Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-09
HARMONY LACKING
IN MANY BALL CLUBS
Popular Belief That Champion
Teams Must Be Like Con-
tinuaI Love FeaStS Is
Wrong.

To hear many fans and large num-
hers Of able critics talk of champ on
ship base ball clubs, it would seem a
positive essential that Harmony should
prevail among the men-that peace and
I,rotherly love should be preserved I'M
broken. and that no team could win
where its members Jared and disagreed
Every now and then we hear of some
player getting the hook or being traded.
>umctimes for much inferior man, and
The cry ut once goes up. sold - 70
store the harmony of the club. Now
end then some player is i'll wrong, tN-
I fremely wrong and it becomes fmpossi-
i ole to keep him, irrespective of his skill,
j but as rule, harmony counts as
! much in q ball team as the color Of the
batboy's hair.
We hear, now and then, that such
and such pitchers complain that they
don't get the support they should. be
!, cause other players have 1t in for them.
! Then, too. We hear of cliques and fac
tions with ruinous effects upon the
!, standing of the team. Once il Il great
! while all these things are true. but III
seven cases out of ten porycock and
balderdash
| The ciques that exist in every bal
club have no bearing whatever, in most
cases, upon the success or failure OF the
! team. The fact that an entire club may
like one pitcher and dislike another cuts
| no ice at any stage. Startling remarks,
but absolutely true.
x x
Ii is impossible for twenty Or more
Young athletes to dwell in harmony.
Never happened yet and never will. 1t
is impossible that one pitcher should tail
10 be popular, equally Impossible that
some other pitcher, surly crab. should
lie otherwise than dsiked. But that
cuts no figure. Ball clubs do not throw
down pitchers, nor do they toss away
games-at least, not while they are in
the forefront and lighting for the flas,
with the incentive of the rich world S
series money following Take this for
straight goods-any time ball club
sees that coin in the dim distance it is
going to get out there and play fiendish
ball. no matter whether jolly Bob Jones
or Grouchy Sam Sockum is on the slab.
Harmony is a dream. There was never
vet a champion bail Curb that didn't have
"A lot of fights among its men. There was
never yet II topnotch team where there
were not several little clioues and COM
binations Better that way than in
sheeplike harmony. If all the gang agreed
as angel-faced chcrubs are supposed to do,
they would get lazy, loSy and too utterly
contented.
There were men on the old Chicago
White Stockings who never spoke TO each
other off the field. There were men
among the old st. Louis Browns who
hated each other and haven't made up
in twenty years. There were fist fights
. among the old Orioles, on the field and
off. There were hand-to-hand mills
won his two flags. Some OF the tights
among the Tigers were corkerS.
When Tyrus Cobb Joined the Tigers he
was one fresh kid, and the Older men
tried to set him In his place. Cobb licked
some and got licked by others. His feId
with Matty Mcintyre was SO fierce that
Jennings had to play them in right and
left field, with Crawford between. lie
was at war with Charlie Schmidt, and
Schmidt punched his head off. But the
Tigers played ball just the same. and
won.
The Baltimore champions were always
fighting, and some of their mills were
joy to any one who understood. One day
McGraw, on second. with one out, took
a long chance. tried for third, and was
plotted off the map. AS he came back
To the bench, Hanon called him down
II thought l did the best thing" said
McGraw. Turning TO Jack Doyle, he de-
manded. What do you think about it,
jack"
Il thought. snarlcd Doyle. that it
was a jackass play aud that the guy
that would try it ought to DO shipped
back to the bush league
And the next moment McGraw and
Doyle. clinched in unaffectionate en-
brace, rolled across the grass, lighting
like a pair of hyenas.
Harmony Is a great thing-in its place
but its place is not among winning ball
teams, and it is a mistake to look for it
there.