OCR Text |
Show ! I BASEBALL READS I SELFMABE MEN Nearly AH Start at Bottom Rung of Ladder of Life. MAKE HARD CLIMB From Bellboy to Top Result I of Persistent Effort and I Ability. (Bv J New York Jan. a. With hard'- Ein 1 exception. iho?e who head th 'I league baseball clubs of todaj are H what eoihi ho termed "self made ?T nien ' Xenrlv every one of them HI ftarted well down on the ladder of , life and, through dint of his own peril per-il fletent effort and ahilitv, rllmbed up H rung by rung to a position where his I name is known now throughout the H fountry. In thp list wo have a n,ill :J w-acon driver, a bartender, hank clerk, R lumber salesman, a small coal deal-3 deal-3 er, a whisky drummer a civil service employe, a small ward politician, 8 s hotel bellboy, a soda water clerk, a M baseball ticket seller, a dry goods Wt salesman, a baseball player a news H Paper reporter and the original mak- H er of baseballs as a business I On the system that "the last Bhall H be first,' It is now in order (o con- sider Benjamin F. Shibe. Thirty years ago, when the game was Just i beginning to amount to something, 1 Ben Shibe thought he saw good pros-pects pros-pects for a man who would make baseballs as a business So he "went "A to it" and began to supply all the 4 baseballs used by the National league. Then when the great firms of Spald J in: and Reach were organized, he oh-T oh-T tained the contract to make all the baseballs for both. He was taken in later aa a partner by both eompa-and eompa-and hf continues to make all the aseballs sold by them and used offl-HS offl-HS clally by the National and American I I 'eagues. I Lannin Latest Recruit. I The latest recruit to the ranks of ! I club owners is a shining example of the self-made man. Joseph J, I. am I H n'n' wn no controls half the stock 3 k of the Boston Red Sox. heg;an his call ca-ll k reer as a bellboy in a hotel, of which I f lie became owner by saving his tips. K -He also is now the proprietor of sev j I eral other hotels, including the big I f p Garden City hotel on Lone; Island, on I t of the best hostelries in the east ou i i side of New York city, and he also A Is well endowed with real estate ir. and around Boston all bought with money earned from tne nest-egg of H his bellboy's tips Aug'.isf Herrmann, president of the fcMiLfiM- ind also chairman of '''TvWpiBpMfctiri -sion, was employ- HH affairs cJore he became head I Ht-.'chib. He was a sort j Basser or agmt of political J JPcertain phases of the work. HPTles W. Somers, owner of the eland' Americans built up his Hfcl business until he now is a mil-Rionalre mil-Rionalre besides being head of the1 Naps. , B?rtcnder Also Wins. I F Frank J. Farrell a number of year? 1 ago was a bartender in the famous1 I saloon of Jimmy Wakely. at the cor- I H ner of Forty-second street and Sixth; WL avenue. New York city He saved his money and invested in real estate 1 and race horses, becoming a partner L '?f, Davy Johnson in owning a bit? sta-I sta-I BbK ble of thoroughbreds. The star of J.. :(; jl the stable was Roseben, holder of the "tii! "WOrld's record of 1 22 for seven fur-' fur-' t.'SI longs. Farrell also whs paired up at 'Sl one t'rne wltn Jl,lius Fleischmann of "uBK Cincinnati In proprietorship ot a rac-I rac-I j3 I ing stable Finally he turned his at 'i?m tention to baseball and bought the; . '- 'M, I New York American league club in ,,::-HB - 1906. Joseph V Gordon then was ;&P president Farrell spent 13Q,000 be-V be-V mL fore a single game was played by the 4 team under his ownership, paying out V"-B ttoi sum for the creation of the old' & -'JBK park at 168th street aud Broadway ' ' . Vtt He has been the president of the I club ever since. 'B Frank Navin, though the president 'ThSB of the Detroit Americans, is onlv a ' H figurehead for W. H. Yawkey, who I V-yjB owns the club. Yawkey, through keen I judgment built himself up from a lum-I lum-I ber salesman to owner of a trenien-B trenien-B deus lumber business, now valued at I I several million dollars. I I Newspaper Reporter Red Sox Owner. I General Charles H. Taylor father f 3 of John L. Taylor and a partner of I Joseph J. Lannin in the ownership of I 1 (be Boston Red Sox, was once a news- paper reporter and advertising solici 1 tor. He now is the owner of ihe Bos-I Bos-I tori Globe, besides being a big figure I in baseball. Charles A. Comiskey, who is now " 1 jP VZZX touring the world with bis Chicago White Sox and the New Yorfc Giant?, was one of the greatest players baseball players in the olden days. He was first baseman and manager of 'he old St. Louis Browns that won four strai'-ht Amcriran Association pen pants in the early eighties He saveo his salary and joined hands with Ban Johnson in forming the American league In 1900. Robert K Lee Hedaes. owner of the St. Louis Browns, was a bank clerk In Cincinnati once, and later cashier .Tame E Gaffney, head of the Bos ton Nationals, has had a varied career. ca-reer. He began as a milk wagon driver, driv-er, later became a polkeman. worked up in the force and then resigned to become an aldermen. He now Is one of the ruling spirits in New York Democratic political affairs. The soda water clerk on the list is Charles W. Murphy president of the Chicago CubB He 'tended fountain In Cincin nati during the years of his youth, and then drummod up i n the side a lucrative lucra-tive business Belling moderate priced jewelry to his customers. Harry N. Hempstead president of the New York Ciants was a. sales nan in the late John T. Brush's enterorlse In Indiananolis known as 'The Wh n Clothing Store" He sold overcoats, trousers, osts. overalls and Jumpers Later he married a daughter of Mr. Brush and was put in charge of thp store, where he showed so much ahil ity that his father-in-law bequeathed his interest in the Giants to him at his death. EbbettS1 Gradual Rise. Charley If Ebbetts "knocked around" Brooklyn as a ooy and finalh landed the position of head ticket sell-, er in the grandstand of the Brookhn baseball club twenty-five vears ago From there he worked up by gradual steps until he now is president of the i club, a position which he has held continuously since 1S98. William F. Baker, owner of the I Philadelphia Nationals, held a position posi-tion in the civil service in Brooklyn when a young man Later he was civil service commissioner of Brooklyn Brook-lyn and then became deputy police commissioner of New York under Mayor McClellan subsequently being promoted to the position of police1 commissioner. Besides his baseball venture, he also is interested in a big wholesale millinery establishment at the present time. Whisky Drummer a Success. Barney Drey fuss used to be a w ris- ky drummer in Louisville. He made BO much money that he was able to! buy stock in the old Louisville club of the National league, of which he became president in 399. the last year thp chib was in the league. He went to the Pittsburg nub as lis president pres-ident and owner in 1900, and he has been there ever since. rr -t- -. '1?- . ; r fa -fa : s . t '' i ., I . These photographs were made soon after the arrival of the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox In Japan, their first stop after crossing the Pacific on their barnstorm notour no-tour of the world. The upper panel portrays a section of the bleachers containing Japanese fans and one American "bug" The American, an aged fellow, is apparently elated over I the chance of witnessing a real big league game far away from his native na-tive land and is showing the Celest- ' ials how to root for their favorites. I Below our photograph bears out the face (hat Manager McGraw of the Giants is far from being inactive on j the trip. McGraw is here shown holding hold-ing down third base in one of the games at Tokio. |