Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-13
MEN MUST Think
IN FAST CIRCLES
Base Ball Brains and Educa-
tionaI Brains Are of a Diff
ferent Kind and Style.

The passing to the st. Louis Cardinals
of William Abstein, Pittsburg's first base
man. teaches quite a powerful lesson. the
lesson being Get your dome working.
1t is not often that a champion team
fires its first ba semen. especially when the
PLAYER is young and husky-hence the
ivory OF Mr.. Abstein's skull must have
been thicker than the walls Of Babylon
He was a good batter. was William Alb
stein, his fielding. in a mechanical way.
was superb-oh. on the face Of the re-
turns there was nothing the matter with
this young mans playing. But his turret
was OF convoluted enamel. and so he has
to go.
Men must think fast in fast company.
The man who cannot get his wheels work
Ing with smooth and oily whirr is go
ing to receive the hook unless he Is 800
point hitter You have to excuse the 300
point men. even il they are as vacuus OF
brains as q paving block. Mr.. William
Abstein, hit .26O, and that meant his
finale when he couldn't show the thinks.
Curious InteI1ects.
Understand. once and for all. that Mr..
Abstein is not brainless goat. It is al
together probable that Mr.. Abstein is a
cear-minded young man who has fine
business head. good education and pol
ished conversational ability. There is
nothing shy with Mr.. Abstein's brains, in
the way we ordinary folk speak about
the cerebrum and cerebellum. Base ball
brains are a subject apart. all by their
lonesome, and absolutely differing from
any other brains that were ever inserted
In turret or cabeza.
A man may have six college degrees
and speak nine languages. Nevertheless,
when 1t comes to base ball, he may be a
r14 yyIra nd a
granite-cranium. Many q man who can
look at foaming river, size up the hills
on either side, and say. instanter, 1T
will take $50 spans. each six by four, re-
to bridge that river" would stand like a
gaping idiot II told to get busy on fast
infield play. Can you imagine Gatti-
Casazza, yanked from his operate direc-
ton. handed base ball and told to look
out for q runner turning third? Oh,
pishtush and whipporwills!
Base ball brains are an extra sense
or keen-edged instinct by which the
wise. quick thinking ball player. in the
heat OF battle can instantly see what
or when to hold the ball Even some
of the crackerjacks fall down on the
intricate plays. There is no player,
howsoever great, who doesn't jackass
per season. Mr.. Abstein. 1t appears,
did the Iong-eared act about eighty
eight times-and hence the hook.
College Slowness.
Many fans think a college player, on
account OF his education and the sup
posedly finer points OF his gray mat
ter, should show UP the sandlot pro-
fessionals when 1t comes to thinking
of fast and dazzling plays. Yes. he
should-tn monkeys sachet-satchel
Most collegians. when they hit the big
league. find that they have been GO
ing to kindergarten so far as base
ball is concerned, and have to learn
1t all again and all anew. Tenney
is quick thinker and base ball
general When he broke in from
Brown ne was bewiIdered at the tricks
that went on around him.
The man w..o stood 99.3 in all his
studies is the very boy who is going
to throw to first instead of the plate
pan. He Is also the man who Is going
to fire home about two seconds after
another runner has slid across. when
the only chance left was to get the
somebody is to be run down-when it
comes to lodging back and forth along
the bases he Is the Chinese child and
the Patsy.
The fellow who never got beyond
fifth grade in the grammar school and
has spent his whole lifetime figuring
out base ball on the tablets Of memory
is the man who Is going to pull those
plays OFF at the right time. He makes
a bull now and then-the collegian is
more likely than not to make them
daily. See the idea? See how the
reader Of the class Grafton is likely to
look like a peagreen chimpanzee when
he has scooped a grounder? Here
comes O'Brien. sliding blazes-bent for
the plate; there goes Hochbiffer ski
dooing for first base: young Mr.. Cum
laud of Haryale has the play right in
his hand. and what does he do? He
fires the ball to the wrong pocket and
all hands are safe. If Mike Brannigan
playing alongside the college man, had
nipped that ball he wouldn't even have
stopped to think what the play should
be- He'd have driven that ball to the
right place as he rose from the SCOOP
and there's the difference.