Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-04-17
SHOULD KEEP WEIGHT
Hugh Jennings Regards This as a
Baseball Necessity.

Hugh Jennings, the old Brooklyn
and Baltimore keeper Of the halfway
mark. and now manager of the De-
troit Americans. is a strong advocate
of ballplayerS keeping down to the
proper weight. ard in the Tiger camp
this season the rule will be enforced
even if he has u put the ball tossers
on a regular diet. In an interview re-
Gently he gave out the following inter-
esting facts: zone of the hardest les
sons Il ball player has to learn; one.
indeed. that many players never learn,
is that every pound of flesh that they
carry over their proper weight is Just
50 much of q handicap to them. You
often see a pitcher beaten to a base by
the ball by d fraction of second
By half a step. perhaps. This hap
pens again and again. Investigate and
you will generally find that he is five,
six or perhaps ten pounds overweight.
Take George Mullin of the Detroit
team. for an example He can carry
100 pounds and play grand ball. But
he can't carry 1876 pounds and do him.
self justice. George knows this and
50 he is taking just the amount Of
exercise necessary to keep him from
up. 1t isn't always a knowledge of
what to do, and it isn't exactly being
out of conditior-so far as taking ordi-
| nary good care of ones self is con-
cerned-that keeps a player from be-
ing success. The real reason is a
lack of knowledge as to the avoirdu-
poiS at which he is at his best and
the determination to maintain that
weight a any cost to his own COM
fort Go back to Ned Hanlon's days
in Baltimore. Ned knew to an ounce
| just how much each man OH his team
ought to weigh to be at his best. and
| he saw to it that we did rot get be
You'd those figures. 1t meant lots Of
| hard work for US sometimes; exercise
when we were ali tired out and want
cd TO rest. but it paid. Han
| Ions cid pitchers were big factor
| in helping him win the pennant three
years in succession, because they could
lun the bases. They knew the weight
| at which they We're at their best and
| maintained it. This knowledge and
| this weight meant to them many a
| time that small fraction of a second,
| that extra step. that enabled them to
reach first in safety when pitcher
who gave no heed to this phase of his
| condition would have been retired. 1t
IS a great thing for a ball player to
| find out the weight at which he can 20
his best races and then stick to il. how
ever much extra work it involves.
am able to recall one ball player who
showed gratitude after he had made
his mark. toward the man who helped
| ID. iS
| IN" old Baltimore and Brooklyn pitcher
l first met Jimmie on the coast while
| on a baseball tour during the winter
of 1898. He pitched against us and
beat us, to 8, in fine exhibition OF
twirling. He made a hit with me and
| made it a point to see him that eve
ming. He informed me that he had de.
clded to come East and enter the Ma
| tlonal League the next spring but said
that he expected to make his debut
with PittsburS or New York. | told
him that | would get him more money
with Baltimore and he could have a
champion club behind him, too. Han.
Ion authorized me to bid 81, S0O and
landed him. He made good with a rush
winning his first two games without
allowing his opponents hit in either
Of them and continuing at a terrific
clip through the whole year. The next
spring, L believe it was. Hughes called
me aside and in few stammerina
woPds, told me that he owed me &
great debt Of gratitude for starting hin
right. He pressed a package on me a.
q token of his esteem and l accepted
it as perforce. What I found inside ha.
been with me on my watchchain evel
since. 1t is handsome fob, solid golt
and set with diamond. On the bach
it bears the simple inscription, Pre-,
sented to Hugh Jennings by Jas
Hughes, 1885,. y