Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-12

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the game or whether they CONSIDER
work" Is an oft-heard question at proieS-
sional ball games
Some of the more off hand chaps in stand
and bleachers don't even put 1t In the form
pf a question They take 1t for granted
that all players OF the national game IN
the professional ranks are passionatey
enamored of the game. and that theyd
little bit rather play it than eat
What a perfect snapsky 1t Is. they
frame up, this thing of being paid. ana
paid big. just for having fun. All they We
got to do is to dance around grassy yard
for a couple of hours every afternoon. and
the boy with the pay envelopes does the
rest. Pretty soft. call it,
But there isn't any great amount of In
formation behind these off-hand observa-
lions 1t would be about as exact to say
that an orchestra viollnist, or bassoon
player. or manipulation of the piccoio, en-
joys himself at his method of making
livelihood. And yet persons well &C
quainted with instrumentalists of this class
are well aware that their playing becomes
q very sad sort of drag upon them Wltmn
q very few years after they adopt their
profession. Musicians. too, to carry the
comparison along a bit, have at least the
variety of playing different pieces every
day. With the bali player however. the
Composition is the same old thing, day
in and day out throughout the season, ana
the wonder Is not great that perhaps
great majority of the veterans who nave
been playing the professional game tor
eight or ten years or longer learn actually
TO despise the hour when they are called
upon to don their uniforms.
This Is not to argue that conscientious
players of the first grade who have become
weary OF the game don't put their best
efforts forth in delivering the goods which
they are known to possess. But nrst-
rate BAH player may play the game with a
seeming zest and yet be bored beyond rea-
son by 1t. as some of the most accomplished
of the oldtmers like Hans Wagner and
Jim Mcclure, for example, don't in the
least hesitate to admit.
In this respect the harness-sore ball play
ers who lost their acute interest in the
game years ago may in a sense, be lkened
to thoroughbred race horses of the stake
class which, despite the crouch against
continued racing which the best and the
most even-tempered of them develop. go on
doing the best that's In them as long as
they're In training, although to some race
horses of the very highest class the bare
sight of the track as they are led out of the
paddock gate creates within them a sort
! of disgust which they are well able to ana
do indicate by their actions.
y
"Muggsy" McGraw the scrappy manager
OF the Giants, made the astonishing state
ment, In an expansive moment While
back that he'd never really cared much for
one of the most successful players in the
country The reason he gave, however.
was most curious one.
Base ball always took too much out OF
me. even back In the kid days when 1
played hockey to bat EN- around on the
lots" said McGraw. 1T always hashed my
nerves and unstrung me so that wasn't
ft to be seen or heard for some time after
even a scrub-skinned lot game. The trou-
Bile with me Is that never could play any
old kind of a game without getting all
worked up over 1t. When as tyke.
played marbles or Shiny; l was Jus. IA, as
iganish and scrappy. as they call 1t, as
I've ever been since in a game of profes-
sional ball. In fact. no game was ever any
good to me that l couldn't win. That isn't
a hit-making thing for ball player OF
manager to say in these polite, after-you-
Alphonse days. when the knockers seem to
think it's a crime for man to want TO
win but I'm not conversing now for the
sake of making hit. but to state the
truth. In playing or managing. the game
of ball Is only fun for me when L m out III
front and winning. I don't care bag or
peanuts for the rest of the game. Results
for mine. and results mean beating the
other bunch That's fun, If anything IN
connection with base ball is fun. Getting
licked isn't any fun. As a manager OF
member of a tail-end bali club I'd go bug
house inside of two months
**
The gloomy-browed Clark Griffith is an
other of the managers who looks up out OF
shaggy brows with sort OF expression OF
sulen surprise at the mere suggestion that
a ball player can actually have any fun In
the game
"Fun?" he said to a group down In At
lantic City one recent Sunday when his
team was playing a series with the AthletlcS
I'm PHILADELPHIA. ITS about the same klno
OF fun for me as carrying the NOD or movo
ing pianos would be. l don't see Where tne
hat
players to go out on a hot. sticky. sun
soaked lot every afternoon. and sweat ana
grunt around for couple or hours at the
same old game that most OF them nave
been playing for years. / think II the
average man had date to play hve or SIN
games of casino or blind mans bur or
puSs-ln- the-corner every summer afternoon
ont in some open space, with thousands or
bowling critics looking on who think tney
know more about whatever games being
played than the players themselves, ne
mighty soon forget all about the funny
part of it. Base ball is the hardest work
know anything about, and I've done
heap of hard work In my life besides play
ing ball. I'm not speaking now. either, OF
managing team-just playing the game ~
hard enough. OF course. the young chaps'
just butting into the big company, PICK
little enjoyment out of the thing for the
first few years but l know plenty or young
ones in the game nowadays VINO nate .,ie
sight of the bus that takes them 10 tne
grounds. The sameneSs or the game Is
bound TO get on a players nerves ADDED
to the sameness is the chance every player
has of making mistake at every stage ol
the game and the humiliation following
the mistake and the boots of the crowd.
and all that sort of thing. You've got 10
show me where there's any greater strain
TO be found anywhere. When II comes 70
managing a team and playing. too-well.
thereve been times when I've felt ike
walking off the lot to the dressing room,
taking off my uniform and never getting
into It again. Playing the game every DAY
month IN and month out is drudgery ana
strain enough. but managing bunch Is
- and the Old Fox gave utterance 10
the word that Gen. Sherman used to ex-
press his idea of war.
Taking the players at random in both OF
the big leagues and the same expressions
are to be heard from many OF them as to
the FUN" element OF the game.
"Td sooner take spade and go out IN