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Show f i ; I Benny Kauff Deserves First Mention Among Youngsters I Who Are Coming Up Rapidly to Stardom In the Present I Season Early Critics Insisted He Was a "Bone" But I I His Great Work On the Baseball Field Disproves This H There have been few years In the II baseball of the past In which so II many young ball players have sud- H denly risen to the height of slar- 18 dom in the middle of thojr first snail sna-il ' son. But in this topsy-turvy year of ' I 1915 there arc more than a dozen II I youngsters who already are qounted ffl : among the stars not on early sea-la sea-la ! son ''morning glory" performances, !jH but on consistent work throughout jl the flrst half of the rush for tho roy- 19 al rag. ffl The most notable among these n youngsters aqd J am including H f spme men who arc in their second A j year, but are technically "young- jfl sterB'' for all of that aro Benny Kauff, the sensation of the Federal fl i league and the man whom McGraw U Waited so badly tljat he pujlod the II baseball political "Uon'e" of years iij ij an endeavor to get him; Bancroft, Jimi; the lightning short stop pf the I y Quakers in the National, who at 1 m the present moment, though a first year man, is, being touted as one of I flj the greatest men In the business at HJ putting the ball on a runner; Guy BUT Morton, thp sensational curver of 111 the Ceveand Americans; young Hi Bpland, th,o little pitching star of De- I (j '' troit; Tpmmy Long, who is with the I Cardinals and is rated (is the most I : timely hitting youugster under the ' I ! big tont, and Lee Meadows, also I U , with the Cardinals, who waB famous I R j before he made good as a pitcher, I ! as belqg the oply big league ball Bj: player to wear glasses. I Ij KAUFF DESERVES II ! FJRST MENTION. I' It would take a book to recount 0j all the doings of these newcomers J Ijl in tho land of baseball stardom. I m, Kauff, however, as the most notable I Hi because he is threatening Ty Cobb D for baseball's honors and because m he darted across the entire baseball H : firmament, Federal, National and Ariierican, by the attempt of Mc-Ijl Mc-Ijl Graw to kidnap him, deserves first fflj mention. yif Unlike Ty Cobb, this Kauff person is built very closo to the ground. ffl j You wonder how bo can possibly , be as speedy as he Is unless you B h,ave seen George Burns of the j . Giants. Tho pair are dead ringers ,n for each other in build and actions. , M, And they both are classy outfleld- ; jl ers- on Kauff's whole career shows that HI , continual trying has been a great l thing for htm. Ho waa born In Mid-Hi Mid-Hi . dleton, Ohio, a great coal mining 1 section, in 1891 and from the time H ho -was able to get out and work for Jh a living coal mining was hla "pro- H fesslon." Like that of Jake Dau- 1 1 bert, the Dodgers' great first base- l man, Kauff's family naturally be- ' Ufl longed to the mines, and it was but jnj natural that ho should turn out aB a m breaker boy when he was old IJ enough. With his father he tried In- i dependent mining. 1 "WORKED ALL DAY I IB IN MINES. , Kauff. worked twelve hours a day II in tho mines, and besides finding .jfj the work unhealthy, found it dan- KcrouB, and on two occasions was nearly killed by slides. 11 Saturday afternoons and Sundays jjl were the oft days for Kauff and ho l spent his time above ground play- Jl lng baseball. Pretty soon ho be- , jy came so. good that nearly every Sat- ; . urday afternoon he would bo asked M to play -with a local seml-professlon- jj al team and ho was auro of a job Jfi on Sundays. SMI Frank Loeke, manager of the II Parkersburg, W. Va., club saw Kauff if H Play and 8lsncd hira-u Benny, like jJM many other stars who have bo'come II famous In other positions on the jj diamond, started as a pitcher. He II had a great season with the Virginia H Valley State League club, winning .JJ . fourteen games and losing only four. J Two of the losses were by one run 3 1 : margins and due to poor support 'ti I v 1! TOMMY LONG When Benny wasn't on the mound he was in the outfield. He was tho fastest man on the team and ho had a great arm. Time and again he out off men at tho plate by his rast fielding and sharp heaves. Ho also hit like a fiend, ending the seapon with .417. ' MADE A SHOWING IN OUTFIELD. Arthur Irwin, who was scouting for the Yankees, saw Kauff work a-number a-number of times and in tho following follow-ing spring 1911 Kauff was bought by Frank Farrell and went south with