Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-07

ever on account Of their marvellous fire.
quency.
Winters at hand. you see. and the big
bettors still are there with their packages
for the short-priced babies and-well,
leave 1t TO the chalkers. that's all. They
know. Ask Mister Foster. as il wair.
Why, not SO long ago they put away
to Il thing, and don't you believe Tor
one single. solitary instant of time that
the 1 to IL firkin OF grease wasn't bet on,
either. One man that l know-you can
see him any old evening standing around.
looking stunned. at the Cadillac-sloughed
off $11OO of his nice little round metallic
men on that to IL hunk Of lard to annex
unto himself-as he thought, deah me
suz-so inconsequential a matter as loo
bones. He figured that it was just like
charging uSur Gus interest on his $l2,VO
for one minute and about forty seconds,
the time Of the mile sprint. What he
thinks now. as he stands around the
Cadillac looking stunned. would be a dis
grace TO print in a family newspaper like
the Stah-yeah-pape.
Stage Fright Bothers the Kids.
Clark Griffith. who did better with the
Cincinnati outfit this year than anybody
figured he would. has a grim sense Of
humor. in spite of the hardness of his
jaw. Grif was here for a little while
after the close of the season to peek
around the town before going out to his
Montana ranch. and he was telling me
some stun about some new pitchers that
he tried out for the Cincinnati outfit.
1.-The trouble about the young fellows
that are trying to jump into major COM
pany these days." said Crit, 'is that
they're mostly rlbes. They're nice. clean
fellows. and all that stun. but they're
country chaps. the great majority of
them. and they suffer SO from stage
fright when they're given their chance
that they can't possibly do themselves
justice. They're self-conscious. like all
country people are-Tve noticed that all
my life-and they can't shake that feel
ing when they hit the mound the first
few times to try to make good for
themselves. They haven't the assurance,
the nerve and impudence and self-confi-
dence of the Fingers who are born and
raised i'm the cities.
And yet the only way to get line on
the worth of these new pitchers from the
rube sections Is to try them out in actual
work against clubs. They may have
everything. when they're Just trying
themselves out for the manager who Is
looking them over. But having the junk
when they're shooting EN- over privately
and possessing the same when they're UP
there on the hill, facing grinny batsmen
who know how to do things to shatter
the nerve OF yaps from the bushes. are
two entirely different matters. The cum
ming goes out of their arms In such cir
cumstances, and the power of their fins
seems to leave them, too. It's all stage
fright. They can't do themselves decent.
much less proud. And the hitters who
have been I'm fast company for years
hyprOtize them. too.
Il tried out one young fellow. early In
the spring. I'm game against the Bos-
tons. This young fellow came to me
with great reputation. He'd been in
the habit of striking out fifteen and
twenty men in nine-inning games that
he pitched for the bush team he'd been
playing with. and 1t wasn't any fix
league at that. He had everything need
full when I tried him out in practice. and
he looked to me like sure-enough or 81
nal package. So / stuffed him In a game
against the Bostons One OF the Old
timers of that outfit led off at the stick.
THE oldtimer took all the time in the
world pulling down his cap and hitching
up his pants and fixing his strap buckle
and knocking the mud cakes off his
spikes, and all the time he kept grinning
down at my RUDE with the darnedest sar-
donic grin you ever saw. l could see my
zap boy curdling. He was afraid OF the
vet. The old-timer had his nanny before
he lobbed even the first one up.
"'Come on, now, you big hay-chewer.
the vet sung out to him. getting into posi-
ton with his club. You're going to stick
me one over right In the groove. and
slQw-like, the way l love EN- and eat EN-
alive
And that's precisely what my RUDE did
He poked one that he really meant to be
fast and outside, according to the catch
er's signal right I'm the pipe. and with no
whiskers on il at all, and the vet just
sort o. lay back with a dreamy look in his
lamps and when it got to him he fell on II
with all the meat he had on him for one
long. lingering. over-the-fence home run:
~ couldn't help 1t, gosh-whang IT all.
my yap boy explained to me. L meant to
fool that Teller, dod-whop 1t, but he KEEP
lookin' at me and sayin' them things
about hay and the like, and when he told
me 1 was goin' to hand him one right
through the pipe. dad-zing me If l could
ha' helped givin' him one Hathaway t
save me-!
plain hypnotism. that's ALL All Of the
Boston batsmen, as they swung along.
handed il out to my Zeke on the mound
just the same way, and they piled up two
and three baggers on him SO fast that the
scorers couldn't keep their pencils sharp
ened.
"The result of observing all this-I refer
to the stage fright thing-is that don't
can q kid when he falls down dismally
trying to pitch his first few games. l give
him a chance to dope the thing out from
the bench, to get used to his new uniform
to get the knack of CITY ways and the city
way of roofing and the kidding stuff OF
the old-timers. and then. after this proc
ess of seasoning. j stick him in again
and generally he makes good. l remem.
Der myself about this stage fright
thing. When ! pitched my first game In
fast company ! couldn't have thrown a
SNOWFALL at a grocery wagon, / was SC
skeeart. and they piled UP nine runs on
me in the first inning. wherefore l was
cd hry,f