Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-31
ALWAYS MADE GOOD

william Fowler, the business manager of
the Washington ball club, happened to be
present the other night when group OF
his friends fell to discussing the value OF
first Impressions" Most of the men In
the party expressed tho conviction that first
impressions are infaiiibly the correct inn
pressions. invariably proved by the
trend of events following the first impress
sions
Now" put In Mr.. Fowler taking issue
with that presentation of the case II used
to think that way myself until I met up
with Coach Quirk. the trainer of the
Washington ball club. Quirk made me
change my mind about the value of first
impressions.
when Quirk first joined the club last
year nobody knew much about him-about
his personality. that is to say. ITO came
highly Recommended. and he quickly proved
himself crack trainer Of athletes, but as
to his record and previous business
body knew much But the boys Of the club
liked Quirk all right They found him
pretty conversational. and for this reason
they kdded him q good deal. From some
OF the things that Quirk incidentally men
toned about his past career the frs. i'm
preston might easily have heen derived
that Quirk was addicted to dreaming This
was. In fact. the first impression derived by
all hands attached to the team, including
myself.
But the reel OF curious statements made
bY Coach Quirk began 20 gradually I'M
coll, and every time link was let out
Qnirk was ahead of the game.
For example, take that PittsDurg restau-
rant business on the teams first western
TIP last year. We were on our way to
cleveland. and. leaving Washington about
O'Clock at night, we reach ed PittsburR at
breakfast time next morning We expected
TO pick up diner at Pittsburg but the
diner didn't show up. Moreover, the train
was held over for a couple of hours in the
P1ttsburg station. Five or six OF us, the
first TO get out OF our hunks, were crouch
ing around the car, sore hungry. and lick
ins.like blazes over our lnck OF break
fast.
" Come on, you fellows cut in Qujrk,
and III take you to the best rest auran. in
Pfttsburg for a breakfast I used to be
night manager OF that restaurant. It's only
a few blocks from the station Come on
We derIded and reviled Guisk. His yarn
about having been night manager Of q
swell Pittsburg restaurant made US tired.
and. what with the hunger. too. we Just
sift any such a fairy tale into u.s. But he
was SO dead earnest about It. and we were
SO eager for our Java as ball players call
their breakfast, that at length we followed
and then down three or four blocks of
Pittsburg streets.
"Quirk ushered us into about as tidy and
clever restaurant you'd want to see
AND he'd no sooner showed his face In the
door than all OF the employees Of the res
taurant gathered around him and gave him
the glad mitt. All Of the scores Of waiter
| girls were there with broad smiles of well
come for him. the cashier clapped him
heartily on the back. and even the boss
cher and the assistant chefs and the SOUL
| Hons came grlnning out Of the kitchen when
they heard Quirk was in front, and, wiping
their hands on their aprons. gave him the
hearty hand Then we sat down to as fine
layout Of cantaloupe and iced sliced toma-
I toes and steak and chops and griddle cakes
and other breakfast things as we got any
| where all last season. and they prepared the
stuff and served it with especial care all
| because Of the fact that Quirk was In
| charge of the outfit.
I'VE sang a bit small our way back
| to the waiting train. Quirk had been night
| manager of that restaurant and he had
made good.
We'll, when we got to Detroit, Quirk fell
| to talking rather complaisantly one rainy
afternoon about the way he'd been able to
shoot when he was young feliow-ouirk
although J. wouldn't dare tell him so to his
| face There was some kind Of a fancy
shootist at one of the Detroit vaudeville
this shootist work on the night before, and,
when they began to talk about 1t, Quirk
cut In with this talk of his about the way
| he'd been able to shoot when he was a
youngster. Said he'd Travelled with one Of
| the earliest OF the wild west shows in the
capacity of fancy shot. and all that sort
| OF stur-sounded pretty raw: Sounded so
, raw, in fact that seven or eight OF the boys,
unable to stand 1t any longer, finally
grabbed their hats and challenged Quirk to
| go out to the nearest shooting gallery and
| scare Quirk to death. But 1t didn't. Quirk
| was there. He went with 'em. 1 went
| along to watch the proceedings.
"Quirk gave, at that shooting gallery In
| Detroit. an exhibition Of fancy shooting
| that wouldve made Capt. Bogardus and
| Annie Oakley and Frank Frayne sit I'D and
| take notice. He could just about play any
| old kind of tune asked for on the bunch
| of ringing targets, and he could hold his
gun any old way and make the bing-bing
| just the same Standing up. lying down,
| shooting with the aid of sight mirrors-it
| was all the same to the coach. He was
| there with all kinds. and when he got
| through playing those oblgatos of his on
| the target bells we all kind O. skunk back
| to say much. Our kidding had been shown
| up once again. Quirk had made good on
| that shooting thing and we were the ones
| shown up.
ut wasn't long before we were hooting
| Quirks statements egain however. and we
were especially riotous and fragrant In our
| expressions OF utter disbelief when, after
| reaching st. Louis, Quirk happened to men,
| ton one day that, in his youth, he'd been
| a pretty nifty kind of sprinter himself
| that he'd been able, in fact, to put down
| a hundred yards In something pretty close
| to 10 seconds. We simply could not stand
such a bald and raw assertion as this on
Quirk's part and we told him SO with great
boIsterousness and zest. Charley Jones,
| our outfelder, one Of the niftiest runners
| In the game, was particularly enraged over
QUirk's assertion about that hundred yards
| in something close to the 10-second mark.
Whereupon the rash Quirk-we figured for
| suro he was rash-got back at Charley
| Jones by saying that he'd go right out
in the street that minute, and run Jones
seyenty-hv yards for money, marbles or
chalk Jones felt foolish for even listen
ing to such a challenge But the boys all
urged him to take Quirk up, just for the
purpose of putting an end to Quirk's I'M
believablc yarns abont his ability as a
runner So we all went out to the street
IN front or the Southern Hotel in St. Louis
and seventy-fve yards were measured or
pretty approximately. Jake StahI gave the
starting signal. Qufrk and Jones got off on
line to a swell start. and Quirk beat Jones
about foot over the measured distance
We'll, what dye think of that old string
besn?' exclaimed Jones, puzzIedly. after
the race. and that's about the way we all
felt over IT,