the Yankees to their training camp at Athens, Ga. Bonny waB the hit of the youngsters young-sters among the veterans. Ho was filled with the good old pep and It looked as though he was going to stick. Ho had Bert Daniels, Harry Wolter and Birdie Cree to beat out for a regular outfield berth. Tho only other new outfielder who gavo Benny a contest was Billy Bailey who hailed from the Ohio-Pennsylvania league. Irwin thought Bailey was the better man and finally induced in-duced Chaso to hold him and let Kauff go to Bridgeport, managed by Gene McCann, a Yankee scout. Bailey proved a "flivver." Ho went back and back and last season proved prov-ed too weak for tho Southern Association. Asso-ciation. In 116 games with Bridgeport, Kauff batted .294, which looked so good that he was recalled and given another trial by the Yankees. In the spring he got Into five official games and hit for .273. XO TLACE OX THE TEA.U. SVhllo Kauff's hitting was all that could bo oxpected there really was no place on the team for the youngster young-ster and he was shipped to Rochester Roches-ter where he was used "in 13 games before he was shoved along to Brockton of the Now .England league. With that team he played 29 games and was then shunted to the Hartford club of tho Connecticut league. He finished tho season there ending with a batting average of .321 for 63 games. Kauff was not grabbed by any major ma-jor league team at the ond of tho 1912 season, so' he went along with Hartford, but In 191-1 was sent to Indianapolis In-dianapolis in the A. A. He played great ball that year and It was planned to sell him to McGraw. He never had a contract with Indianapolis, Indianap-olis, so an effort was mado to sign him for 1914 at an Increase, so it would be possible to sond him to the Giants. But when the owners tried to sign Benny they found that they were locking the stable too late. Ho announced he was going to play with the Indianapolis Feds in 1214. ONE OF CHIEF PENNANT FACTORS, With the Feds be was one of the chief factors In the pennant fight, which his team won aft,er one of the most sensational races in baseball. Brooklyn got him this year In payment pay-ment for a loan to the Indla.napolls club. Kauff is determined to do all the things Cobb does and to do them better. He has made a great start and nlready ia worrying the "Georgia "Geor-gia Poach," Organized ball's friends and even others have always intimated that Kauff was a "bonohead." The writer writ-er doubts this. Kauff has played a lot of smart baseball. He may have bqcn a "bone" when ho was getting hla early try-outs In the big leagues, but today I believe ha Is as smart an outfielder and baeerunner as there is In tho business. And he certainly can hit. A TYPICAL KAUFF OR COBB PLAY. Kauff has speed to burn. In a gamo with Newark not long ago, Kauff was on first. The batter hit a short Texas loaguor to right field. Kauff scored from flrst base That's not luck; that's forcing the breaks and taklpg advantage of them. The run won the game for hla team. Kauff Is chqslt-JuJLof. confidence, if rmBSS&SwSSm J Q "I'm In thoro plnylngall tho lime," he said recently. "I loarnod n lot of baseball last year under Bill Phillips. Phil-lips. I can learn something every day. I'm learning under JMagoe. I believe I am a great ball plajer and I am simply trying to prov It very day, both to the fans auu .to """ m 1 myself. Proving lo yourself dally liDlps a wholejot." TIio Wron$ Olmp. A young man -hadboen calling nouvaDdthenonayouncladv,whn one nlghi, ns j,e sat tf the parlor vailing for her to come down, hor '' I mother entered tho room in- I stead and asked him in a very grave, I stern way what his Intentions were. : I Ho turned very red and was about ;; I to stammer somQ iucohcrcnt reply '. 1 whon suddenly the young lady call- : I ed down from the head of vhc stairs: : I "Mama, mama, that is not the one." I Future Assured. . I A young man made a good deal of Jl money, but being extravagant was vfl always in debt. He flually married a r I woman of great wealth. At break- : I fast during the honeymoon the brlda ,: I . said to him tendprly: I "Duos the fact that I have money, ? I dearest, make any difference to you?" j. "To be sure It does, rcy love." ha ; 9 - answered. I, H ,'jWhat difrcrenco?" she asked, ; I "Why," said he, "it js such a com- (1 fort to know that if i should die M ypu'd be provided for." " ' I "Ad If I should?" sii id file nr'.ilc ', I l'"r,lD'" be retui-u'ed, "I'd ue vio- ' vldcd tor," ' |