The wageworker., 1908-11-14
WINTER WORK OF
DIAMOND ARTISTS
MAJORITY OF BASEBALL PLAYERS
HAVE OTHER OCCUPATIONS
DURING OFF SEASON.
UPWARD TREND OF PERSONNEL
Profession Rapidly Changing to One
Of ciass-Pitcher Mathewson En-
gagged in Insurance Business While
Bresnahan Is Detective-Some
Own Farms and Ranches

There are few of the fans who sit in
the stands during the baseball season
and watch the big league teams battle
for their championships who give
thought to what the players do all
winter. Many appear to take it for
granted that the men who cavort
about the diamond in their spiked
shoes and ball togs do nothing but
loaf all winter But such is not the
case. The majority of the exponents
OF the national game are busy lot
during the closed season in baseball
Some own farms, others are agents
for companies of various kinds, still
others do police work or run billiard
and pool rooms, while at least one,
Joe MCGinnity, owns an iron foundry
There are a few, of course, who do
nothing during the months when cold
weather makes ball playing an i'm
possibility, but these are greatly in
the minority.
There was a time in the history of
baseball when the ambitions of the
players appeared to drift toward the
ultimate ownership of thirst-quench-
ing emporiums, but since that epoch
the game has taken great upward
strides in the sense of it's personnel
A glance through the early lives of the
players will reveal that many have
had the advantage of college educa.
lions.
Not a few have even taken up
various professions. Baseball as a
vocation is no longer looked upon as
sort of good haven for the castoffs of
other branches of business. 1t is
father credited with being a step up
ward in the workaday world. AL
though no degrees are given to the
masters of the art to tack on to the
end of their names, nevertheless the
handle of pitcher catcher, infielder or
outfieleer will now admit their pos
sessors to good society, and will go
long way as recommendation.
Thus it will be readily seen that the
men who swing the willows and who
toss the leather sphere about do not
find it over-diAicu!t to secure paying
situations during that portion of the
year when the bat, ball, mask and
glove lie dormant Christy Mathew
son, the premier twirler of the Giants,
has recently branched out in the in
surance business; John ]. McGraw,
manager of the New York National
League club, runs billiard .parlor;
Johnny King the Cubs catcher. is
also an enthusiast of the cue and
ivory balls, and controls several such
parlors; Roger Bresnahan is a detect
i've in Toledo.
Pitcher Joe McGinnity has an iron
foundry in Indian Territory, and
when he isn't playing ball he devotes
his time to managing his business.
Luther Taylor, also slab artist on
the payroll OF John T. Brush, runs
general store in his home town, and
he is by far the most popular citizen
Of the place.
Stony McGlynn. st. Louis Cardinal
pitcher, spends his idle moments" as
an officer of the peace in York, Pa.
Addie Joss, Cleveland pitcher, is q
sporting writer. Harry White, a
White Sox twirler, studied dentistry at
Georgetown university. and when he
isn't pulling teams out of a hole he's
extracting teeth.
Fred Clarke, manager of the Pitts.
burg Pirates, owns a ranch in Kansas.
Clarke Griffith, one time manager Of
the Highlanders, also has ranch in
Montana. But of all the occupations
In which the ball players engage. the
oldest is that of Roy Thomas the
Buccaneers center fielder While
travelling around the circuit, and in
winter as well, he solicits orders for
wholesale undertaking establish
mont Hnuns Warner admittedly the
greatest batter of the age, owns a
farm and passes much of his time
thereon and makes it pay well. too.