The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-09-16

heavy nan0el8, n q blanket
coat. was pirouetting wildly. Three
long, gliding leaps, a rapid waltz turn,
a triple reverse, q gyrsoscopic spin,
three more long, gliding steps, al
series of reversing revolutions so rap
idly executed it looked as If the mans
legs would become tangled, three
more steps-and so on until the hui
man top came spinning up to where
some spectators were sitting on q
fence.
what the dickens are you up TO
aow. Brownie?" called one
Mordecai Brown, premier pitcher Of
the baseball world, painting and
flushed, stopped spinning, leaned
against the fence, laughed and said:
Learning to field bunts."
Then he flashed off down side
path. keeping up his imitation of a
gyroscope which had slipped an &C.
centric. The crowd watched him waltz u
Tar across the mud.crusted valley, spin1
along another path, and finally sprint
to the hotel.
Six months afterward the eason for
his eccentric dance was made plain.
The Chicago and Pittsburg baseball41
clubs were fighting for the pennant OK
the National league. Tommy Leach
was on second base and Fred Clarke
at bat. Clarke hunted down the third
base line. Brown, who was pitching,
leaped forward, seized the ball and,
while seemingly spinning like a top
OF his feet, threw with terrific force
to Steinfeldt, and Leach was caught
sliding into third base. The play was
magnificently executed and the Chica-
go crowd that saw it went wild over
the marvellous fielding of Brown. But
that play, which came near giving
Chicago its fourth straight pennant,
was prepared for on the mud-plastered
field at West Baden early in March
at the start of the training season.
In the spring, when the sap in the
trees and the enthusiasm in the base
ball fans begin to flow, about 500 ball
players belonging to the IS major
league clubs move below the frost
belt, scattering from California to
Florida, to train for the season. Ten
days or two weeks later the northern
minor league clubs follow their exam
pie, and by March 20 more than 1,500
professional baseball players are train
ing in perhaps SO southern towns and
cities.
Major league teams are scattered
from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, and
there is scarcely a city or town in the
south o. west that will not receive a
visit from some team before the sea-
son opens. The movement, however.
is more and more toward permanent
training camps, and against exhibition
tours. Some of the teams already
have purchased grounds or secured
long-term leases, and are preparing to
build baths and gymnasiums. Some =
propose operating their training plants
all winter and sending the young play.
ers drafted or purchased from minor
leagues there early in the winter to
develop under the eye Of an expert
enced coach, who will turn them over
to the manager ready for play.
The scarcity of really good players
has compelled the movement toward
these permanent schools for educating
and developing players, ID the bust
ness as an amusement enterprise has
become so ~remunerative that the re-
turns justify the expense.
. The veterans, chary regarding their
arms, throw with slow, long-arm
swings, while the youngsters, proud
possessors of Strong whips" begin to
fhr0uy ho rHor on1 horlor Tho ouo11r
of the ball against gloves beats q.
steady tattoo above which the warn
ing shouts of the manager rise:
Save some of that ginger-you'l
need it in a couple of days"
For an hour the players warm up,
throwing. running easily, scooping
balls. The warmth tempts them to
greater efforts, but experience warns
them to resist. Suddenly the "high-
low" game starts.
By noon the individual players are
beginning to drop out of the groups,
and start some form Of exercise de-
signed to fit their own needs, slow
running. gymnastic exercises, or some
like hobby. One o'clock comes. The
players, dripping with perspiration in
heavy fannels and sweaters, have for
gotten time, and some of them have
forgotten caution. The ball cracks
harder against the gloves. They are
hard at work-playing.
Every one run in," orders the man
ager, and before the words are out of
his mouth a line wheels across the
field, struggles out the gate and starts
on the long jog through town to the
bathhouse, perhaps two miles away.
For half an hour they jostle, slap and
scramble around under the showers.
throw themselves down, one after an
other, for a hurried massage by the
overworked trainer, dress rapidly and
are of to dinner. +
If v e walters suffered for their
sins those who attempt to serve a ball
club on the morning of the second day
of training are the ones. The break