Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21

If ever a man who has an income OF
some ten or fifteen thousand dollars year
earns it. that man is the base ball man
ager. For, let it be known right here he
is the really big man of the national
game.
Cut him out of it, and the magnate would
simply be a manufacturer a wholesaler,
unknown to fame. Without the manager
the most famous of pitchers would be
compelled to give up the box for the corner
billiard room, perhaps. Have none of him
and there would positively be no oppo--
tunity for the small Office boy to plead a
few hours leave of absence of an after
noon that he might pay fitting respect to
the memory of an uncle who died day be-
fore yesterday. In short, no manager. no
national game
Therefore, every right-minded far in the
land who knows the circumstances will
vote that the manager earns every cent of
the thousands of good hard dollars that
are paid over to him by his respective mag
nate for some six months of work with a
team each year.
The manager earns his money in a thou
sand and one different ways: but d good
part of his hire is unQuestionably his be-
cause he is filled with the spirit of aggres-
slveness. and has the knack of imparting
much of 1t to the various members of the
team under his thumb; for that is where
the manager who knows his business has
his aggregation from the opening of the
training season until the last game in the
race for the championship is over.
Must Be Aggressive.
To win in any walk of life more or less
aggression must be shown. On ihe dia-
mond, the more aggression on the part CT
a team the better its chances of winning
championship honors. A base ball player
must be kept keyed up constantly, if the
best that there is in him is to be got out
of him. His aggressiveness must never be
allowed to sag. no matter what the provo
cation; and so it is apparent a once that
this part of the managers task is not of
the apple and pie order, exactly.
Nor is it lessened by the circumstance
that each player has to be filled and kept
himself A manager can't walk up to his
men, slap each one heartily on the back,
and say, Now, boys. let's play like the
devil or words to that effect Ball players
are not built that way. They are of rarer
mold, with even more moods than are
credited to the soubrette and. consequently,
just so much harder to handle to the best
advantage of everybody concerned.
A wise manager takes liberal cognizance
of these peculiarities and automatically
turns them to the teams good. In no case
does he imperil the esprit de corps of the
team by making light of or ignoring them.
folly of such a course.
Therefore, when a player sulks up to his
manager the day before the seasons open
ing game, and declares that his chances OF
putting his best foot forward in the i'm
pending contest depends on whether he can
have certain locker, to which he is par
tial, for his clothes, the manager does not
set up loud guffaw. Instead he slides out
of his seat and straighaway endeavors SO
to redis.ribute the lockers that the kicker
can get the one he is after. 1t is on record
that a certain pitcher. now well known
in one of the major leagues, lost open
ing game to his team because he had had
his aggressiveness depleted through the
neglect of his manager to put him in
possession of the locker which has been
his for years, and had been inadvertently
assigned to Il team mate.
Must Have an End Berth.
Catcher Roger Bresnahan imagines that
to play up to his usual standard he must
have an end berth on the sleeping car with
his team in making a jump; and as
"Scrappy" McGraw is held to be one of the
most famous of present day managers.
Bresnahar invariably gets the end berth.
There Is a western player who would I'M
doubtedly sulk for a week if his manager
denied him the privilege of walking first
out of the club house to the players bench.
Still another nurses the delusion that the
presence of his blooded bull pup materially
helps him to swat the ball over the fence
into the wilderness. Every player has his
own pet humor, fad, fancy or superstition,
and the manager, because it costs nothing
to humor it, and keeps the man in fight
ing trim, always has a ready and sympa-
thetic ear in this matter.
This little trick of the manager promotes
aggressiveness individually. To awaken
team aggression he plays. for one thing on
the desire for companionship, which is in
herent in US all Clubs for the upbuilding
of good fellowship among the team mem
bers are organized and kept running by
him-card clubs, glee clubs, any sort of
club that will bring the members together
for wholesome amusement and impart to
them that cheerfulness of mind which is a
prime requisite of aggressiveness. The
champion Giants have a noted glee club,
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