Norwich bulletin., 1910-03-24
DON'T LIKE SCOUTING.
Sam Kennedy Not Stuck on Searching
 the Minors for Ball Players.

Sam Kennedy, the former Connecti- cut leaguer, is now scouting for the Cleveland club. But he does not like his job There isn't a scout in the business that likes his job," claims Kenndy. Connie Mack's former sleuth turns a new phase of the supposed easy duties of the modern player "se- cret service man" to the view of the inquisitive and dope assimilating fan. The term scout" has in late years been a syonym for leisure and com fort. Sitting in grand stand day by day with nothing to do but puff perfec- tos and watch the actions of the youngsters who perform in the leagues of lesser standing with railroad rides to all parts of the country, does in fact seem more or less of a snap. But Scout Kennedy says there are plenty of drawbacks attached to this appar- ent pleasurable vocation.
 Being detective and hiding ones identity on days when the sun figur- atively drops from the sky to a few feet above the parched earth, and hav- offer little protection from it's rays, is not a welcome duty. Then there are towns where there are no grand stands at all and where even the moving pie ture shows do not reach, and trains but semiweekly. ''Verily. the draw backs cannot be enumerated" explains Kenndy.
 The reason Sam scouts is-the same
 
 not afraid of overdrawing the exche- quer when the salary of worthy dis coverer is a matter of mercenary con sideration, and being too corpulent to pick up/ excavators at his old position al first base and better fitted for se- cret work than anything else. he be- came a building helper of Connie Mack two years ago in which capacity he has since continued. He was with Cunning Connie until traded to the Cleveland club the past winter. Before graduating into a scout he played with Baltimore in the Eastern league and New Haven and others in the Connec- ticut league
 Kennedy says his dislike for his job won't have any deleterioUs effect on his labors for Messrs. Somers and Kill foyl. .-One man can make or break ball club" says he. And I am go- ing to try and find the one man who can make the Nap club" As an illus tration of his one man make or break idea he commented: Would the Iii gers have won three pennants without Cobb? Wagner is pretty much the whole Pittsburg team. You can't comb the brush of the minor leagues and expect to bring in finished players" said Kennedy. Many people, includ- ing a few managers, hold this errone- ous idea Cases where players make good in their first year out are ex- ceptional- Baker of the Athletics did, but he's one of the rare ones Wag-
  able to hold up. and it was two years before Coob flashed. A man has to. work up in baseball as in anything else. I think Erie Biting, now with the Maps, will be a wonder when he reaches 21, but I don't think he'll stay this season.
 Kennedy differentiated the respec- tive tasks of manager and scout. They are as possible of comparison as sur geon and a doctor of medicine. The scout is the surgeon; he cuts 'em up And the doctor heals or smooths over the rough spots. A good scout is one who is able to judge accurately the of a player. For instance. two boys may be playing side by side and performing equally we'll One of them may be tensioned to the highest notch. The other may be going along without effort. The problem Of the man looking for material is to pick the one who takes most naturally to the game. Another guess is to select the who has something to de- velop. in preference to one who has all I ready reached his limit. A youngster of Is or 20 is worth more than one of 26 ;. The former is figured good for ten years of service, the others are not good for half that period"