A Ball Player's Career: Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. AnsonAnson, Adrian C. (Adrian Constantine)
History
A Ball Player's Career: Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. Anson
Anson, Adrian C. (Adrian Constantine)
Baseball
Fred Pfeffer, who came from Louisville, Ky., was a ball-player from the
ground up, and as good a second baseman as there was in the profession,
the only thing that I ever found to criticize in his play being a
tendency to pose for the benefit of the occupants of the grand stand. He
was a brilliant player, however, and as good a man in this position
according to my estimate as any that ever held down the second bag. He
was a high-salaried player and one that earned every cent that he
received, being a hard worker and always to be relied upon. He was a
neat dresser, and while not a teetotaler, never drank any more than he
knew how to take care of. As a thrower, fielder and base runner he was
in the first class, while as a batsman he was only fair. Later on he
became tangled up in the Brotherhood business, in which he lost
considerable of the money that he had laid by for a rainy day. It was
some time after the Brotherhood revolt, in which Fred had been one of
the prime movers, and a brief history of which is recorded elsewhere,
that he was taken back into the fold. He was anxious to play again in
Chicago, and I gave him the chance. His health was, however, bad at that
time and he was unable to do himself justice and to play the ball that
when a well man he was capable of. I hung on to him as long as I could,
but when the papers began to howl long and loud about his shortcomings I
was finally forced to release him. It was his, health that put him out
of the business and nothing else, and had it not been for that drawback
he might still be playing ball. At the present writing he is engaged in
the poolroom and bookmaking line at Chicago and making a living, to say
the least of it.
John Clarkson was a really great pitcher, in fact, the best that Chicago
ever had, and that is saying a great deal, as Chicago has had some of
the very best in the profession since the game first became popular
within its suburbs. He was the possessor of a remarkable drop curve and
fast overhand lifting speed, while his change of pace was most
deceiving. He was peculiar in some things, however, and in order to get
his best work you had to keep spurring him along, otherwise he was apt
to let up, this being especially the case when the club was ahead and he
saw what he thought was a chance to save himself. As a fielder he was
very fair, and as, a batsman above the average, so far as strength went,
though not always to be depended upon as certain to land upon the ball.
His home was down at Ocean Spray, near Boston, but he came to us from
Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was released to the Bostons in the spring of
1888 for the sum of $10,000, and played with that team for several
years. He is now in the cigar business in Michigan and is, I ant glad to
learn, successful. Pitchers of Clarkson's sort are few and far between,
as club managers of these latter days can testify.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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