Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1912 — EVERS FACES TOUGH PROBLEM AS MANAGER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EVERS FACES TOUGH PROBLEM AS MANAGER

Stepping into his new job as manager of the Cubs with the best wishes of the fans, Johnny Evers nevertheless faces about the fanciest bunch of trouble ever gathered under one tent, says the Chicago Evening Post. Before signing him up—and Evers wasn’t exactly yearning for the job— Charles Webb Murphy made him agree to carry out some of the policies which Frank Chance, out of the wealth of his experience as a baseball general, had refused to consider. “It looks like tough sledding for a while,” Evers admitted, after he had put his name to a contract which

made him manager of the team for the next five years. “There will be many changes. But Mr. Murphy has assured me that I can do anything I want to in the way of trades, and I will be responsible for whatever happens.” There had been many reports that after Chance had been completely shorn of an/ authority to protest the Cub team would be torn to pieces, and Evers’ statement appears to substantiate these rumors. The circumstances under which Evers stepped Into Chance’s shoes were explained by a member of the team. ■ . “Evers didn’t want the job, and it took a lot of persuasion to force him to it,” he declared. “In fact, there wasn’t a man on the team who wanted to become manager. Tinker frankly said he wouldn’t take it tfnder any circumstances, and when he was

called down by Murphy for making these statements for publication Tinker repeated them to Murphy’s face. “But Evers’ situation was different. Johnny has been unfortunate in financial matters, and the added salary as manager was a great inducement. Then, too, Murphy’s hand had been forced by statements that he was stalling and was having trouble finding anybody who would work for him, and he was determined to sign Evers. “It was a case of become manager or quit baseball. Evers couldn’t refuse. Nobody knows better than he does what he is up against, but he is game and may make a success of it. He doesn’t gb into the job with any illusions. He been playing for the Cubs for ten years, and he knows Murphy. Johnny isn’t harboring the delusion that he is lying down to pleasant dreams in a bed of roses. "If the fans will stick by him until he gets a .fair try-out, that’s all he asks. And ho believes they will. It looks like a second division team for the West Side for a couple of years, but after the new machine gets to working properly Johnny thinks he can bring it up to the top again.” “I’m glad it’s all over,” said Chance, “The strain of the last few developments in my case has been a tough one for a man just out of a hospital. I’m looking forward to a good test on my ranch, where there will he nothing to worry me. “There are no hard feelings between Evers and myself. I want you to emphasize that point. It is a promotion for Johnny, and he deserves it. He will make .good. The boys will play ball for him after the bitterness ■wears away, and Johnny is popular with the fans. No city can show a more loyal bunch of fans than Chicago has. They have been my friends in the past, and I believe they are my friends now. All I can say Is that in return for their loyalty I have always given the best that was in me.”

Johnny Evers, New Manager of Cubs.

Frank Chance, Ex-Manager.