Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-04

two Hghtest eaters on the Washington team
last year were Malachi Kfttredge. the
catcher. and Punch Knoll. Both of these
men have tendency to take on flesh but
they weren't light eaters merely on that ac-
count but simply because they preferred to
shade their supply OF victuais In proportion
to their appetites. Kittredge declares that
| he takes on two pounds every time he stops
to gaze into a restaurant window, but he
also declares and affirms in all solemnity
that the more he eats the more his weight
decreases. So that. IL he chose to be a big
eater. on his system. as he states. 1t would
really decrease his bulk. But he prefers to
go slowly on the eating, and he sticks to
about the same weight during the playing
season Charlie Hickman is another of the
Washington men who looks as Ii he might
outeat a hired man during the harvest sea-
son, and yet he only nibbies at food three
times day. and never puts anything really
hearty away. Taking the grand average,
however ball players are heavy eaters.
They deny themselves nothing that they
| like to eat, and plenty of them, after the
regular list of three meals day, put away
WEIGH rarehits and such like before turning
in at night.
Talking about turning in brings up the
fact that many ball players are night owls.
and this Is another curious fact about
them, considering them as athletes They
go to theaters very often while they re on
the road, and. after the show stop some
where and eat. Then they return to their
hotels, dawdle around their rooms, play
cards, some of them, for couple of hours,
and then slide into bed as late as or 8
o'clock In the morning. And yet the great
majority of them are downstairs in the
morning for the o'clock breakfast. There
are exceptions to this rule, of course. as to
the early rising part of it, but / am speak
ing in mass. Kfttredge of the Washington
club is one of the exceptions. Earth
quakes, wild horses, floods. cyclones. cata-
clysms of nature of any or all sorts-none
of these things would avail the slightest
to get Kit out of his little hay pallet before
the high and blooming hour of noon.
And them too, the very great majority
of ball players--as many, l believe. as nine
teen out of twenty-smoke Not only that,
but many of them smoke during all their
waking hours when they're not playing
ball. Worse yet quite a lot of them smoke
cigarettes. But smoking, even inveterate
smoking, even cigarette smoking. doesn't
seem to bother them any or interfere with
their speed. But not many of them drink
| This fact ought to be better known. Some
ball players have the reputation of being
drinking men who hardly know the taste
of drink.
Rugged Lot of Men.
But here We have the combination: The
extreme fatigue of almost ineessant travel,
no dietary system whatever smoking on
the part of almost all, and pretty late hours
for good many. and yet these ball playing
athletes. unlike any other known kind of
athletes, go right playing the game
keeping in condition, and delivering the
goods The one conclusion must be that
they're mighty rugged and hearty lot of
men to start with, although great many
of them don't look it.
Another curious thing about ball play
ers is that very few of them are muscular
men. Some of the very best players are
really as soft as women. Some, indeed of
the heaviest hitters are fellows with nary
knob of muscle either on their arms or
shoulders Ask ball players about this and
they'll tell you that it's just as it should
be, and that the last thing ball player
wants or needs is to become muscular or
too strong" The muscular player is al
ways in danger of becoming muscle bound
and the muscular man, too. is much more
liable to charley horse in the shape of
rheumatism or stiffening. And as to slug
ging the pill, it's not the knobs on the
batsman's wings that send the ball over
the top of the fence, but the way the pei
let's swatted. c. l.. c.