The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-17
SOME MANAGERS
CAN PLAY BALL
Others Are Great While Sitting
on the Bench.
OLD PROBLEM COMING UP
WHICH IS TIE BETTER NAN
FOR THE GAME.

one subject which is always good foe
long continued discussion in any baseball
gathering IS the old pFoblem-whieh IS the
better manager an active player OF d
bench director Magnates talk this puz.
gle over. and finish the discussion un-
satisfied Players buzz Il over thoroughly
and give 1t up as an insoluble equation
The fans have wransied about this point
ever since 1886. and do not Tet know
where they are az. IL is, IN short one o.
the most peTpleNins and yea most iaS-
Cinatins. Of all baseball puzzles
The fans who hold that an active player
makes the best manager say that ne mas
the actual experience, and thus knows
inst what should be done at any given
period Of game; that he can best Judge
Of players real merits, that he would De
the better posted as 60 the style OF play
and inside tricks Of each hostile team.
and that being actually in the game he
could act quicker and with more direct
results than any man upon the
bench.
The Bench Manager.
The bench manager. so his friends
figure, has more time IN waich to
think ~ styles Of play and winniug
methods. His time IS not taken up by
the actual physical duties of a player.
II e does not have 20 bat. field, or run
bases and hence ear devpte his energies
90 the work Of picking payers and max
ing those players put up winning hdI.
groove. or Infatuated with any special
way Of working. and can receive new
ana advanced ideas more lnteilgemrly and
Willingly than me actual field leader.
4 Both arguments seem powerful. and the
man who goes into the discussion pre-
JUDGED one way or the other Is sure 10
come ont of the conversation more firm
ly biased than ever
When a playing leader is considered. the
mind instantly goes back 20 the eiOries
81 two men--Adrian C. Arson and Charles
q rnisky. These men, both first base
Guardians won Tags ad hbitum IN the
lCng ago. AnsOn's success when ne shad
q great team behind him. with the stone
wall infieid and batteries never surpassed
has made thousands of fans swear by the.
playing managers for more than tWentys
years. The old man made a grand Tecor'
and yet, tn all fairness. could not Frank
Seiee have taken that mighty team and
done as well2
Crack Playing Managers.
Comiskey was winning pennants in the
American association just the way Arson
won them in the National league Commy
was tricl6ier than Arson. taught more
inside deViltries and more raDid-flre
methods. and thus eQualized any failings
/ IN a team whicn had no stonewau base
men and no Garrison, Flint OF Kelly.
The crack playing managers Of today
ore Fred Clarke an0 Jimmy Collins. each
/ a pennant winner and each leading
great team IN mastery fashion It may
| in ali honesty be asked. however. could
rot an able, bralnV bench manager take
the Pittsburgs or TIE Bostons and do as
well2
Ned HanI0n. with the red-pepper Bal
umOres. won FLAGS. and wen more flags
st Brooklyn. HaniOn was q bench man
sger always, bat infused his men with
spirit equal 10 that Arson and COmiskeT
gave. Ii may be argued that Ned IS ar
old player and hence better Fersed IN
the game than il Ia had always sat on
/ the bench, bur where or when did Han
len, as an active player. ever show any
of the clevernsss he displayed after the
physical worries Of the game were Off
has mind and body!
Frank Selee's Buntings.
I Frank Selee. nOn-playing manager pure
and simple. has fine collection of bunt-
inUs- Seiee makes his team move fast
End play consistent ball. and no active
field captain can show better results
than he has achieved. But. with all JUS
tice TO Hanlon and Selee- could not the
Arson Of 1855, or the ComiSkey of 1885
Z have taken any Of the Selee or Hanlon
/ teams and done deeds as wonderful?
After all. it's not the question Of play
1 ing or non-plaFing mana gers-it Is the
team. Judgment in selecting the players
/ is what counts. and it matters not
/ bench when he knows q ball player on
I FIRST sight. Where would Arson have
been without the stOneWaN infieid and
with a scruDby Eang2 Where would
C0miskev have finished without Latham.
TIP O'NeiIL Caruthers and the rest %
these old Browns WHAT would Hanlon
have done without Keller. WcSraw and
+ Jeunings2 And how would Selee have
cut any ice at Boston without Nichols
owe and L0nE2 Managers are all right
but. all in ALL when ali is said-it IS
the team that wins the flag.