The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-19
SOUTHERN TRIP !.
NOT SATISFACTORY
Baseball Magnates Will Probably
Drop: the Dixie 1nvasions
~.,....... in Spring.

Chicago, March 1e.-This probably will be the
last spring in which major league baseball
teams will begin their training 80 close To
midwinter,> as, they have for many years.
There has been marked disposition Of late 70
shorten these spring trips, both in time ana
distance covered. and for several reasons The
experience of many clubs this year Will go tar
toward producing a more radical change OF
policy than would otherwise be made.
From all over the south have come reports
Of bad weather and poor results in the matter
of getting practice, altho some of the teams
have been in training for two and three weeks.
The best favored teams are those which went
into Texas, and these have, been handicapped
by rains and the cold "northers" for which
the state is famous. The Chicago Nationals,
for whom were selected the most northerly
doors by snow, but they have Jared no worse
than the white stockings, who went as far south
as they could get. only to be shut OF from
steady work by transforms
New Workers. Experiences.
The New York Nationals attempted to avoid
extremes in either direction by choosing Mem
phis, and for the same reason the New York
highlanders went to Birmingham, Ala Both
ran into bad weather and only recently polo
ground fans were thrown. into a fit by the
announo enent that Christy Mathewson. on whose
health rests the giants. hope for another, pen
nant had contracted nasal diphtheria as the
result Of a severe cold caught while practicins
On wet grounds. Location distance and expense
have counted little this year in the matter ot
dit.Oning the players. ~-.u...
Before the present training season began, sew
eral club owners announced this would be their
last ear Of extensive trips The latest convert
is Ned Hanlon >. the new leader Of the Ctncin-
| natl reds, who 50 far have had the best luck
Of the sixteen clubs: .EhI.G.s -. ..~ T..
Hanlon has announced that next year he will
make a radical change, and cut the! training
down to three weeks. 1T is his idea only the
pitchers need longer than that to. get into
playing form. He wlfasend 5his pitching staff
and some catehers into asouthern city. six
weeks before the7cha mpionshfp season is sched-
uled to open, ,let them work their arms gradu-
ally into, condition, and sthen join the regular
players inS some moderate climate for the re-
naming period of preparation which will be de-
| voted to putting the feeders into form physi-
! cally and to a few practice games. He argues
| that the regulars need only three weeks .af
| practice and If the preliminary work is made
| longer they are likely to lose interest or 60
stale before the opening of the real season. The
three weeks can, be divided UP into one week
| Of boiling out and two weeks of outdoor prac-
tice, With gradually increasing speed. :
| Ballplayers Of major league experience and
ability do not need extensive practice to re-
tain their skill in either. batting or fielding
! Time Is needed only to train the muscles back
| into such form that they will stand hard use
! without soreness Back in the days Of the
bicycle, fad devotees who took their wheels
! out OF 6tora &c. IN the spring NOT nave u
| learn the trick Of riding, over again. There
might be a little less sureness of hand and eve
| in guiding the thing, "a little more apparent
sxertion required to propei It, but the old skill
returned in day or two Care was necessary
| to avoid OVERRIDING it at first. and there was
| an Inevitable soreness, Of the muscles after
their long rest. but that was all
! In the way ballplayers acquire their
I former sureness Of hand and eye in short Or
der every spring. 1t is natural instinct which
returns almost immediately. +,
I :. -Four Weeks Before the Start.
Nearly. four weeks, are left before the Nation
| al league season opens and more than that
! The players. can experience another week OF
j had weather and still have all that Ned Han
! lon thinks necessary to get into championship
| form. This years experience will be watched
1 with interest on that account. If the teams
+ which have been kept back in their work show
i as good. condition when the real race begins
/ as those which had the advantage Of Longer
time out Of DOORS there will be, general rust
4 next season to curtail spring training .
Chicago's. Nationals peyer" have started of bet
! ter in the spring than they did in the twt
YEARS they worked out: at Champaign: pre-
vious to getting the, California fever, and after
cutting southern trips some FIVE years ago
A repetition Of their Champaign form this yeal
will mean permanent return to the short tril
and short training policy, Of President. Murphy
Before leaving for the south President Cornis
trip for his team would be curtailed to thirty
days at most. =; He would cut It up into i
week Of mineral baths, preferably at Marlin
Tex, "a week Of light: practice and ten. day y
Of exhibition games with minor clubs : I
4 - ~ =: Southerners Get Wise.
i i. Another thing which will initiate, agains
long training trips and longer exhibition sche1
ules is the restriction of the traffic in mino
league players which doubtless will be en-
forced before, another, year Time was. not 8.
long. ago.. when exhibition games IN the sout
were profitable enough to meet the expenses o.
= training trip and sometimes there was J:
profit But enterprising efforts to get as muci
as possible of the coin Of the realm out of tn.
7 south brought about the policy Of splittin,
teams up into two sections IN order to pla,
| as many games as possible, Southern fans arr
! not bucolic3 on baseball dope and after the.
had been "conned' once or twice, by team
! made up OF substitutes and minus most Of thu
1 star players whom they knew belonged to Ger
tain clubs and whom they went to see,: the.
1 wised and withheld their patronage. s.
In consequence practically all teams hav
been compelled to split up and spread out owe
different sections of the south in order to com
anyWhere near making expenses, and the pat
ronage IS constantly decreasing. in proper
ton. The = two-team-' policy has necessitate,
4 taking a large number OF players along ant
Is one source Of the growing evil Of "coyerin.
up miner league players. Steps have bee
taken. by the national Commission largely thr,
the. efforts Of Ban Johnson and Garry Hermann
-, to prevent and punish clubs which engage i,
the practice Of Covering up players, with tn
result that few club owners are likely to pur
r chase or draft more men from the minors mex
), year than they need to recruit the ranks O
! their own teams. - $, Ez.. is:.s & Z
/ j, ARE GOING SOUTH