The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-07-01
AROUND



Hurry! It's the lucky seventh"
What city, either major or minor
league, does not claim the seventh IN
ming as It's luckiest period at bat!
Few If any.
Many fens actually believe that
their team will turn aroun and win
a tight game in that period. 1t has
become a real baseball phrase" II
takes its rank from such trite express
sions as You can hit it, old oy.'
and "Well it's our day to win"
In Cleveland. Detroit, Chicago, Co.
lumbus, Milwaukee, Memphis, New
Orleans, Des MONIES, indianapolis,
South Bend, and all the seventh is re-
garded by the fans and even the ma
jority Of the players, as b time to
do the killing. 1t is In the seventh
that the fans become tense, anu the
players grit their teeth; it is the sew
enth that the boys perched on trees
and telegraph poles yell out: Gee.
it's de seventh now"
John Clarkson, in a tanning bee at
Bay City, Mich, fully fifteen years ago
spoke casually of the lucky seventh"
Ted Sullivan, known as a baseball
leader since the seventies, can't re-
member when 1t first sprung up. 1t
antedated Tim M%urnane's memory,
and Tim" can go back scores OF years
in the national pastime. It is an ex-
preston dear to fans.
Out on the village lots lads playing
with an impromptu ball believe as
firmly in the lucky seventh" as their
city brothers. If by any chance they
bat 20 runs against their deadly enc
my, the Seventh Streets Giants"
and win the game in the seventh they
light the fire before the Penates and
from that day become faithful and
ardent believers in the lucky sew
enth."
Many of the antics Of Hughey Jen.
nigs on the coaching lines have been
construed as a system\of signals for
his ball players, but such is not the
case. Jennings, like McAleer, does
not believe in a complicated system
by which to guide his team. He, too,
believes that ball players should be
allowed to think for themselves, and
it is really on rare occasions that Jen-
nings gives any signs. In this way
he has made his team one which plays
intelligent baseball. The Tiger sys-
tenn does not differ from that in vogue
on the old Baltimore team, as a men,
Der of which Jennings got his educa-
ton and made his reputation.
The only object Jennings has in the
many things he does on the coaching
lines is to keep his players keyed up
to the highest pitch, and there is no
doubt that he accomplishes this. In
fact, there is something about Jen-
nings' coaching which thrills even the
hostile crowds.
He seems to instill confidence into
his batters, makes his felders hustle
with his yells from the bench, and has
not a man on his team who is not at
all times inspired with his confidence
and dash. The every movement of
Jennings is that of a hustler, and his
players have adopted his style. There
Is never any tagging coming or going
to their positions. It's hustle with
Jennings at all times, and to this does
he owe much of his success and the
game much of its popularity. Take a
hustling team, eve when it loses 1t
gives the spectators a run for their
money, and this to a certain extent ex
-1os-. @Lo foo& @hof tho Tinorc ~ a
great drawing card.
Baseball is a national institution.
It's about the only sporting game we
have left in which the people have
absolute confidence. It's almost the
only game which the betting has not
spoiled. 1t is the only professional
game in the world where the players
hired men, every n of 'em-play
with the spirit and the snap and the
dash of amateurs who really want to
win. When baseball takes on the faint
Of the gamblers money its days will
be numbered, but the game has come
out clean so far and long may it con-
tinue in the same way.
Baseball is a national benefaction.
It takes a lot of men out of their Of
fees stuffy afternoons and makes
them breathe fresh air and get a little
healthy exercise for their vocal chords.
A man was meant to yell once in a
while. He was meant to jump up and
down and bang his neighbor's straw
hat down over his ears and let out
a few healthy sentiments when the
umpire-poor, blind old man-misses
that third strike by a mile and calls it
a ball when every man with eyes in
his head knows the batter Is out.
Thirty years ago we counted base
ball spectators by the hundred. Only
a little while before they could be
counted b.. the score. About ten years
| ago we began to count spectators by
the thousand. 1t has gone to the mil
lion mark now. All records are com
pletely upset, and are likely not only
to remain so, but to be worse upset.
Millions can be accommodated now
where there was only room for hun
dreds 80 years ago.
Baseball players bats differ in size
and shape as much as the players do
in physique. And the strangest part
OF 1t is that many of the big fellows
use a small, well-shaped war club,
while a couple of rabbits WELD
something resembling a wagon tongue,
An instance of this is the woodpile
that Rebel" Cakes, a former Cincin.