Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-08
HOW BALL PLAYERS FEEL
ABOUT "BOOTING IT"

tefs ponce and charging myself with swind-
mig Comiskey out or the wages he digs up
for me. But when | boot three on the same
afternoor-help, stop theft I'm running
away from my shadow like a dog chasing
his tan and I'm just as near being q subject
lot BOBBY hatch as anybody out OF a
straitjacket ever gets to be Boots, Saw I
| never pass by q shot shop II can help 1t;
that s how leary am on the subject of
boots. one thing. though--when / get the
boot from the bunch near first base in a
tour town tighten up just In proportion to
the length and meanness OF the laugh II
gets the Muliigan to seething in me when
tney sup the Jeer for a misplay, and | fell
Ike showing em that I'm not Just mas
auerading in a uniform for my money after
All. Ihere are days. OF course, when all
of the tightening in the world won't do a
fellow any good-when the booting is going
TO continue right on to the dismal finish
And when those days glide along-say let's
tsik about getting our-teeth fixed or some-
thing else cheerful"
Bill Bradley's Comment
The taciturn BIZ Bradley the eminent
third guard of the Lajoie combination, ex-
pressed himself briefly but pointedly when
asked how he felt on one OF his booting
days.
Like as If Ia never beef again to the
business manager OF the team for a lower
berth in the sleeper" he said. Like ifI
ought to apologize for living.
Hobo Ferris. the acute,y sensitive plant
who attends to sack No. Tor the J Col
ms tribe, doesn't make any bones what
ever about stating how he feels when a
couple OF easy ones get away from him
feel as II I'd Ike TO run out Cf the
iot' md the nearest market store ana lump
INTO couple OF the marketman's bushei
baskets OF eggs standing out I'm front" was
ms way OF putting il. 1T doesn't mako me-
reel so cheap as it does make me sore. Sore
with myself and everybody EspeclaIiy
when a roller goes through nv legs I've
ieit Ike d walk fourteen miles through a
quick bog to break some aged mans arms
with fence picket after letting TWO OF
these rollers slip through my props. one
after another. Nothing that 1 eat tastes
any gooa to me for twenty-four hours after
We had a bootlng seance. Neither does a
| smoke go right Time alone can salve the
feelings of booter. Comforting words
from fellows team mates won't do It. 1
don want EN- even to mention II TO me
whether they want to be comforting or nor
q rather crawl into a cave and fight II out
with myself"
o'Leary's System.
charlie O'Leary, the nimble little short
stop OF the Detroit club has got a system
on That boots thing" as he puts It. and he
Deiieves In this system just as implicitly
as ne believes in eating three times a day.
My system is this he told ME not lons
ago. with all the solemnity in the world
When 1 make one punkerino 1 know
tnat there's another one going to follow
right on the heels of It. I'VE watched n
work out that way for years and never
saw 1t fail. won't say as to other play
erS, but the boots gag always goes tandem
.oT me- never stopped al one before |
LOOK this SYSTEM the other one, or even
two. were invariably lurking right close be-
hlnd the first one. Well. nowadays. after
We played jacks with one l just don't go
alter the next thing that comes my way at
all don't care If it Is pasted right at
me, In the air or on the groundI just stand
and look at 1t as IL had no more to do
with tnan had with deep-sea diving, and
let the center gardener take care of IT.
ihat stops the boots thing for me. |
know that II l do go after anything that
comes my way Immediately after I've boot
ed one l m going to lose It, so, rather than
take chance, l let it glide by. That acts
as kind Of charm to conjure and watt
the noots business away from me. I'm on
The Job and all right Immediately after I've
pufposely let one go by me. May sound
IKE bug system. but Ii works out right
Tor me. and I'm going to stay with 1t TIL
l find something better"
Clark Griffith, the sallow grim-ViSaged
| Welshman whose Highlanders have been IN
near the top of the tree, when not on the
very ioftiest branch. lately, looks sour when
the booting thing LIS even mentioned in his
presence.
Clark Griffith's Experience.
Few ball players are of any account for
the remainder OF the game after they've
the subject not long ago IF it were
practicable-that is. II I had enough men
I'd yank player out of the game imme-
diately he made his first error and put
fresh man in. 1t doesn't as a matter OF
course, always mean. when a player makes
an error, that he isn't in good trim, but
when a player boots one especially an
easy one, 1t Is bound to gnaw his nerve.
He'll fret and fume over it, and then the
booting thing Is likely to spread to the
| other fellows right away. There never was
an inheld. no matter how strong, since the
game began that wasn't likely TO go ball
looming once the bootfng business set in.
Nervousness spreads like spider-webs being
blown through the air. and a nervous ball
player is OF just about as much use as a
hystericai fat woman at fire. When my
| flock begin to boot it in the carly stages
OF game the only thing l root for Is
that the opposing teamH follow suit. And
that's what happens a good deal oftener
than the figures show-one team setting the
opposing team the example OF booting the
ball. / mean When they both begin to
kick II around the rest OF it's all In the
break. But. break or no break, the mean
est hours I've ever known In my life have
been when the booting infection took such
a hold on the team in my charge that the
men couldn't shake IL off even by rolling
on the ground A stake horse can make
himself look like selling platter on the one
day in his life when he backs UP as he
approaches the wire. and the booting thing
can make the finest ball club that ever got
under a shower bath look like bunch OF
sweat-shop tailors playing beanbag for the
fishcakes. Luckily such days. when whole
team falls down. don't come often. l could
see my voluntary finish as a manager II
they did, c. L. c.
British Rihemen Coming.
LONDON, July THE rife team Of tho