El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-13

U FHE big league DaSeoaH season Oh
4 1910 will be inaugurated tomOr-
= row. many minor leagues are
already at play. and by the end of the
month the entire baseball world viii
be in action. From now Until the ap-
proach of the sere and yellow days of
autumn sthe greater number of Ameri-
cans will be thinking and talking base
ball for the greater part of the time
Thousands upon thousands will see
game every day. but millions upon mill
lions will read what the baseball
writers have 10 say about the games
and the players and the umpires and
the politics of the diamond
The baseball writer is the medium
through which the vast majority of the
fans see and enjoy the game
The writer may be one Of that fan
tastic school who adds to the thrill OF
the game by the use of a baseball Ian
Iguage thoroughly unintelligible 10 any
but the initiate. He may be a serious
person who writes of the game in man
ner as eEG-e and vocabulary as sedate
as if he were discussing a great prob
lem in interna tional politics Or he
may be one of those clever chaps who
lug in the incidents of the whole out
side world to serVe for moral pointers
and tale adorners in the chronicles of
the great American game. But always
he will have the readers turning first
to his page in the, paper.
Specialized Branch.
Strangely enough, the baseball writer
is all but unknown to the public which
he serves. In the last decade writing
baseball has developed into a highly
specialized branch of newspaper work.
and men of acknowledged standing in
that capacity on big papers usually
keep their positions permanently. 1t
takes several years Of intimate assocla-
ton with club for writer to famialr-
ize himself with the personality of the
owners, manager and players, and the
history of the organization When he
has thus fitted himself for his work
he generally is retainedA no matter how
much office politics may bring about
upheayels in the rest of the staff.
In the past il was quite customary
for baseball players TO drift into the
newspaper business, because Of their
familiarity with the SPORTY Tim MUIR
name, George Hidden and Sam Crane
were Of that school and haze acquired
national regulations by their acute OBJ
servations based upon knowledge
gained in many hard fought. contest.
This process continues at the ! present
day.
Umpire BILLY" Evans. of the AIneri-
can league. is a former Cornell football
player who became an umpire, although
he had comparatively little baseball lex
perience, and he Is engaged every win
ter In writing a series Of syndica ted
articles on players and the game. Y
Addie Joss, the Cleveland pitcher,
employs his off season time in editing
sporting page and ranks high IN
both professions. Jimmy" Callahan,
owner Of the famous Logan square
outlaw" club in the Chicago City
league. is a sort of halfway newspaper
nd nh he aa1-
can turn out copy that would pass mus
ter with any sporting editor.
Neuspapermen In Game.
Ban Johnson. president OF the Amerf-
can league, was long a sporting editor
in Cincinnati, resigning his position TO
become president of the Western league,
which afterward expanded into the
present powerful major organization.
Harry Pulliam, the popular president of
the National league, who committed
suicide last summer while in a fit of
alteration produced by the worries of
his position. was a city editor in Louis
Vile. He then became president of the
Louisville club. went to Pittsburg as
secretary of the club there, when Louis |
vile was dropped from the National
league, and was later elected president
of the league j
John Heydler, secretary of the Ma
tional league. and temporary president |
after Mr.. Pulliam's death, is practical |
printer, and was at one time Wash
ingtOn sporting editor.
Charles Webb Murphy. president of ]
the Chicago National league cab. start
ed a sporting writer in Cincinnati. |
Later he became press agent for the |
New York National league club. a !
unique position which may be revived |
in the future for all major league clubs |
Murphy heard that the Chicago club |
was for sale. interested Charles P. Taft |
brother of president Taft, and through |
him acquired the property. Suisse |
quently Murphy bought blocks of the |
stock and now is said to be in actual |
control of the property.
Horace Fogel. president of the PhiIa-
delphia National league club. has been |
a baseball writer for years, having been /
on several papers in Philadelphia He
was once manager of the New York /
National league club in the days when /
Andrew Freedman was its president |
and league politics was so hot it al
most had to be printed on asbestos pa
per. Roy Reeves. sporting editor and |
baseball writer. was long secretary of |
the Philadelphia National lea que club.
Frank Hough and Butch Jones. two
Philadelphia newspaper men, are deep
ly interested in the American league
club in that city.
Baseball Statistics.
No subject interests the true fan
more than the statistics which are pub
lished from week to week in the sea-
son. showing the batting and fielding
averages of the players. Although they
seldom are credited with 1T, and the
ID