Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1912 — SCOUT IRWIN IS OPTIMISTIC [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SCOUT IRWIN IS OPTIMISTIC

Believes Manaoer Wolverton Has Wln> nlng Infield Combination—Knight la Grand Player. Scout Arthur Irwin, of the New York Americans, does hot believe Manager Wolverton will find it such a tremendously difficult task to round out a winning infield. “Jack Knight,” quoth the boss scout, "is a wonderful ball player when he is in physical condition to play and when he is free from worry over other things. Last season he-wasn’t in

shape half the time, and along toward the end the fans roasted him so unmercifully that he simply couldn’t play his game. . “Grief and illness were an that stood between Early Gardiner and a wonderful year. Until hi* tether died, while th* team was in St Louis on th* s*o-

on western trip, Gardiner played second base very nearly as well as any one in the league.; He hit something ill and died. Earl always has been a home boy and his father’s death knocked all the ginger and life out of him. - —A—--“He probably would have recovered from that shock and picked up in his playing again but for an attack of illness that laid him up for ten days or two weeks. Another year he ought to be one of the sensations of the year. He always has been a classy fielder, and his work during the first half of the 1911 campaign was enough to satisfy me that he’s a natural hitter. “It he ever gets to hitting again there will be no trouble at second base. Third is taken care of with Dolan and Hartzell to pick from, and if Knight is right the short field will be in good hands. An infield composed of Chase, Gardiner, Knight and Dolan, with the middle two playing the sort of baseball they are capable of playing, would look mighty sweet.”

Jack Knight.