Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-07-16
BALL TEAM ON THE ROAD
SWINGING ROUND THE CIRCUIT WITH
A PROFESSIONAL NINE.

A~PRoFEssloNaL NINE.
Annoyances That Confront the Ball Toss.
err Drawing for Berths "A Peculiar
Class Of saIGn Who Esteem it Great
Privilege 10 Entertain the Players.
From, the moment that the profess
sional ball player finishes series OF
. games on his home grounds until he
has completed the trip around the cir
cult that is provided by the league
schedule ne is harassed by two fears.
s The first and the greater is that he
may be allotted the upper berth in
sleeping-cars, and the second the
dread of losing his Plying form by
lack of exercise.
A third annoyance, Notwithstanding
the fact that the best of hotels are
provided for the players by the club
/, owners, is tho occasional lack of suf-
ficient food. That is, these strong,
healthy bail players insist that they
do not always obtain what their ap-
retites demand. And there is a rea-
son for their complaint, although it
is not the owners fault.
1t is the sleeping car berth, how
ever, that is really the bane of the
professional players existence. He
will endure almost anything in the
way of discomfort without a complaint,
but will grumble during the thou
sand and FIVE hundred miles of travel,
grumble and complain like spoiled
child, if he is compelled to sleep, as
he describes it, :'under the car roof"
Very frequently when the ball clubs
make long jumps, like the trip from
New York to st. Louis, special car
is furnished to the club. 1t is given
/. exclusively to the players for the trip.
There they live, a happy, laughing,
good-natured crowd, until it is time to
retire on the first night out.
If there be young player or two
young players on the team. woe to
them! They get the UPPER berths with
out any consideration. 1t is part OF
1 their Limitation into the business, and
proud indeed is the beginner the first
time he; is allowed. TO draw for the
chance of a lower berth. He knows
he is no longer considered a novice.
In the craving, the manager of the
team first reserves lower berth for
himself another for The captain, one
for the business manager, if there be
oreg.andvloweg berths for; as many
newspaper representatives. happen
I TO be travelling with the club AL the
other sleeping-car tickets are put into
envelopes and sealed. Then the play
eers are permitted to draw, beginning
as a rule with the man who has been
longest with the club
- After the drawing has been made.
some, Of the players who are thrifty,
and; who are willing to submit to
: room in the attic" now and then sell
their lower berths to companions.
who are ready to advance half dollar,
sometimes less, for the privilege of
sleeping downstairs
Is In some of the clubs an arrangement
is in vogue whereby the pitchers are
-giYen the lower berths. This is es-
pecially true of the teams where the
pitcher also happens to be the man
ager. He insists that good pitching
Is the most important part Of he game,
and that the pitchers should be CIV
en- every opportunity to rest in order
that. the team may be successful in
its games on the road. The other play
ers, on the contrary, maintain that
( the pitchers work only once in three
or four games, and have ample time to
recuperate. q, q
Sasag Tire 5sse.s betS cen the pitchers and
the other players OF "a professional
( baseball nine is almost as old as the
4 game, and it has yet to be settled in
4 manner satisfactory to both sides.
Long experience has taught the pro-
ifcssional ball player how to take life
easxiR travel Afmost~am Of his jour
neying is done in the hottest months
OF the year and very wisely in his
dress he adapts himself to prevailing
conditions. Loose shirts, low collars.
thin lonnging coats and airy caps make
him the envy of men who swelter and
sfume in apparel more dignified but far
more distressing, when the dust is fly
ing in, clouds that. threaten to suffo-
cate Ihe passengers, and when heat
waves, radiating from embankments
and level stretches, undulatc contin-
uously through the car.
Dominoess are popular with the ball
players. ItAis easy 10 carry the box
of pieces around and there are always
candidates for the pastime. On some
teams two men who are fond Of crib
bage will begin on the very first trip
to play series Of games, aud will
prolong it indefinitely. Two players
,-cfythe Boston club once played more
than two thousand games of cribbage
in,aJseason.j The. other members Of the
team insisted that this pair counted
fifteen two, fifteen four" in their
sleep.
There are stiff games at cards now
and then, but if it comes to the man
ayers ear that the stakes ere high
there is sure to follows a little private
hearing in the morning, at which the
player is cautioned Eot to repeat any
Smorei "fye-dollarsliniit games"
AT the more importan. stations along
the railroad the small boy, by some
intuition that is all mis- own, invariably
manages to pick out not only The train
on which the ball players are travel
ling, but the car in which they ride.
If, among the gaping urchins, there
happens to be one who, at some time
in his life, has been taken to the me-
tropolis and has seen a game of real
league ball." it devolyes upon him to
point out the celebrities to his more
unlearned companions.
"There's Mathewson" shouts