The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-07-16
Jim McAleer Fails to Under.
stand Delicate Constitutions
Of Baseball Players.
TELLS OF EXPERIENCES
OF YESTERDAYS HEROES
Eleven Men, With Pitchers
Working Every Other Day,
Comprised Winning Clubs.
BY MANHATTAN.

BY Leased Wire TO The Tribune
NEW YORK, July 15.--Jim McAleer
of the Washington team thinks the clubs
carry too many men on their pay roll
and train them too much. He said re-
Gently in discussing the subject:
"Teams are forced to carry above
twenty players to make flag fight, and
even then they are compelled to use
pitchers in the outfeld or outfielders in
the infeld.
When | was working under Pat
Tebeau in Cleveland uniform around
the early nineties. we went through the
season with eleven men-and we made
a fight of IL all the way, We had one
catcher-Chief thinner; Cuppy and Cy
Young; four infelders, three outfeldes
and one extra guy who was supposed to
ill In any vacant spot. Only he had
little work 10 do. as the other ten of us
were generally on the job where nothing
but fractured spine or a badly splin
tered neck could crowd US away from
the works.
"Young and Cuppy pitched practi-
cally every game. Young had as much
or more stuff to use then than he has
now. Both he and Cuppy worked as
hard and cracked them over with as
much on the ball as they have today.
And they worked every other day
"Why is it then. that if eleven men
were enough. twenty or more are not
enough nowf Why is it that il two
pitchers could work through schedule,
six or eight today can { turn the trick
without sore arms. breakdowns. lame
backs or something else 10 crowd them
away from the fieldY
Laugh at Injuries.
'We fought as ruggedly ard as
fiercelv then as they do now. But II
catcher had his thumb.nsil bruised
back there. or II an inhelder got his
shoestring twisted or an out6elder lost
his cap he was not laying off for
week or two to get right,
GIVE seen thinner step back there
with broken fingers, have seen him bind
them up with tape and still catch great
ball I've seen infelders crippled. and
they no more thought of asking for
rest than they thought of Rockefeller
for his share of the oil business. They
were out there TO play ball and these
things were part of the game. And
when q ball.plsyer was relieved he had
to come pretty near showing coroner's
certificate with signed autopsy TO get
away with ii.
"Where we got little money, rode in
day coaches and stopped at second rate
hotels. the PLAYER OF today draws down
a banker IS salary. rides pullmans and
stops at the most expensive hotels. We
were ball-players then. Today they are
athletes We were not so particular
about our condition through the off
hours, but we were always on the field.
drunk or sober. Today the athletes take
better care Of themselves-are more par
ticular about their condition have about
half the work to do, but the manager IL
lucky who can put his rgular lineup
into play for a week S stretch.
Wonders Over Change.
s'And that g why | was wondering
wondering why twenty-five ball players
today who have the advantage OF i've
weeks southern training. who are han
died with the greatest care. who take
the best possible care OF their condition,
have about half the work to do, in gen
eral are not able to get along. :,
"While twenty years ago eleven ball
PLAYERS with no spring traiuing-who
took little or no care of themselves of
the feld-eould jump in and fight
through season without even knowing
what the hospital looked like.
"Just why is it that two pitchers
could pitch a schedule out then and
keep in shape, while eight can t do 1T
now without caviug under all along the
route