Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15
BALL PLAYERS NOT
IDOLIZED ANY MORE

IF there is one element of base ball
which seems to be disappearing" said Jack
oConnor the other day, lit is personal
magnetism-the feeling of strong individual
attraction which drew half the fans to the
parks in the good old days. Now, when
you go to the ball park, why do you go?
To see a good bali game. and to see, you
hope, your own citys team clean up the
other fellows. If you went TO the park
twenty years ago, why did you go? To
see the game-yes, and more than that-to
see this, that OF the other individual play
ball
"Of course there are great players and
there players whom the people turn
out to see. but l don't think there will ever
be another Mike Kelly, and l doubt If
there will ever be another Lange"
The backstop might have added that
there never would be another Arson for
of all the players who have come and gone
since Uncle" last hurled a ball or regis
tered a kick. there has been nobody TO re-
place the giant leader of the old Chicago
team.
What O'Connor said Is strangely correct.
The personal magnetism feature of the
game is disappearing. Team work and col
lective performance have replaced the sys-
tenn of individual stars. The two big cards
Of today-Wagner and Lajoie-are wonder
ful players, but when did crowd ever
warm up TO these marvels as the old-time
fans did to the old-time stars? When did
any one ever hear a supper-table throng
bubbling the praises OF Wagner and La
3oie they did the gIores of Kelly and
of Latham?
1t is quite likely that the business-Iike,
money-saving, Notwithstanding young man
who now plays ball for a living is, me-
chemically speaking, more reliable player
than his predecessor.
His clear head and steady hands proba-
bly, gather up a larger percentage of hot
grounders with fewer spills than were reg
istered by the jolly fellow whom the older
fans adored- 1t would be hard to convince
anybody, however, that the sober and close
listed youth was Il better batter than the
Joyous star of long ago, and where there
is one real. genuine, popular favorite to-
day there were ten as recently as 1889.
1t is no exaggeration to say that there
are only handful of big-league players
today who receive a free burst of spon-
taneous applause unless they have actually
done something in the game. A good catch
or long drive receives the appreciation al
ways accorded by the crowd. but how many
men are there who-especially in other
towns than their own-are cheered while
marching 10 the rubber?
Yet there were men years back whose
very appearance On the field was the Sig
nal for yell after yell of delight and adj
miration. Have the times changed. have
the fans changed, or is 1t a change among
the players?
Both the players and the crowds are
inherent SAID OCOnnOr. The public
isn't playing favorites as 1t used to. and
the latter-day teams don't contain as many
mixers.
"One thing sure. The players of the
present time. IL not as popular as the older
fellows. don't give half the trouble to their
managers. Some of the most popular play
ers OF twenty years ago We're also the
hardest to control. and II was this popu-
larity which made them unruly"
The love of the fans for Mike Kelly has
never gone out to any other player as IL
did to the fun-producing Irishman who