The Washington times., 1914-05-03
" When the Athletics Begin to Ht-Good Night!!'
ON AND OFF THE FIELD
Georgia Peach" Claims That
Comics Young TWiriers
Are Delivering Goods.

it." You know, a prophet has to make
hay while the sun shiucs. 50 to speak.
and want to call attention TO my good
guess about the Pirates while they
are On top or thereabouts. l said at
the beginning OF - season that II
ne would make the ruI!~ in the Ma
uonal League and he s-ei.~ to be max
ing It. His club evidently has prchted
by the trade with the Cardinals. and l
look for it to keep in the night right
~ TO the finish.
There will be lot of rejoicing among
the ball players about the time this
article is printed because they will
have experienced their first pay day
one. April Is is pay day too. but We
get only one days emolument at that
time, while We receive two weeks pay
May /. This may sound like very
trivial reason for a celebration. but
almost any ball player can tell you that
u is a red-letter day.
Most of the veteran big leaguers
have bank accounts, SO that they do
not have TO worry about drawing their
hard earned wages on any particular
who are down to d ShOestring when
May ] arrives The player draws no
stipend for the training trip and. OF
course, he cannot work at anything
during that time. The result is that
he is strapped when he comes Nortn,
unless he has saved something from the
previous season or his sInterS S work.
Many players work during the winter
months now. though there are plenty
who do nothing except rest from Oc-
tober until March. A variety of acCupa-
tions serve to fill in the cold period and
u keep the coal bin replenished. lhero
are a lot of funny stories told of the
ways bal! players find to earn a little
change in the off season. One of the
funniest ] ever have heard is told by
Clarence Fuchs, a happy ygo-lucky fell
low who has played in half dozen
minor leagues.
Fuchs was hard up enc winter, and
To keep body and soul together he
small town. Now. this particular
shooting gallery was run on close
margin and the proprietor saved money
Wherever he could. Instead of buying
cartridges with bullets in them to use
in his rifles, he purchased blanks. which
cost about a third as much. OF course.
all the guns were loaded behind the
counter and the marksinrn didn't know
anything about the character of the
ammunition they were using.
There would have been a riot if some
body hadn't hit the mark now and then.
OF course. so as To make il look right.
Fuchs was stationed behind n curtain
near the target. and when anybody fired
he threw small NauS Oh Dldtk putty Ci(
the bullseye This putty would make
a mark OF tho painted target, and the
shooter thought he was getting results.
Well. the proprietor offered cigars for
ringing the bell as they always do.
and this proved poor Fuchs undoinS.
lie got so expert in hitting the bulls
eye that nearly everyone who tried his
skill got al least a couple Of smokes. -
The proprietor couldn't stand the drain
on his finances caused by this lavish
distribution Of craftsmanship premiums.
and Fuchs was canned My control
got SO good ! lost my job lamcnted
that unfortunate employe in telling
about il.
Fuchs also slept in the shooting gal
lery. he says. as he had no money to
waste on hotel bills. He was very
much welded to his job. it seems. for
one night long after the gallery had
been closed down he was awakened by
Il shot out in the street and got up AMI
started the rabbits and mechanical
targets going. He always has assu-
GATED shooting with the animated ter
gets, and II was just second nature TO
him TO start them when he heard d"
noise like a gun.
copyright. 1914 by the Wheeler Synd:-
Inc