Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-22
EvERS ASSERTS
GOLF INF ROvES
BALL PLAYERS
Cub Leader Takes Issue With Nc.
Graw on Latter's Charge That
Sport Is Injurious.
Bv "Chick" Evans.

HICAGO, ILL, Nov. 22.-Some-
one out at Edgewater the
~ other day asked Johnny Evers
why John McGraw, manager of the
New York Giants. had ordered his
men to stop playing golf, assigning
asa reason that 1t would injure their
baseball ability Evers remarked that
McGraw had merely used golf as
dummy for some night work his play
era were indulging in, and you can't
NAV golf at night. Johnny added
that he, on the contrary, though golf
could improve ones baseball. Ger
tain II is that Evers' new golf1ng
friends will pull hard for him to win
the championship next year.
Golf is a more varied game than
baseball. BY that I mean 1t Is played
with many different clubs over
varied stretch of ground, while base
ball is a one-club, practically one
spot game. There is a sense OF space
about golf course and a sense of
COMPRESSION on a baseball field. One
is not obliged to run while playing
golf although we have all known peo-
pie who ran between shots, and some
caddies have said that there are golf
ers who run around a course when
the caddy is being paid by the hour.
In spite of these facts 1t is not pos
sible to acquire much skill in running
bases from golf.
Baseball Easier Than Golf.
Baseball is easier than golf. because
your distances remain unchanged and
YOU use but one club and a standard
hall. Inasmuch as the bunkers in
baseball are movable, 1t is more
game Of placement than if they were
stationary. Now, golf teaches the
placing of shots, and the baseball bat
ter who can put his hits where he
will has everything his own way.
have often wondered If golfing base
ball player could not imagine the
places where the fielders are not as
greens and shoot for them. OF course,
owing to the movableness or the traps
he could not use the cut shot, but
merely hit the ball on low trajectory
onto 30-foot space. To a golfer
that would be a cinch.
A professional once made bet or
even money that beginners would not
even hit a ball the first time, If they
swung at it with all their strength,
and he finished ahead of the game.
This little story shows that golf
ball is one of the most difficult things
in the world to hit Would not a
gOlfing baseballer find, after a morn
ing's chase of the tiny elusive golf
ball, that a baseball was too big ever
to be missed This would be on the
theory of the player who swings sew
rral bats before getting up to play
in order to make his own bat seem
light. The constant advice to the
golfer to keep his eye on the ball
ousht to teach any baseball player to
so closely watch the course of the
ball from pitcher to plate that he
would guess any curve.
How to "Place" Hits.
1t is a curious thing that we never
see articles on How to Bat" but l
have often thought If the baseball
player would analyze his stroke he
would do we'll indeed. ! am sure that
most baseball players try to do all
the work themselves instead of let
ting the bat work little.
An expert golfer can hook or slice
at will, and from the same distance,
and the baseball player who starts
golf learns quickly the value of spin
on the ball. | would suggest that all
baseball players use wooden clubs
called "bilgers," which have a rounded
striking surface. l have sometimes
thought that if the handle of the bat
were thin enough to allow the finger
grip, many batters could do better,
tor In ones fingers lies the sense of
touch. l wonder If any baseball man
mas ever tried the Vardon grip.
feel sure baseball batting would vast
~ improve with the application Of
golfing knowledge.