San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-17
WORLD OF
BASEBALL.
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deal of mystery as to how tine aver
age professional ball player puts in
the winter months. With the close
of the playing season he disappears
from public view and is seen no more
until he breaks forth again in the
spring. About the only persons apart
from his immediate circle of friends.
| that are at all acquainted with his
| Whereabouts and doingS, are the en-
terpriSing managers. As a rule the
! player, unless he is more than Ordi-
narily Industrious, may be said to hi
| bcYnate. He puts in most of his time
in sitting about fire places with Il
crowd of cOngenial spirits, swapping
"reminiscences. which are generally
favored strongly with his own great
achievements. Such parties, with
enough searching may be found i'll
any city where ball players are Will
tering Not all players, however, stick
50 closely to private life. \ few, who
! have been drawing fat salaries dur
! ing the playing months. take advant-
age of the period of idlenesS during
| the winter to pose as SwellS or fast
men about town. They patrOnize the
atreS and other places of amusement
To excess. and generally manage to
throw their mOny away. BY spring
time they are out of pocket and in line
with their smaller hrtheren. who have
| , DSS.,l th,i,. ti,,,A ,trinf1t- oil m
! ing now on the lookout for contracts
| and advance money. 1t is then that
the player exhibits perhaps more Wig
| or than at any other time. Managers
are bCSieged from every quarter with
Il flood of applications from dozens
of players. each of whom is sure to
play the game of his life. \ part from
| financial reasons, they are all glad
that the time has come to don the
SpangleS again and begin active work.
| There are some exceptions to the rule
that ball players spend the winter in
| idlCnCSS and the number seems to be
gaining every year Not few of the
men have trades. and no sooner the
season for playing ends than they go
to work. and stick to il until the time
to begin ball playing comes around
again. There are also quite number
of men earning salaries by ball rlay-
| ing who attend school in the winter
| to fir themselves for the law. mcdt-
cine or some other profession. II is
| from the last two classes that the best
results are usually obtained in the
work of ball team. They are sober
and intelligent men. and with the
| . Il, NJ nj
| condition. Other men who are will
| ing to play ball the year round, or
whose finances have run very low. JOIN
what are known as ''winter SanpS.
and for merely nominal salaries go
TO a warm climate to play during the
winter season. Such trips are not
usually profitable. either financially
or otherwise, and often leave the
players in poor shape 10 start for
seasons hard play. Experience has
shown that apart from managers. who
work for their club the year round.
the best plan for ball players TO spend
the winter is to go to work or at least
to do something that will keep them
out of mischief and give them enough
exercise to keep in condition. Some
men who are inclined to cOrpulency
have to train off twenty or thirty
pounds of flesh in the spring and their
work is naturally impaired before
they get into the best playing form.
Even if they have no avOidupOis. few
men can train all winter on beer and
poker and be in good physical cOndi-
ton. The Youngsters may not feel
il much for a season or two, but il is
In if En1t IN
relegate them to places alongside of
Billy Taylor. Lew Dickinson. Fred.
Lewis and other shining examples of
the evil results of bad habits.
When the Light announced that
Mike O'COnnor had arrived there was
general sigh of relief among the
baseball crankS. Now that OCOnnOr
is here. they were buSying themselves
all week. trying to learn his plans, 1t
is his desire to give San Antonio a
winning ball team. something we have
never had until late last season. If
he succeeds in landing the players he
is after the crankS can prepare for
season of baseball as she be played.
MOdeSty fOrbidS any claim on cham
piOnShip hOnOrs, but you can bet ia
male to a sandcrab that the BmrOnchOs
will come as near knocking the per
simmOn as any aggregation in Texas
when the umpire'S StentOrian voice
rings through the air; that is, If MI
Mike O'Connor gets the men he is af-
ter. The names of the players will
not be given out until their signatures
are placed to contract. This is done
to prevent any disappointment that
may arise if O'COnnOr fails to make
connections,
Wonder if there is such a thing as
salary limit in the Texas association!
At the December meeting II was
MAYED and seconded that a salary
limit of $500 be adopted.
BY this was understood that no cluo
in the association would pay more
than 5000 month for eleven men
Every delegate present gave his
nledge that his respective club would
stick TO the limit and so it was
e,