Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-22
HOW PLAYERS FEEL
WHEN TRANSFERRED
Cullen Has Interesting Talk
With One Who Figured
in a Trade.
BY Clarence L. Cullen.
il Correspondence of The star.


stuffed from ono team to another. lie has
To turn SInack-dab around on the day
following the shift and perform against
his little payma ties of the day before
This problem has Interested me more
81 less. I've heard various and siIndry
bail players hand out their. replies to
the question when II has been put up
10 them: but none os the replies seemed
to cover the matter; the answers didn't
got down TO the cuticle of tho situation
and beneath IL
Eut the other evening / corra,led a GER
tam Well known player of the National
League who transferred from one
OF the main teams of that league to
Jess important club last June, and who
had ~ turn around on the day following
the switch and play against q team he'd
beeII with for more than six years. This
man eXuded some stuff about that situa-
tan that sounded real to me, and that's
why I'm going to quote him.
Il didn't like the thing "a little bit, to
tell the truth was what he said when
] asked Ii IN how he felt about the thing
Of walking up to the dish and swinging
1T the stuff of a pitcher he'd been bunk
ir,, up with for years. In fact, it took
me quite a spell to get used to it, and
I'm not exactly used 10 il yet. That IS
10 say, when l go up against the team
mates that it grew second nature for
me to associate and chum and pal with
! have d sort of uncanny feeling that
something's wrong. or not the way it
ought 10 be. | can't exactly define the
feeling. but it's there.
Il didn't m nd being switched to the
cldh I'm with. understand. The fellows
al the club I'm with now are all aces,
players that I've known and matted with
for wears. So l didn't start in with any
crabby feeling when | began work with
my present outfit. But on the very next
against my old gang. and it kept me
batting my eyes all the time to find out
if | was i'll the right uniform or not.
II had feeling on that first day that
/ played against the bunch ] was used TO
playing alongside OF that | was Simply
dreaming; that it was kind of a night
mere hat ! couldn't break out of. and
that when | didn't manage to come out
OF il I'd feel foolish and have a sheepish
sort of d laugh over it. But. as thc game
progressed of course the feeling that it
"a dream disappeared. and / had to
see that il was plumb realty.
Well then | sure felt gloomy. l didn't
know why. l don't know exactly why
yet But gloomy is the way ! felt. l
couldn't dodge the feeling that | was sort
of putting over something underhanded,
If you get that. Felt skunky and meas
icy and oruery. as man is liza Die TO feei
after he's done something mean and
miserable. OF course there wasn't a rea-
son on earth why ! should have felt this
way, but I'm simply trying to describe
how the thing weighed upon me at the
time.
4 knew every kink of every man be-
longing TO my old club. YOU see. and 1t
seemed TO me that ! was taking a mean
kind OF an advantage of my information
about them.
This sensation was emphasized when
the pitcher who was doing the heaving
that day for the team to which I'd been
transferred boned me for information
about the hitting kinks of the fellows of
the other club.
That guy can't touch EN-. can he.
when tneyr re up around his necktie?' the
finger would say TO me. mentioning one
OF the players of my former team. and,
OF course. being pinned to the stick that
way. | had to out with him and tell him
exactly how it was with the man he men
toned when it came TO the batting thing.
My duty to the team that l was with de-
s.ianded that come across with that IN
formation. Bul don't you ever believe
that didn't feel like sneak for giving
ZIP the stun that was boned out of me
that way. Couldn't get away from the
feeling OF disloyalty to my former gang
10 save my soul.
But. OF course. l was absolutely wrong
in looking at the matter in this way.
BaSe ball is a business and a sport COM
blned. and it's the bounden duty of the
player to give everything he has in the
way OF muscle. brain and information to
the club he's drawing his pay from. This
is a thing in which sentiment has no.
part at all. The duty I speak Oft
finally arrived at this view of it's far
ahead of am merely sentimental con-
siderations involving the players former
relationship to members of another club
There's no treachery involved. as q SIM
pie matter o. course. in a players hand
ing out what he knows about his former
club TO the outfit he's playing with, but,
as ] say Il takes quite little while
FOR fellow 10 get this view of it fixed
n his nut.
OF course everybody knows that. in
clubs always take into consideration
WHAT'S liable to come Off when this or
that player becomes u member of this
or that other club.
There are certain managers in both
leagues who wouldn't send one of their
players 10 certain other clubs OF the same
league for any possible consideration
There are some clubs from which players
never are transferred directly to other
clubs. They may reach the other clubs by
roundabout process of trading but they
are never transferred Straightout to such
clubs, because the managers dont even
entertain the idea of letting the other
club into the inside stuff Of their outfit
ne base ball business. OF course is
becoming more and more 4 business every
year. witaout, IF course. ever losing its
purely sporting character. But il will be
q long unexpectedly IL VIII be never
filaent IL his carcass can go TO another
liUb BY the trading process without ey-
heitencins. at he outset ;Shyaow, the
iecin3 of orueriueSs OF which ! speak
when he goes up against his former team
nates. And. nile we're on that subject
ID feel soil'4 Tor the player who was no,
capable CT feeling this sentiment.
Jim aIc.Aleer ente-tains the belief, which
IS shared in BY lot of other Experts in
matters appcrta!ains to base bah. that the
pcunant business-the hooray and uproar
and storm aud strife over the big rag.
;sst is 20 say-realls is harmful to the
best Interests of the game.
III makes the whole game. SAID Jim, ii
g lille ago. .sdbservient 10 the winning of
t.e pennant. Vow. don't get nc a. say
4l-, tiI5S because ~ not there with q
team that IS !op.ng out In front With Il
chance to C3p the rag. Id been OF the
%3mc opiniun If my ban ia WAS way up
there and in line for the bunting. | was
Of jae same opinion, in fact, and SO cN-
within hitting distance OF the pe;Inant last
scar.
The pennani thing detracts from the
interest IN the game itself ;4s u sport. We
arc = bill too keen in this country for that
coping somethinS proportion. That is
- say, We dotlt take exactly enough in
tercst II. y sport for the sport sake. All
tsat think about Is the grabbing out
~ The zig prize, ana DON'T pay much
attention u the individual or the coliec-
ton % individuals who're not In line for
the eue main p2ze.
.t'or instance. u boy who can stick
down. q leo yards in 10 ID seconds is u