball after another. an-other. Practice, the old sage says, makes perfect and it was not long before the pitchers in ibe International league stopped feeding him cure; J To , was Irtiing at a ferocious gait, and all pltcher.s looked alike. About this time Clark Griffith sent his scouts out to fine-comb the east-Jem east-Jem territory, and they sent back such glowing accounts of Gandil that Griffith Grif-fith wanted to sipn him immodlatelv Still the old fox was skeptical. He knew of Gandll's failing, and in order to make double 6ure he wired his scout "Has he learned to hit a curve ball"" The answer he received the next day set his suspicions at rest and Gandil became the property of the Nationals In mid-summer. It i now a matter of history how his wonderful work aided and abetted abet-ted the Senators in making their wonderful won-derful spurt, which carried them to the top of the heap and made them dancerous contenders for the pennant, the first time In a decade that Washington Wash-ington has had a team fighting In the race All this came about through Gandil k determination and will power to learn to hit a curve ball |