Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-17
ONLY SEVEN WEEKS
TO BASE BALL SEASON
Bostons Will Begin the Race in
This City With the Ma
tionaIs.
By J. G. Morse.


BOSTON, Mass. February 16.-Just seven
weeks from Thursday next the majo league
| season will be on, and if rumor is correct
the Phillies will have the Boston opening.
while the Americans will jump from Can
ton, Ohio, to open the season in Wash
ington.
The training for the championship con-
tests Is already on. For years the Hot
Springs in Arkansas have been the favorite
resort fer players anxious to report in the
best OF form, and this season already finds
many players there. But one club goes to
the Hot Springs as q whole-the Pittsburg
array-and that controls the use of the
grounds there
Barney Dreyfus, the owner of the con-
trolling interest in the club, has been very
kind to the players Of other clubs in the
use of the grounds. He was very wroth a
season ago. however, when he was charged
with trying TO entice Bill Dineen of the
Boston Americans from that club. OF
course. there was nothing in the charge at
all. but Barney got warm over the idea
that he should allow other players the free
use Of his grounds and then suffer abuse
for 80 doing. He threatened to withdraw
the privileges of the grounds from other
than his own players, but George Dewey,
the president of the Boston Nationals, hap
pened to be at the Hot Springs at the
time and succeeded in smoothing Barney
down so that nothing came of the incident.
There was little chance indeed of Dineen
going to P1ttsburg, for so to do he would
have to pass the gauntlet of the American
League, and that was entirely out of the
question.
Now, in addition to sending his men to
the Hot Springs, Barney will give them
week at West Baden, resort easily ac-
cessible. Here, too, the Boston Americans
VIII assemble later, and hard by is French
Lick, where the Boston Nationals will be
before they will go to Thomasville. Ga.
for their spring practice: Cincinnati finds
Marlin, Tex, most delightful place in
which to condition the men. So more and
more the owners of clubs are sending their
players to some famous resort in which to
condition.
Cost Of Training Trips.
OF course, all of this is gratuitous ON
the part of the club. The players seem to
think that it is the regular and proper
thing to do. On the other hand, some
club owners. and even some managers.
think that all of this spring jaunting is q
needless expenditure and that the players
can do just as we'll On their own grounds.
1t Is by no means an inexpensive thing to
send a lot Of ball players away for six
weeks or SO. 1t has been estimated that a
training trip Of this nature will cost at
least 5000. Players used to go to resorts
like the Hot Springs at their own expense.
owing to the fact that 1t did them a lot of
good, and they footed their own bills. Now
II player desires to go to such a place the
club generally settles. 1t has been the GUS
tom Of the Cleveland and Boston Ameri-
cans to send their batteries to the Hot
Springs in advance of the departure of the
other Dlayers for training grounds, and
this has meant increased expense which
the club has met. This year Detroit has
fallen in line by sending the batteries out
| in advance and, as matter of fact, the
practice of sending batteries out ahead Of
the club has grown so that it has become
general.
Many players are slow to appreciate the
1iberality of their employers at this season
of the year. The other day one man wanted
his club to pay his travelling expenses to
the place of spring training and also to de-
fray the cost of his uniform.
Ball tossers have ut very easy indeed in
this respect compared with the members
of the theatrical profession. Actors pay
Ball tossers have their board bills paid
and they generally stay at the best hotels.
Say what they may about the Boston
National League club said Fred Tenney
passed on the way our boys travelled I
was not stinted at all in this matter and
there was never as much as criticism
passed on any bill I ever submitted to the
officials of the club. At times was obliged
to take limited trains to make my destina-
ton when I could have taken chance
on lower-prlced train, but no objection
to my choice ever came to my ears"
% IL COStS ClS ilOtilil6 d. Oil
while the club is on the road, and that
means no little saving during a season.
Some very amusing stories are told of the
way some of the players stint themselves
during trip. In more than one case of
the married ball player the wife holds the
pccketbook and the player turns over to
her his salary as soon as he receives it,
and SO he has to go to her for his pocket
of a player that he went on a long trip
with IS and came back with the same v
at the end of the trip. Perhaps he eked
out his possessions by good luck at hanky
panky.
It is the usual thing to allow a player 81
for each meal when the club Is on the
road, and many prefer to indulge in light
eating while on the cars, and the result Is
that some find 1t an easy matter to knock
out good proportion of the So per diem
allowed them. A shift from the routine
table d'hote to bananas or other fruit is
not at all baneful to the ball player.
No club owner ever treated his men more
literally than Dreyfuss. With him moth
ing was too good for them. He used to
take his men down to Atlantic City for a
few days.
success financially than the Pittsburg club.
and few cost more to run than this club.
Club Trainers.
Again, the practice of securing trainers
for clubs Is more general than ever. The
local American League club will have one
this season for the first time. The National
League will have one who had charge Of
the club once before-Dr. w. E. Edwards,
who has made ball players a study for
years. and. being possessed of splendid
medical knowledge. is peculiarly adapted
for the position, and the club Is fortunate
indeed to command his services
Again, the expense of running club has
been increased owing to the sums ex-
pended for ball players. Where clubs used
to be content with moderate complement
Of players, now the number runs well into
the thirties, and 1t has reached the forty
mark. Some clubs have expended small
fortunes to secure first-class players and
have had precious little to show for the
money that has been expended.
Scouting for Players.
So eager are clubs to get players that
many of them have trained scouts to scour
the country and secure the best material.
Manager Mack of the Athletics was one Of
the first to see that in order to secure first
class players it was necessary to search the
country for them, and he succeeded in
landing much excellent material Now
every club Is sparing no effort to secure
any promising talent that is available.
The competition in all the leagues is get
ting more keen with each season.
The professional gamesters here are losing