The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-04-09


league-l
eat when they happen to get a chance anu
seek their couch as if it were an instru-
ment of torture. Arson says An hour 8
sleep before midnight is worth three after
that time. Yet it is a rule, rather than
an exception, for players not to be in bed
or asleep before - O'Clock. Club rules
generally require players to 60 TO their
rooms while en- the road at IL o clock.
Managers find it almost impossible to en-
force the rule. Then all the 8 clock
calls left with the hotel clerk for next
morning cannot bring these players from
their late sleep They drop into their
breakfast from 9 till II o'clock and are
ready for lunch at half past IL.
John Ward once told me that he would
not have any Of his players called in the
morning because sleep to an athlete was
worth more than regular hours. Ward
himself was late to bed and about the last
member of his team to get up next day.
These are two great baseball leaders who
differ radically upon the question of sleep
for players 1t IS not hard to decide which
one is right and which one is wrong.
There is no trouble in enforcing the bath
on ball players, either by plunge or towel.
They love il as q duck loves water. Some
Of them abuse the habit and weaken them
selves by an excessive use Of the outside
application Of water.
3
bicycle has never been a general attraction
among baseball players Probably not
one-third Of tins professional players can
ride a wheel or have any desire to learn.
There is a widespread fear that the risk is
too great. A broken arm, a sprained leg
OF a dislocated shoulder would be a very
expensive injury to a baseball player.
AnsOn's painful experience with a balky
bike last fall helped to increase the ball
players prejudice against the bicycle.
Manager Irwin of the New York club
has a training hobby of his own used no
where else in the National league. 1t is
the system of sweatboxes arranged to
give nearly the same effect as a Russian
bath. Irwin says the University of Penn
sylvania teams have used these steam
boxes for years with excellent success and
he claims that sore muscles are impossible
tiles with men who have the use of the sys-
tenn. There is danger, however, of catch
ing severe colds unless extra preoaution
is used after the player leaves the box, and
the general oarelessness Of ball players
makes the sWeatboXes questionable in
struments OF training. Their use by the
New York club this year viii be carefully
watched by the profession
Amos Rusie's recent action in going be-
fore the national board and asking for his
release from reservation by the New York
club on the grounds of unpaid salary has
frequently broke through club discipline
last year and was fined 5000 The sum
was deducted from his last installment OF
salary. He claims that the fines We're ex-
cessive and illegal and that therefore the
club still owes him part of the salary
which was due on Oct. a. 1895. The ma
tional agreement provides for the release
Of player whose salary at any time is due
and unpaid for Is days That section,
however, is intended to protect players
from bankrupt or defaultinR clubs
Rusie has been badly coached. The base
ball magnates cannot afford to admit his
claims against the New York club for 81
they did they would turn half the players
of the country upon their respective clubs.
Should he go to law and seek to establish
his alleged rights the magnates would be
forced to stand together and place him
outside the professional breastworks as an
awful example for Others who might be
tempted to seek the courts for relief. When
{ the big pitcher put himself into the hands
of a lawyer, he out-Ajaxed Ajax AS
4 Puck once remarked, fWhat fools these
4 mortals bel''
B Charles Frank, who won the honor Of
( BEING champion batsman Of the Western
H league last season, has a record to which
4 he can point with pride" During the
last four seasons he has played with i've
/ clubs and has lead each one in batting.
/ These triumphs we're achieved with the
4 Mobiles in 1889, the St. Louis Browns in
1893 the Toledos in 1894 and the Memphis