Evening star., 1912-11-24
McGraw Is Ever Alert.

McGraw Is Ever Alert.
During the progress of the game NC
| Graw is in uniform on the coaching nnes.
| He is ever alert and watchfui OF any
weakness of the opposition. One minute
| he is squatted almost on all 1ours' IN.
next minute he may be jumping up ana
down in plee over some good thing one
| of his nlayers has Just pulled, or over a
| '.solid ivory play on the part OF his
| rivals. He is quick to take advantage ol
| every opportunity, and never LOT me
| ute considers himself, thinking Oily "
| the success of his team. he Is resource
| fnl and nulls many a trick on opposition
| and umpires. Often McGraw kicks nara
1 when he knows he hasn't KICK comlhs.
/ In truth, he is not kicking over the oec,-
sion, but merely kicking to accomplish
| some other end.
| often McGraw is elected from the game
when in reality, one of his players should
have been. 1t often comes ABOUT III lii1s
| Way: One Of his stars Is dlspleaseo AZ
something the umpire does ana ne s s'ai :, - -
kicking in such a wild manner that NC
| GraW. at a glance, surmises the umpire
| will not stand for very mucn OF TINS
| brand Of abuse. Immediately ne Tusnes
out pushes the player to one sac anu
! takes up the burden. He either ch1des the
nIaver for what appears to be an unjust
! kick, tells him he will fine him II ne gels
| put out of the game, or adopts the otnel
| scheme of taking up the argument WHERE
| the player left OF.
| cessful I have known many a manager
| to make me forget what intended 10 90
| with the player by getting after the pay
| er in stronger terms than l darea IN my
] official capacity / have also known man
| ayers to say things to me that made me
forget all about the player ana Inlnk
only Of them. Very often the manager
can spare himself better than his star
| pitcher, crack catcher or Leading Datter.
! One line of talk usually saves both, the
| other generally results in the ban1shment
| of the manager When using the latter
| system the manager is just about as
peeved at the umpire as Is the player.
Mack Reigns Supreme.
| Connie Mack is just as supreme, If not
more SO, than McGraw, but he rules in an
entirely different way. The Athletics re-
| mind me more of a college nine than any
professional team l ever saw. Possibly
| this is due to the fact that Mack has SO
many collegians on his team. The play
| ers regard Connie just as the varsity men
| do their coach. Naturally, Mack directs
most of the plays, but he also allows his
men to use their judgment to certain
| extent
Often some play Of the day previous Is
| brought up for discussion on the bench
| before the start of the game. The player
| will lament the fact that he failed to sac
/ rifice successfully. If he had been able
to advance the runner the game would
| have been won in regulation time instead
| of lost in extra innings. Failure to sue
| ceed was due to the third baseman rush.
| ing in, getting the ball and forcing the
| runner to second. On his first attempt to
| bunt he had failed. and tipped lis inten-
tions. On his second attempt ne lalo
| down what would have ordinarily been a
| perfect bunt, but the third baseman. tip
ped off, came tearing in and made the
| play at second.
Il don't want you boys to regard your
selves as machines l have often heard
Mack say you've got lot of brains
or you wouldn't be in the big league. l
| want you to use your talent. II tell you
to do a certain thing. and when you get
to the place you believe the opposition is
| wise cross them, do something else. If
you succeed, it is usually a bunch OF
| runs; if you fail there will be no censure
from me- Don't think you must get per-
mission from me every time you want to
move"
Never Moves From Bench.
During the game Mack sits on the
bench and by a system Of signals directs
the work Of his club on the field. A lot
of things have been written about Mack s
methods of signaling. but I don't be-
lieve any one but Connie and his players
know thing about them, as he con-
stantly changes his methods. The coach
| ing he leaves to three or four of his
players, whom he regards as brainy men
on the lines. Always dressed in black,
Connie looks more like an undertaken
than a manager. If you sit back of the
| Athletic bench you will never get a
chance to see Connie, for he arrives just
before the start of the game and leaves
by way of the secret passage Immediate
ly on it's conclusion.
| A little incident that happened during
the worlds series goes to show McGraW' S
methods. With one down, near the close
| of the fifth game of the series, Meyers
hit a terrific drive to left center that net
ted him three bases. A faster man would
have made home run, as it was a terri
fic crash. / was working the bases in
that game, and stood directly back of
third, so as to be sure Meyers did not
leave too soon, in case of a caught fly
ball. When Fletcher stepped to the bat
McGraw said to Meyers:
| Il want you to take a chance and try
to score on a fly ball."
| Fletcher responded with fairly long
fly to Speaker in center field AS Speak
| er set himself for the CATCH I stepped
close to Meyers and told him to be sure
not to leave before the fly was caught
Speakers ability to throw hard and ac-
curately is well known Meyers being wise
| to the fact When the ball dropped safe
ly into the waiting hands of Speaker Nc
Graw yelled go" AS he got the word
Meyers set out for the plate with all pos