, 1889-06-04
BALL PLAYERS SUGGESTIONS.
Many Charms Resorted to by the Bal
Tossers.

to have the coach which Is conveying him to
the grounds meet a wagon loaded with bar
rels, provided the heads are In them 1t is a
Sign of good luck, and he goes into a game
with a confidence that is In itself half the vic
tory. he is a different player and will play
in a manner to set the bleaching boards wild
with delight. But woe betide him II he meets
a cross eyed man He will keep the scorers
busy marking down errors opposite his name,
and his work will be characterized by a list
lessness and carelessness that is begot of the
knowledge that 1t Is perfectly useless for him
to attempt to play. He is under the influence
of an evil genius and cannot get rid of IL.
On the other hand, when one meets a wo-
MN similarly afflicted he Is delirious with
Joy, and II 1t Is the day of a game he will
follow the woman for squares and endeavor
by every a~rtifce he possesses to attract her
attention and make her look at him. There
are some uncharitable enough to say a player
VIII not take this trouble unless q woman Is
comedy, but they all deny it
When wizard" Shaw played on the
W~ashingtons he would never go into the
pitchers box except from the rear, and he
could never be induced to step into 1t with
out kicking a pebble out He kept a supply
on hand, and before the game enough would
be put In a corner of the box so he could kick
" OoS Whth NO btti bu " plLCu- AuhN uthl
another popularity Of always talking to the
batter, and although he did this for the pur-
pose Of diverting the attention of the batter,
1t became such a fixed habit that he could
not avoid doing 1t when practicing.
Jack Farrell, when he captained the team
In Washington, used to possess an idiosyncrasy
that many of his colleagues have. He would
make q little mound of pebbles near the posi-
ton he was playing, and busted himself dur
ing the game throwing them into the field.
He limited himself to a certain number each
inning, and 1t was a common sight to see
Capt. Jack during the morning industriously
endeavoring to find the same pebbles he had
thrown away the day before.
Many times the other members of the team
undertook to play a joke on Farrell, and as
he made it a practice to pick up all the stones
near his base the boys took good care he
should have a full supply by planting a bushel
or 50 every day for him to pick up, and one
morning, when he was a little late arriving,
he found a choice collection of brick bats,
cobble stones and tin cans nicely arranged
near the base. 1t cost him half a dollar to
get a boy to remove the debris, and for a
time Farrell stopped searching for stones
when the other men were around. but he
could not break the fancy, and today he is a
persistent follower of it. Many other ball
players have tho same habit, and they say 1t
keeps their mind on the game, and they are
not diverted by the audience.
Billy O'Brien, the big, hard hitting first
baseman of tho Washingtons, has but one
superstition. When he first came here he
discovered n little bunch of clover near the
base, and thereafter he made q practice Of
placing his glove over it at the conclusion of
each inning. So religiously does he believe
this will bring him good Inck that when the
season commences he plants a lot Of clover
seed near the base. and he "a ON hand when
the grass IL trimmed to SEQ that his clover
patch Is not disturbed.
There arc many other instances of indi-
vidual attempts to influence the fates. Some
PLAYERS wear charms. those from the south
usually carving rabbits feet and the others
charms of all kinds and varieties. Ad. Gum
bert, of the Chicago club, used to wear a
garter when he was with the ~SteubenviIle
club, but he would never tell where he OBJ
tanned 1t. The recent Journey round the
world has furnished the men who made 1t
with q choice collection of articles supposed
to possess s~oothsaying properties. Ed. Crane
has a monkey he proposes to mako his special
divinity during the season, and Fogarty, of
the Philadelphias, carries with him a lock of
hair which he obtained from q dusky maiden
ut Honolulu.
A number of the players wear rings they
believe possess magic powers, and If they are
given to them by some friend after a lucky
game 1t makes the present all the more valu-
ahle. But under no circumstances ever give
a ball player an opal. They regard the stone
as an omen of bad luck, and will get rid of 1t
at the first opportunity even II they accept
1t, which is doubtful.
Players do not like to receive presents of
flowers just before they go to the bat, for the
reason 1t 'hoodoos' them and they cannot
hit tho ball throughout the remainder of the
game.
A well known League player, at the begin
ming Of the season, puts a black thread In tho
toe of the stocking of his right foot, and al
though he declares 1t Is done to distinguish
them, his companions insist that unless he
gets it on the right foot he says he cannot
play.
Tho carrying of mascots by the various
clubs has gone out of fashion somewhat. 1t
originated in the wild and woolly west, and
class club had a mascot. The style ran to
freaks of nature, and a dwarf, q humpback,
or a giant was sure of an engagement and a
good salary.
The onty cluh in tho country TODAY that