Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1915 — PIRATES LUCKY TO SECURE TWO RECRUITS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PIRATES LUCKY TO SECURE TWO RECRUITS

Any major league club that lands two first-class players from among its annual crop of recruits can figure handsome returns from training camp investments. Catcher Bob Schang and Shortstop Walter Gerber are the two big finds of the season from the Pirate viewpoint, and it is doubtful if any other club has picked up material of the same karat as these two. Enough was seen of Schang and Gerber in the fall to warrant big things of them. Both have shown unmistakable signs of becoming stars in their respective positions. If Clarke does not get another good man out of the entire squad, he can consider the 1915 experiments the most productive in ydars, for rarely ddes any club come out of a training season with a pair of Kohinoora like Schang and Gerber. Both were badly needed in their respective positions and both have made good in every sense of the word. Schang, according to no less an authority than George Gibson, is the greatest catcher that has been on the Pirate roster in ten years. His speed

and alertness, his wonderful throwing and his ability to bunt, bat and run bases are essentials of Bob that have made many critics figure him even a better backstop than his illustrious brother, Wallie, of the Philadelphia Athletics. “The man for Wagner’s place” has been somewhat of a myth or a joke for many years, but Gerber has loomed up as the certainty and in a manner that leaves little to be desired in the short field from a new man who essays tb fill the position of the greatest that ever lived. As a fielder Gerber already is being compared by Pirate veterans with the greatest shortfield defenders of the day. He hits well enough to compensate for his other efforts and he fits well Into the combination with Wagner finding a nice little job somewhere else in the first line of Pirate defenses. Schang and Gerber cannot really be included among this year’s crop, as they were tried out in the fall of last year. Both, however, were rather unknown quantities, and they took their chances in the South with the rest.

Gerber and Schang.