Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-22
THE ATHLETES FORM

be able to develop a man capable of beating
Jeffries until after the champion has pass
ed his thirtieth year. remarked WASH
ington physical instructor who is an tu-
thority in his line. but after he has got
into the beginning of his thirties 1t will be
pretty safe to play any big and fast fellow
still in his fwenties to do the trick for JEFF
fries
L do not profess to clearly understand
why it is shat few athletes retain their
early form after they have attained the age
of thirty, but that such is the fact is we'll
known to those who make a study of the
form of athletes. In the pugilistic field, old
man Fitz Is the man who is the exception
TO the rule to certain extent, but. at that
all of FftzSin1monSS best fights were fought
when he was we'll under his thirty-fifth
year. And it must be remembered that
Fftzsimmons Is man of very unusual
build, and that he Is a remarkable instance
of the athlete who holds onto his form up
to time when most of his contemporaries
have Joined the has-beens. Corbett has
1ought only one fight that could be called
nrst-rate since passing his thirtieth year
and his best work was done when he was
In his early twenties. Sullivan was nothing
ike the man. after passing his thirtieth
year, that he had been in his twenties. nor
Is this fact wholly attributable to the disst-
patfons In which he INDUCED. The most
nor drink nor indulge in any other form of
dissipation find that that indefinable thing
called, for lack of a better term. the edge
departs from them soon after they get by
the three-decade mark. An examination of
the history Of all celebrated pugilists will
bear this statement out.
And 1t applies. well, to all men who
devote themselves to work requiring the
highest possible physical form. 1t Is espe-
cially applicable to ball players Look. for
example, at what the clubs composed of
young fellows, the veriest colts, are doing
this year. in the two big leagues, to the
clubs made up of the old-timers known as
seasoned players. The seasoned fellows
are not in the hunt with the cubs at any
stage of 1t, and young blood has become
ver1table fetch among the managers on the
hunt for material to strengthen their teams.
1t is the opinion of experts, deduced
from close and careful following of the
development and careers of athletes OF all
sorts, that the average athlete is at the
very height of his prowess in his twenty
seventh year. From then on to his thir-
tieth year the retrogression. while it may
De and generally Is slow, is nevertheless
certain After passing the thirty mark the
average athletes loss of form becomes
more rapid and more pronounced. l speak
now, not only of pugilists. ball players,
Jockeys and other men in the professional
field, but of the first-rate amateur weight
throwers. runners. jumpers. pole-vaulters
and men of that class. Most of them will
Il ARMY lcI you tIldI Iney CQulQ reel them
selves losing their grip at their respective
games after getting beyond the age of
thirty.
And there is something mystifying. too,
In this loss of an athletes best form after
he gets into the thirties Corbett, for ex-
ample, never looked better, had never
trained so well, never felt more confident
OF his speed than he did when he went up
against Jeffries this last time. And yet
Corbett plainly showed in the fight that
he wasn't one-half the man. particularly
In speed and generalship, that he was at
the time he trounced old man Sullivan 1t
Is the same with ball players and Jockeys
to an extraordinary extent crackeriack
ball player. after getting into the thirties,
may seem to himself and to his most criti-
cal friends just as good as he ever was-he
may even seem faster and stronger than.
ever before. But the relentless figures show
beyond the peradventure of doubt that
he hasn't got the goods that he had when
ne was a comparative youngster in the
game. and for the life of him he can't
understand just what quality it is that
has fallen away from him and impaired
his usefulness. He seems to throw better,
to field faster, to have more correct bat
ting eye, to be better all-around player
than in the days of his pup-hood in the
game-but he knows that the figures can't
lie. OF course, there are exceptions in
the field of base ball too-old man Van
Haltren, for instance, who Is certainly as
good today as he was way back yonder IN
the eighties, and that's pretty good, TOO
but the star performers are the fellows who
are still lingering in their twenties or who
nave at any rate progressed only a very
short distance beyond the thirty mark
In the cases of jockeys the loss Of form
at even an earlier age-when, say, they ap-
proach the age OF twenty-ffve-iS even more
singular and difficult to understand I am
not speaking now of course of the locks
who are compelled to give up riding owing
to their increase in weight, but of the nat
Crrn aInY 10
their form, could go on riding indefinitely
at l0o pounds or SO. A great majority of
the famous jockeys who have taken the
very finest care of themselves, and who
nave never been compelled to abandon the
pigskln at any time on account of the diff
Guilty of making their weight have. gem
orally when entering their twenties, lost
their form In the most inexplicable man
ner. At the time of losing their form they
nave been just as nimble, agile alert and
foxy, and probably good deal more so In
good many cases. than they were dur
ing their boyhood days when they were
making their great names as iockeys-and
yet. when put to the test and given ALI
sorts or opportunities to try themselves
out. they have been found wanting-the
new lads, even the clever apprentices in
the saddle have been able to put it all over
them In Judging pace, In nursing mounts.
In fnishing-the whole thing. Dazzling a
jock as little Tod Sloan was it is a GOOD
ten to one shot that, We're the racing an
thorities to let up on him and restore him
to the turf, he would never be half the
rider again that he was when he was all
but sweeping the cards day after day, both
in this country and in Europe, as a young
Ster.
THE thing that athletes call form, Is
about as intangible and mysterious a ouan-
tity as magnetism. but the has-beens in
all lines of athletic endeavor will never
theless, never case to grope blindly about
In their efforts to find out just what this
form Is that has slipped away from
them"