Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1914-11-12
E0RCE STALLINCS
Hero OF 81 :AS0N
Career Of Boston Braves Leader
Is One Of Interest.
MAKES PALS OF HIS MEN.

Off Field He Hobnobs With Members
of Team, on the Diamond He Is a
Slave Driver and Spares No One Un-
til Game Is Over.
George Stallings, manager Of the
Boston Braves. is one Of the very few
men who can encourage ball players to
hard work and even enthusiasm by
abusing them. And by abuse | do not
mean a gentle prod in the ribs. That is
not the style of Stallings. He aims a
full load Of verbal shot right at the vic
TINS head and lets go with both bar
relS. And he keeps on firing until the
last man is out in the ninth. There
have been extrem cases where he
failed to find the verbal load effective
and resorted to plain fist and skill.
Those cases are rare, but not beyond
his pale. If there was V e q DR.. Jekyll
and Mr.. Hyde in baseball it is this
same man Stallings-the wizard who
has brought Il mediocre team from the
ignominy of the tail end to all the glo-
ries OF the top rung Of the ladder.
Off the field there could be no gentler
man, no bigger hearted man. He loves
his players as chums and even advises
| them in their private affairs. If any i'll
luck should befall them-outside Of
| baseball-his purse strings are always
| open.
Stallings is genuinely fond of his
| players personally. and there Is much
evidence that this fondness is mutual.
AS a striking instance Of it, a year OF
SO ago when Mrs. Stallings was i'll i'll
Buffalo the members of the team re
ceived $500 as their share of the extra
| money for exhibition games. Instead
of dividing it up, is is customary, they
forwarded the whole amount to a flor
list that flowers might be sent to the
wife Of their leader every day. And
this vas done until the end came six
| weeks later.
The Braves always say their last
| pleasant word to Stallings at luncheon
and prepare themselves for the worst.
| They know full well that at the park
they will find Il different being. From
a man Of gentle breeding and Chester
feldian manners he is suddenly trans
formed into Il slave driver whose
tongue cuts like u lash. No matter
how much OF Il star Il player may be,
he never escapes that lash. He eX-
poets biting sarcasm and steels him
self accol .ingly.
During the recent Labor day games
at Boston Mnthewson had the Braves
beaten up to the last half Of the ninth
inning. Already Stallings had worn out
q pair of trousers sliding up and down
the bench and was acting like Il wild
man. The players tell of how he sud
denly turned and saw Josh Devore
in a corner. Always he has considered
Josh lucky.
Get up there. Josh, and take Il crack
at this one he ordered. That Matty
is a smart guy. and | guess the only
way to offset brains is with bone. Now
you The rest cannot be printed in
Il family newspaper.
Devore, hiding a smile, went to the
plate and. sure enough, beat out an
infield hit that really put the Braves
in position to win the game. There
were no words of praise when Josh
got back to the bench. but the next
day he got Il suit OF clothes.
By these methods Stallings has Il
knack Of being able to get big league
work out of a minor league player. 1t
was his patience with Dick Rudolph
as we'll as the hard knocks that made
him a great pitcher, and he also fooled
everybody by making a real first base
man out Of Schmidt.
Though the Brave leader is an edu-
Gated mana college graduate-he al
lows himself to be Influenced by all
the superstitions Of the game. One Of
his beliefs is that birds on the field
bring bad luck. Watch the Braves
some time and you will see the players
shooing away sparrows that happen to
light on the grass near by. One day
one Of the Philadelphia players placed
a dead bird in front of the Boston
bench, and Stallings almost had a fit
He raved all afternoon. On another
day they dropped cracked corn on the
grass to draw the sparrows toward
Stallings, and the ground keeper was
busy for the rest Of the afternoon for
fear that 1t would bring bad luck.
George Stallings was born in Had
dock. Ga. neal Macon, and still main.