The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-09-14
Cincinnati Newspaper Woman In
terviews Famous New York
Baseball Player-Says Manag-
ing Team Is Like Teaching
School.

CINCINNATI, Sept. 13-It being a
we'll known fact that Mr.. John Nc
Graw, manager of the New York
Giants, did not learn his base ball
in correspondence school, there
have been drawn certain deductions,
concerning his habits of speech.
Tbs said that Mr.. McGraw-re-
christened Muggsy"-earned his
nickname by talking in vigorous base
ballese to all and sundry human be-
ings whom he met. This is wrong.
Pease consider the writer as stand
ing in the Hotel Havlin lobby. about
to interview Muggsy McGraw.
1 cannot recall who it was that
told me that Muggsy McGraw habit
ually disdained any mode of dress
other than a base ball uniform, but
such was surely my impression; so
the quietly dressed shrewd faced
man of medium build who came up
to me did not seem to be at all the
person 1 was seeking.
How Muggsy Looks.
Instead of the flannel uniform,
the gentleman who addressed me
was attired in a business suit, dark
gray in color.
His hat was of dark grayfelt, and
he wore a black four-in-hand neck
tie. Therein, however, was huge
scarf pin composed of a cluster of
diamonds, each large enough for a
solitaire ring.
McGraw is short and stocky, with
aggressive face and sharp brown
eyes
Eyes, I am Muggsy McGraw, Get
busy now and play ball" This was
what 1 expected.
What this much slandered man
ager did say was Pardon me, l am
Mr. McGraw. What can I do for
you, madam"
Well, that is about the keynote of
the conversation as to Mr.. Nc
Graw's method of speech. What he
told me was really very interesting.
According to the manager of the
New York team, there is a striking
similarity between the business of
the base ball manager and that OF
school teacher.
The manager, said McGraw, who
does not take the trouble to learn
and understand the personality or
his players is just as much a PACK
number as the pedagogue who makes
the same mistake. At the same
time both the manager and the
schoolmarm have to be boss, and
the boys have to know it, too.
But right here, in McGraw's opin-
ion, the similarity ceases, because
q, essentially mans
lob. and a thing at which women
can never be anything more than on
lockers But they are thrice well
come in this capacity.
Feminine attendance at ball games
is. said McGraw, the greatest single
factor in the universal popularity
acquired by the great American
amusement in the past decade.
"Why cannot women really play
base ball?"
Because they can't" said Mugg-
sy McGraw. ''This is a mans
world, after all. When all Is said
and done the hardest work, physi-
cal and mental, must be done by
men," he said.
Not Superstitious.
please tell me why is a slump"
I asked.
ut isn't" said MsGraw.
What do you think of that com
ing from the Napoleon of base ball,
as McGraw has been termed?'
81 don't believe in slumps," he
said "Of course no man can do his
very best all the time in any kind
of work. But a good base ball
player is a highly skilled workman,
and his skill is bound to show itself
If ne is a good player"
Moreover, McGraw doesn't be-
lieve In jinks and hoodoos any more
than he does in slumps.
"That's all nonsense" he said. Il
have an Indian on my team. He
may believe in signs. But 1 know
am not superstitious, and neither
are the rest of the men"
There was one more matter con-
corning which I nerved myself to
seek information. l asked Muggsy
McGraw how he acquired his nick
name.
There was hint Of crispness-
and more than a hint of meaning
in the quick reply of the famous
base ball manager.
perhaps it's because. If talking
really has to be done, l prefer to