Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1917 — FRED TONEY NOW MEMBER OF THE “COME BACK” SQUAD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FRED TONEY NOW MEMBER OF THE “COME BACK” SQUAD

Several Bad Starts In the Big League ■. Failed to Discourage Big Hurler Now With Cincinnati. Big Fred Toney, Cincinnati’s moat recent hero, at last has come into his own. Like every other twirler in the big Teagues, he has dreamed of the day when his name could be placed in the hall of fame with the other nohit twirlers, but he also had another idea in mind. He wanted to prove that he could “come back,” and this recalls some ancient history.-——■■ ' Several years ago Fred was twirling for the Winchester (Ky.) club in the Blue Grass league. One day he pitched

a 17-inning no-hit contest, and performed this feat while a scout for the Cubs was among those present in the grandstand. Toney was signed by the Chicago Nationals and heralded as a wonder when he broke into the big show. But Fred exploded as a large league star. He had worlds of speed, but his control was awful. He lasted a couple of years and was shunted to Louisville, where he had his good and bad days, but mostly bad. He was given another chance, but couldn’t stay up, so he went back again and twirled Indifferent ball. Finally at the end of the 1914 season he was turned loose and politely requested to shift for himself. He was a free agent, with nothing but a reputation of having the “speed of a railroad train, but wild as a mountain hare.”

But Toney was not discouraged. He had a sneaking Idea that he had the goods and could pitch baseball as well as any of the so-called stars. He tried to land a job with one of the southern clubs, but they gave him the icy stare and the frigid shoulder. In desperation he wrote to Charley Herzog and -asked for a job. He said -that all he wanted was a trial and would pay his own expenses on the training trip. Herzog took him up and Fred was put through the paces. The big pitcher showed up well and the Cincinnati manager decided th put him on the pay roll. He did good work in 1915 and last year showed an improvement. He pitched in 41 games with a total of 300 innings, and won 14 and lost 17. He struck out 146, gave 78 bases on balls, made 6 wild pitches and 76 earned runs were scored. This year he started out early to make a real record.

Fred Toney.