Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1915 — VETERAN IS RELEASED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VETERAN IS RELEASED

Bobby Wallace Was Oldest Active Player in Major Leagues. Let Out by St Louis Browns as He Was Entering Twenty-First Year In Fast Company—Always Popular With the Fans. Baseball lost one of its most popular idols when Robert J. Wallace, shortstop of the St. Louis Browns, was given his unconditional release. Wallace was the oldest active baseball player in the major leagues. He was entering this year on his twenty-sec-ond season as a professional player and his twenty-first as a major leaguer. Had it not been for the baseball ■war and business conditions which have hit the sport hard, Bobby Wallace probably would have been carried by the Browns the remainder of the season, or, at least, until a berth as a minor league manager could be found for him. The necessity of cutting down, however, left Hedges little alternative but to let Wallace go at once. Wallace, in his day, was considered by many critics to be the premier shortstop of baseball. He had a wonderful arm, and his ability to throw from any position and at almost any distance from short probably was unexcelled. It was with Cleveland, in the old National league, that Wallace broke into big league baseball, 1895, and his most noteworthy feat was a throw in the final series between Cleveland and the Browns, in 1908, which cost his old teammates the flag. It was the third out in the ninth inning. A hit would have won for the Naps. Lajoie drove a sharp grounder over second. Wallace

got the ball with his left hand on the dead run and, without stopping to set himself, threw Lajoie out at first, ending the game, which cost Cleveland the -flag. *• Wallace always was popular, even in 1910, when, as manager of the Browns, he was a failure. This season, whenever he was in the game, he received a greater hand than any other player in St. Louis. Wallace was born in Pittsburgh, November 4, 1874. He began his professional career at Franklin, Pa., in 1894.

Bobby Wallace.