McGraw on Brouthers, 1907
T.P. Magilligan covered baseball for Bay area newspapers during the first two decades of the 20th Century.
In 1907, he talked to John McGraw during the New York Giants’ West Coast tour:
“Dan Brouthers was the greatest hitter I ever saw. Lajoie is a good and wonderful hitter, and so was the late Ed Delahanty, but for straightaway slugging I think the equal of big Dan never lived. He used to take a nice healthy swing at it, and I tell you that when Brouthers rapped the ball on the nose that she sped with the force of Gatling gun. Getting in the way of one of Brouther’s shots generally meant the loss of a hand for a time. He was the best batter of them all, and that bars none of them. Brouthers seldom hit them high in the air. He had a way of smashing them on a line to right field and they fairly whistled through the air.
Dan Brouthers
McDonough on Anson, 1910
Ed McDonough played semi-pro ball in Chicago before beginning his professional career at age 22. The Chicago Evening Post said, “Mac played with and against (Cap) Anson for a couple of seasons,” when Anson owned and played for Anson’s Colts in the Chicago City League:
“’During practice Uncle Anson used to step up to the plate and offer fifty dollars to any man on the grounds who could strike him out,’ says Mac. ‘He would give the fellow who attempted it the right to choose any player he wanted for his umpire. Sometimes they would get two strikes on him, but I never saw anybody earn a fifty. Cap didn’t ask them to give him anything if he kept from fanning. That was before he went broke and he made the offer more to show the fellows he could still clout a few.”
“Cap” Anson
Foster on Bugs, 1911
After Arthur “Bugs” Raymond slipped from an 18-12, 2.47 ERA season in 1909 to an 4-11 3.81 performance in 1910, many still held out hope that Raymond, still just 28 years old, could overcome his demons. When the pitcher checked himself into a hospital in Dwight, IL that winter, John B. Foster of The New York Telegram wrote:
“If Raymond does not break up the institution with his pranks, and if he really makes an effort to put himself in proper condition, the chances of the New York National League club in 1911 will be greatly enhanced.
“If some of the self-constituted friends of this unfortunate young man—and he is unfortunate, for he has the skill of a great ball player and the physical ability to earn thousands of dollars for himself—will be kind enough to let him alone, and assist in the good work which has been begun, they will prove their friendship to be far more lasting that if they cajole him away from those who are doing their best to help him.
“There are some who think it funny to encourage a man of Raymond’s peculiar temperament in a line of conduct which leads to his downfall…There are more than ball players who would like to see Raymond have a real chance to show what is in him. The skill of the man as a player is too great to be thrown away in idle rioting.
“Help him out.”
Raymond quickly reverted to his old ways in 1911, and despite a 6-4 record and a 3.31 ERA he was released by the Giants in June. He was dead 15 months later, at age 30.
Raymond
White on Risberg, 1916
Doc White, the former White Sox pitcher was working in the front office of the Pacific Coast League Vernon Tigers—he managed the team on an interim basis the previous season as well—and told The Los Angeles Times that the “greatest arm in baseball” was playing in Vernon:
“(Charles) Swede Risberg…in addition to being everything else, is a pitcher of real ability. White says if the Swede would perfect a wind-up that would enable him to get his body behind his delivery he would have more speed than Walter Johnson.”
The 21-year-old Risberg, the starting shortstop, appeared in two games as a pitcher for Vernon in 1916, he was 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA. It would be the last time he pitched in organized ball. He was purchased by the Chicago White Sox the following season.
Swede Risberg
Baseball History Daily 
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