Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-21
ANOTHER JAb At
SOUTHERN TRAINING
May Be Eliminated in the Flu.
ture, Is the Tip From
Cullen.
By Clarence L. Cullen.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

for ball PLAYERS eventually be cut out!
II begins to Look something like that
There has been more talk about ana
against the southern spring training bust
ness this year than ever before. ana
fhere've been some ramblings on that sub
feet for several years past
The original rumbler. on that topic was
Clark Griffith. He never could see the
training -in-tepid-climates thing. Never
could perceive the advantages OF taking a
bunch of men, all used to the temperate
zone, into the humid countries and put
ting them through their course of sprouts
there only to fetch them back TO the raw
ness Of their own section p few weeks lat
CT on to get them all stiffened up and
knocked out of killer.
Griffith was outspoken on that suoject
80 long as FIVE years ago. He never maze
eny bones about his dislike of the gunlmy
climate training business And his views
on that subject have spread-spread
widely.
An official of the National League - no
asked not TO be quoted. gave me his views
on that matter the other Iay
I'm my opinion" Sad he, 1.-THE end of
the southern training business is in sight
There are several managers of clubs in
the league with which l am connected
who are beginning to sour on it. They We
good reason TO sour on IT. too. They ma
that the southern training provides 100
many caarley-horsed men for them when
the teams sail back to the north to begin
the season. It's all very fine and fowery
and all that for the players while they re
aftually training in the south. Ihey
work of the meat easily under the e,AnIi,S
SIM They feel bully and nimble and aglie
while they're in the south They thlnK
they're going to jump over the moon Tor
themselves after they've been training In
the south for two or three weeks.
Stiff in the Cold.
"The trouble begins when they bob
hack to the north. Then a nor east-oy-
easter hits them in the small Of the back
or somewhere. and they begin to stlnen
I'D like black strap nrolasses glugging out
OF a barrel in country store ON WIN
4er.s day. The pitchers get on the fritz
first The marrow in their salary ms
congeals into un1nalleable glue. No mat
fer how they've been blazing EN- over In
inst the right spot under the balmy IN
fuence OF the southern suns, just as soon
as they crawl out onto an cary spring
lot I'D this way they find that they can
throw a rock at hen with any reason
able prospect of hitting the lady bird
Some OF the pitchers are SO fIlz up, SO
TO speak. that they can't get themselves
shawed into heaving shape TIL the 1deS
of June are at hand-and many big
league championship has been won and
lost by the first of June, don't ever forget
that part Of 1t. -.
But it's not the pitchers alone. All
OF the players feel more or less severely
the immense climatic change when they
wabble back north from their southern
training expedition When they get PACK
steam radiator In the hotels. sort of nurs-
ing the small of their backs and trying
10 keep the draft from the front door.
only $50 away from them. from hitting
them on the wishbone. They find that
they can't get or keep warm when they
return TO the north. even when they're
draping themselves around the heaters In
the hotel lobby.
But it's the devil and worse for them
when they mooch out onto a raw. drear.
bleak ball yard up north. and start In 70
give an imitation OF ball playing. Did
you ever, when YOU were a boy, try to
play marbles on the frozen ground in the
middle of winter? Well. that's about like
It, You remember how stiff your knuckles
,rere. and how you couldn't snoot Your
yaw marble within forty-seven cubits Of
Ghe marble that YOU were plugging at?
Same with ball players trying to work
real cute for themselves and the spec
fatorS when they return from spring prdc-
tice in the south.
Athletes should be trained in the same
climate in which they're going to do cheir
work. That. ! think, is dictum that
common sense stands for, aside from all
other considerations.
There's reason on earth why ball
players of the big leagues should not be
trained precisely Marathon runners are
trained up here In this section of the
world. They could do their outdoor work
the work that takes the winter blubber
off. just as WELL and whole lot better,
north Of Mason and Dixon's line than
they could below it Ard they'd have the
immense advantage OF being hardened,
when the playing season begins. to the
sort OF climate III which they're expected
10 deliver the goods.
Later Start Better.
"Of course. II the ball playing season
began late in May. say. why. the situation
would be different. Then the ball players
could train III the south with advantage
because they wouldn': feel any change in
climatic conditions wien they Soc back TO
the rorth. The wather in the north would
have all of its craggy edges taken off by
that time. ard they could hop out on the
ball lot and feel coitisn and things Blu,
with the season beginning SO early in the
spring that the leaves are hardly full
formed or tie trees and the chill blasts
shrieking around the ball yards sometimes
for full month after the opening date
the southern-traired players are III bad
and no mistake.
LAS I say. the ball players could be
we'll trained IN open-air spaces not far re-
moved from the towns in which their
clubs arc. They could do their long gal
lops In the open. rain. snow or shine
and they could discard the meat that
Way just GS tuNtludi!N ~ tit
chaps do by that system. The prize
fighters get down to weight and put
themselves on a fine edge by training in
the winter climate OF the north, don't
they? You won't find one pug out OF
fifty who could he bullied into doing his
training stunts in a southern climate-ex-
cept, OF course. the California bred chaps
like Jeffries. The pugs know that the
southern climate is enervatiug In its ef-
fects upon men who are going to do theiI
work in the north. ard that's why they
take their road trois and the rest OF
their work right near tie scenes of their
northern operations, and i'll all kinds OF
weather. at lat.
las for practicing. why, the ball play
ers could do that under cover. Enclosures
are always 10 be found where they car
sail the sphere around the place withou,
hitting too much wall. They don't have tc
play these regular spring training games
that were reading about now, you know
They're unnecessary. All that they really
need is to practice whacking at the pill
get their signals down pat and their arms
loosed UP. and plenty Of places could bt
found them 10 do that, as / say, undel
cover In tbs northern climate eThey
could do their hard work out in the open
and their ball stunts under shelter, ant
It's ten TO one that they'd all be In
heap better shape to begin the schedule
than they are under this system which
-yanks them back from the magnolia lands
smack-dab into the chilling domains O.
Boreas. whatever that may mean.
There are other reasons. i was read
ing the other day that Delehanty OF th'
WashingtonN~clu bucked about COINS
south with the Washington outfit be