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Show HOW THREE BALL STARS MADE GOOD This story might be called "Kicked ! Into Fame and Fortuuo," but It has to do with the accidental discovery of three of the greatest second base-. men ; the baseball world has known, and Is an attempt to tell how they have risen to tho heights of being numbered among the best in tho game from obscure positions In life, which they might still be adorning but for their accidental discovery. Tho men are Larry Lajole of tho Naps, Johnny Evers of the Cubs and I-arry Doyle of the New York Giants. I think eoryone will agree that thesu three are the real goods among th-3 big league second soakers. But they didn't begin life as ball players. Johnny Evers worked in a collar factory In his home town, Troy, N. V, and he was paid $4 per week for Jus labors. Iajoie drove a cab at Providence, R. I., and Doyle wfas a b-eaker boy In the Illinois coal n ines. Kvera story, as he tells it himself, is one of the real romances of base-ball. base-ball. Johnny decided one day tna bo was worth $4 50 per week and h so informed the manager of the collar col-lar factory. Instead of the salary increase in-crease the youngster was slipped tho hoot. This happened one morning just lefore the noon hour shutdown, an 3 Kvers hiked out to the Troy ball park to watch the Troy team practice. prac-tice. A fellow named Bacon was Managing Troy then, and he asked the joungster If he wouldn't like to practice. prac-tice. Evers got into the practice and his work was so impressive that h's was signed on the spot. Jack Hardy, who occasionally breaks into the game for Washington Washing-ton now wheu Street feels the need of a rest, was catching for Troy that season, and bis work so impressed the Chlcngo National team that h was drafted. Kvers was sent along f.r good measure, tagged to be returned re-turned If he couldn't hit the big leaguo gait. The rest of It is history, Evers, 6cnt along just for good measnre. developed Into what many believe to be the greatest second baseman the game has known. No man in baseball base-ball can think and act as quick as the little second sacker of the Cuba, and it was Johnny'6 noodle which beat the Nw York Giants out of a peu-nant. peu-nant. Harry is now change catcher catch-er for the Wasshlngton club in the American league. Lajole a Cab Driver. Lajole played ball on tho lots around Providence when ho wasn't busy soliciting trade for his cab, and bis work impressed a Providence man who got tho big Frenchman a try out with the Fall River team of the New England league Larry was a first baseman then Phil Geler was also with Fall River at the time and Geler was one real B"nsatlon The Philadelphia Nationals wanted Geler and the Fall River management man-agement threw in Lajole for good r.ieaaure. Larry stuck. At first Larry was kept on firrtt base and then sent to second, where ho quickly developed lto one of the teal wonders of the game, and In a team composed of mighty swatters was, right up In the first flight with the war club. Geler Is now playing in the bushes some place, but" Larry Is still ont of tho sensations of tho game He has lost neither his cunning cun-ning in the field nor his skill with the bat, as is attested by his yearly b&ttlng average. The Frenchman in known as tho most graceful roan In baseball. Ho makes the most difficult diffi-cult stops and makes them so skillfully skill-fully that half of the time the fans don't realize or appreciate jut how difficult the play was. When Tom KinBella, owijer pf.the Springfield club In the Three I 'caguo, discovered Larry. .Doyle, .the. iuture Now York Giant stftr was working In the Illinois coal mines and playing Sunday ball with a small team. With the Springfield . team Poyle became the sensation of the Three I league. John McGraw, always on the lookout for promising youngsters, young-sters, paid a fancy price for the player play-er and transferred him io New York. |
