The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-14
GRIFFIN TALKS ON
SPRING TRAINING
What Getting Down to Weight
Really Means
SOME MUST PUT ON MEAT
Removal of Fat From About the Aldo
men Is the Most Important Part
of Baseball Players
Training.
SOME MUST PUT ON MEAT

what do you mean by getting down to
weight on a ball club?" bystander asked
OF Clark Griffith yesterday.
Grif stopped minute, scratched his
head. went to the bench and sat down
Seeing the fellow was scientifically inter-
ested he began to talk.
1T isn't all in getting down to weigh"
he began; some players need to get up
to weight But to answer your question
directly, getting down to weight means
getting rid of surplus fat. Some players
need more weight than they possess but
a large majority need to take it off.
well, where is the weight located that
effects a player most"'
Fat on the stomach or abdomen IS
more in a players way than on any other
part of his body. A ball player mas 10 De
continually STOPPING so that his hands
will touch the ground. Stop to thihk
minute and think how hard that would De
for the ordinary citizens. Two or three
stoops and you would be all in Conse-
ouently all surplus flesh on the abdomen
must come off or the ball player cannot
get down to the ground without great
effort. No man can be an intielder with
out being agile as he is STOPPING and
bending from side to side throughout the
game The pitcher also suffers wher
weighted down with fat on the abdomen
as the center of his body is practically
the base of human lever. His lunge
of his body backward and forward gives
the ball its momentum, while the direc-
ton is governed by the shoulder and
arms. The curves are governed by the
forearm and the fingers
'It is rather a peculiar fact eontln-
ued Grif. that the same system OF
training will take abdominal fat off some
players and put it on others. Frequently
| have seen thin men like Dougherty,
Keller or Clarkson pick up weight during
the spring training, while men like Jack
Chesbro were dropping 1t off at the rate
OF three or four pounds day. 1t shows
that nature knows more about training
than any athlete living. 1t gives weight
where it is needed and takes it off where
it binders free action and good work
New, tell me, continued the inquisitor,
how do players gain what they cal
'wind?' "
well. wind is nothing more than en-
durance." laughed the old pitcher.
ITO give a player wind Is an easy prop
osition. 1t all works together. Whenever
you take off fat that increases the wind.
OF course breathing exercises and such
things as that are nice for increasing the
expansion of the chest but we take none
of those physical culture schemes into
baseball. They are not needed Hard out
door exercise Is what a baseball player
needs For years the players have known
that the best flesh reducer known to base
ball is a little thing you see nearly every
day during the season. One player pitches
the ball to batter and he hunts 1t back
to him. The continual STOPPING after the
ball and throwing it back soon has man
dropping with perspration. The player
who acts fielder gets so interested in pick
ing up the ball that he does not realize
how hard he is working. You can see
this any day during the season around
the foul lines and next to the grand stand
at the New York parks, in fact at any
Oluti pain
''Well, now as a last question, tell me
what medicinal methods are used for
preventing soureness or stiffenng of the
muscles as far as possbe?'
Mike Martin, our trainer, could tell you
better about that but l guess / can inform
you Some players are easily effected
with soreness. Immediately after leaving
the field they take a bath and are than
stretched out on regular eaining table,
as prize fighters and athletes generally
call them The rubber then gives them an
alcohol bath and rubs this in until the
muscles are pliahle. 1t is practically the
same as a massage except that alcohol
is used to rub In the pores. OF course
there are many kinds of rubbing lniments
but | understand that alcohol is the basis
of all them"