Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 171, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1918 — ONE-ARMED STAR IS SLUGGER [ARTICLE]

ONE-ARMED STAR IS SLUGGER

Center-Fielder of Hamline University Team Makes Perfect Batting Average—Fast on Bases. jMhve hits In fives times up is the Hope of evcy ball player, and few twohanded hitters come through with the perfect score during a season, but William (“Ottb”) Schfranskl, oqe-arm-ed center fielder of the Hamline university team, has already accomplished the 1,000 batting average feat this year. Schfranskl was born with one arm. His left arm did not grow below the elbow. When a youngster he started playing ball with the other boys and soon became a “regular.” This spring when Coach Baird of Hamline called for players Schfranskl reported, and when the first scheduled game was played he had won a regular portion in center field. A strong throwing arm offsets whatever delay may be occasioned by Schfranski’s style of taking the ball. He wears a glove, and after catching the ball tosses it Into the air while slipping off the glove under his’left arm. Catching the toss, the ball Is sent away propelled by a powerful throwing arm. He takes hard-hit balls as easily as the high ones. At the plate Schfranskl chokes the bat slightly more than the average player, balancing It with his stub arm when he begins his swing, which Is completed with his right arm. He uses a slight crouch and pulls his drives Into left field. He Is fast on the bases. Schfranskl Is twenty-one years old and a senior. He was born at Clayton, Minn.