Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17

X X .ssss
| Canned is the sad word Of base ball
| Veteran players. nearing the end of their
| day Of usefulness on the diamond. shrink
i at the sound of that word. Young players
/ lugged into one of the big leagues from the
i lots or from the minors. and in q state OF
| deadly uncertainty as to whether they're
/ going to make good or not, hate the word
canned as the small boy hates the first
day Of the new school term. Mediocre play
ers. those who just manage to '.get by" but
| who are only too familiar with their own
/ lack OF brilliance at the game, look de-
pressed when they hear the word canned
uttered.
And yet all ball players, no matter how
| great they may be, get canned" sooner OF
| later. It's the Inevitable thing. 1t can't
/ be stalled OF. A few, very few players,
dodge being canned" by retiring from the
| game before their dismal day drifts along.
They anticipate IT, and just quit. Most OF
| them, however, walt until the can Is ap-
/ pended to them. and accept the canning
as philosophically as they know how. Some
| of them profess to take their canning" all
| in good part. and contrive not to look
| grieved over it. But 1t hurts them, all the
| same. Others. more frank and less able
| to keep their feelings under cover, take
| their canning" sorely to heart, and NOPE
and sulk over it in a way saddening to be-
hold.
| This is especially the case with the young
players who. having been tried In fast COM
pany, fail to make good. 1t digs most OF
| the youngish chaps to the quick when they
| ind themselves canned" The oldtimers
who have, in a sort of way, prepared them
| fnr hair dow nf n
boys who essay to put a cheerful face on
the situation. They admit. some of them.
that they've been ready for their medicine
| for a long time, and that they've sort OF
neutralized It's bitterness by adding their
| elixir OF resignation to 1t. Any way 1t is
| viewed. this thing of being canned" Is
| bound to put heaviness In the heart of q
| ball player.
| Take a seasoned man, for instance. a
| player who has been making good In ole
| of the big leagues for a good many years,
| but who has gradually slumped in his play
| ing in spite OF his almost herculean efforts
| to regain his best form, until his day OF
| usefulness in fast company is plainly seen
| by all hands-not excepting himself-to be
| at an end.
| Such a player knows that his canning
| is at hand even before such a thing has
been as much as suggested by the team
| manager. Every time he goes to bat and
| whiffs the hooking ether he feels that he
/ is drawing so much nearer to his not-to-be-
tagged day of canning" Every time he
| drops ball or fails to field one success
fully he is gripped by the knowledge that
| he Is SO much closer to- his day Of doom.
| He is like the prisoner awaiting sentence,
| and his worriment and misery often become
| so acute that he occasionally actually ex-
| periences sense of relief when he is no.
| titled that he Is canned"
|
/
feels like the actor who, after treading the
metropolitan boards for many years in
swell companies, finds himself lost in the
| shuttle in the search for an engagement.
| and is compelled to get in out of the wet
i by picking up with some ten-twent.-thrt.,
BOX and Cox outfit, bound on a tour
of the one-night, hanky-pank circuit. The
glamour has gone out of his life. His palmy
| days are over. The canned" old ball
player who finds himself playing with a
one-horse minor league layout cannot help
| but feel a certain scorn for his new play
ing companions.
| He knows the game from soup to nuts,
| inside and out, and his team mates seem
to know so little Of it. Their work is 50
| foolish and ineffective compared with the
| work of the fellows he's been playing with
for so many years under the main tent.
| A good many of the youngsters with whom
| he Is associated after his canning are all
| swelled up over their imaginary ability. and
| their conceit makes it more difficult for the
| Canned veteran to tolerate them. And,
| for their part, the team companions of an
| old-timer who has Joined them after being
| canned are always on the lookout for
signs of an assumed superiority on his part,
| have a chip on their shoulder for him to
| knock off, SO to speak, from the day that
| he joins, waiting for him to give evil
| dence of grouchineSs over his new and re-
| n cta no aTr1a nd re al W
| ready to hur) the mean and uncharitable
has been" taunt at him at the very first
| opportunity.
No man likes to be denoted in any sta
ton of life, but it comes harder for a ball
player to be "rejooced,' as Corporal Null
! vaney expressed it. than any other kind
| of worker in the vineyard.
| Leaving out Of consideration the natural
| feeling of resentment that possesses him
over being compelled to play with chaps
| whom he enormously outclassed in that
| gone day when he was one of the depend
able men in fast company, his fallen state
comes home to him keenly when he reaches
| the second third or fourth-rate town to
which he has been assigned to play.
For such long stretch of years the
| Canned old player has been used to the
| big cities. He has come to know all of
the cities on the circuit-which comprise
|
try-by heart. He knows what's doing
| in these cities; he has become used to
| the enjoyment of the courtesy of the
| leading theaters in the land; he has
| taken, as matter of course, the cordial
| welcoming mitt in all of the places of
| resort: he has travelled in swell style and
| had the fine rooms en- suite at the best
| hotels, always with a rich porcelain tub
l to wallow in any time he felt like it.; has,
| in brief, become sort of peripate.ic citi-
zen of the world a rounder accustomed
to getting the best of it at every stage.
And most ball players of the major
| leagues are quick to contract luxurious
habits They become extremely exact
ing in the matter of comforts and luxu-
| ries while travelling. The finer enjoy
ments of travel become necessities to
them. They catch on to all Of the new
kinks affected by very well-to-do men of
the world. They become addicted to the
very finest food. they smoke the best CT
| gars, they go in for the best togs that
can be got for money, and all that sort
| OF thing.
In their leisure hours they find them
Iealvoo acsnciatad around the cOrrid0rS of