The Detroit times., 1912-03-08
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
IN TIGER PRIMER is IN
/ HOW TO HIT THE DIRT
Soft Spot For the Students To
Fall In Will Be
Arranged
MASTER JENNINGS TUTOR
Batters Will Begin Hitting
Curve Balls Within
a Few Days
ax RALPH l. YoNKER.

BY RALPH /. rONNGH.
i MONROE, La, March S.-Sliding
thus beginneth the first lesson for
n the Tiger recruits under the tutoring
OF Manager Jennings just as soon as
& the arms and legs and bodies OF the
4 yonngsters are ready, which, 1t Is ex-
/ pected, will be the first thing Sunday
or Monday morning.
IA big soft spot will be dug near
4 the diamond and runway about the
4 length OF the base line from first TO
( second will be marked of. Then to
lit The Tigerettes will line up,
(, scoot down the path, and zip into the
y bag Installed in the soft sand.
From this time on the recruits will
4 have to be on their guard. They Will
now be attempting the stunts, sue
cess IN which means favor in the eyes
+ of Jennings, failure in which rings
Il them back to the minors.
The practice at sliding is only the
forerunner in the tutoring campaign
3 fhtt is about TO commence. Begin
4 mig this coming week the pitchers
iaIcondition. which means all the men
NO arrived here early, will be al
loved to curve the balls they throw,
something that has been on the taboo
list heretofore, and the batters are
To get their real batting eyes out OF
their lockers and into working
shape.
All the time spent at camp up TO
this time has been merely for the
sake OF the physical condition of the
men No matter how well pitcher
seems to have been going, no matter
how well a batter has been hitting,
ali that is forgotten now and every
man starts anew.
Football vets of the old days before
Sammy White started to do away
with the 'Fall-on-it" gag. will please
extend a little sympathy 10 the re-
cruits who have this sliding practice
on the program.
There is nothing much more tedi-
otfs than the constant repetition OF
that run and Jump stunt unless II is
FALLING on a football. The Tigers
have II on the griddies and their froz-
en- field. The place where the young
sters light will be soft, at least.
There will be nobody there to touch
them out except in imagination, but
the slides will be made as II Stanage
were shooting 'em down 10 second al
every man.
az Is the aim of Manager Jennings
tto get all the games he can for the
Tiger recruits. In his opinion there
Is nothing like a few actual contests
to show up the new mems strong and
weak points.
Fhe first game schedules that
with the Louisiana Industrial lnst-
X fute, was only forerunner OF others
that are TO follow IL they can be ar
ranged The game with Shreveport,
m uncertainty because of =meImgltN
y IN that city, il Is hoped, can be pulled
+ of and that scheduled with the Texas
christian university of Fort Worth,
Is being looked forward to eagerly.
There cant help but be tedious
ness about the same training stunts
& every day for a month, but the
q stretch is broken nicely by couple
Of games every week.
& IL good weather can be doled out
from now on, Trainer Tuthill figures
that the Tigers will be in just as
rood shape at the end of the present
training season as they were last
year The bad weather OF the past
week has been setback, 1t is true
but the recruits this year had an
earlier start than those of 1911.
As they are at present. they are in
such condition that they can start In
where they we're at this time last
year, in spite OF the fact that the
weather has been too cold every day
since they arrived to permit swim
mfng IN the pool, whicfr-was fftafsed
in by the first arrivals on Feb. -, last
Season.
In suffering from bad weather, the
Tigers haven't been handed anything
worse than the other teams In train
A iag., All the training camps arc COM
piaining and at Hot Springs, too,
where. according to Charlie OIeary,
fhcre are enough major league vet
Grams to start a new league. they
have to content themselves with the
indoor baths and walks about the
country for exercise
Monroe has II on most OF the other
ramps in the half-mile track that
surrounds the baseball field. While
This Is soft enough so that no worlds
records for speed Will be broken on
IL. II nevertheless furnishes a fine
place for running.
The players here just began to
wake ND this week to the seriousness
OF the meningitis scare. Down here
a was looked at in this way: A boy
died. One physician said that he had
died OF meningitis. Two or three
others who were seriously i'll, OF
course. were Immediately suffering
from the same disease. An examin-
alton by competent man in New
Orleans disclosed the fact that there
was nothing TO the report that men
inritis was the cause OF the lads
death, and then the other patients
had something else. But the drug
stores had sold few carloads or
atomizers and the theaters had re-
ceived some advertising by disinfect-
inG their houses twice a day.
During the past week, admoniions
and warnings from all over the coun-
IN began to pour in from mothers,
fathers, wives, sweethearts and chill
. frcn. The scare would have been
{orrotten here had II not been for the
rcminders from a score OF homes In
The north. )
nurrucrz-ffi<e Prfntfngs Ne fuss ans
NJ feAthera The plain. neat kind that
lacks right. Times Printing CO.. Is