The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-09-15
YOUNG PLAYERS Do NOT TAKE BALL
SERIOUSLY ENOUGH, SAY VETERANS
Most Of Them Forget All About Game From One Day to
Another, and Seldom Dis uss Finer Points of Pas
time in Talkfests-strategy for the Athletics

The worst fault found by the men
VINO know. with the younger genera
ton OF ball players, is. that they do
NOT take baseball seriously enough.
Too many Of them them spend their
OF time In figuring how to increase
tneir emoluments from the national
pastime. and too little in how. to win
a games. overlooking the fact that
the surest way to increase their sal
games. -.
This does not mean that all the
younger crop of players view base
q IL as a means of having a lot of fun.
Ihere are about as many Of those
as ever; but there are fewer. than there
used to be OF the players who put
themselves out OF condition by their
conduct Of the players, as a, whole, is
much better. and the club discipline
Is more rigid, rs a rule. But there
are a lot of. players who devote as lit
tie time as. they car to baseball, and
get away with It. At home they put
IN a couple Of hours in morning prac-
tice trying to e how many base hits
can make Oft straight pitching.
In the. afternoon they put, in another
preliminary hour in the same kind
OF practice. and then a couple of
hours In the game.
Show Little Brain. Work..
From the time they get into their
street clothes until they show up for
practice again. baseball. as a battle
OF brains. is forgotten by them. If
they talk baseball. 1t is to tell stories
or discuss the chances Of this or that
team. and. the relative merits Of this
or that player. in some other league.
Almost never will you sit in at a fan
fest Of players and hear any one dop-
ing out a way to win tomorrow's game.
There are exceptions. Of course, to
every remark. but there are fewer
players who spnd' their off hours try
ing to improve their knowledge Of the
science Of baseball than ever oefore.
This Is my W experience and tallies
with that Of other veterans with whom
I have discussed It.. The younger
players are perfectly willing to leave
all he strategy Of baseball up to their
managers and coaches, and there are
men playing in the big leagues now
who do, or try to do. things they are
ordered to do without knowing why.
The Interest in Game.
The manager is lucky who, like
Connie Mack, can get a bunch together
who will take any interest in or get
any great advantage. out of a meet
Ing of the players as a board of
strategy" The. Athletics hold such
meeting nearly every day, it is said.
They took little interest in them last
after having Jagged two sue
cessive worlds championships and be-
Ing touted as SURE winners in 1912.
You noticed where they finished last
fall. This year. in consequence of
their, unexpected defeat. they took
more: interest in strategy and have
developed an entirely new style of
play for them: re
Thousands have wondered how
Fielder Jones e won a worlds pen
nant with the team he had in 1906
or kept that team in the running for
many seasons. They were "hitless
wonders" and other l.inds Of Jokes to
the fans and writer's. The secret was
that they rel a al of players who
played the game of the diamond as
well as on it. They were wise play
ers. most Of them. and when their
manager diagrammed a play to them
they grasped 1t. Then when he asked
them to execute 1t they knew what he
meant and tried 1t intelligently. It
did not always work, but they work.
ed a lot more runs across the plate