The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-10
Players Worry About
Condition in Spring
Pitchers Especially Are Filled.
with Fear When Several
Games Are Lost.
~ cHlIsrY MArHEwsoN.

Few fans realize how big league play.
ers worry In the spring about their abfI-
ity to hit the pace that has held them In
fast company after the lsyon Of the
winter. This II particularly true of pitch
ers. and three or four defeats in the
beginning Of the race often means that
| a twirier n In for bad year. stncs
these defe6ts make him believe he has
lost something over the winter and that
he will not be able to come back. On
the other hand. the man who gets away
| to q good start Ia In for a phenomenal
season, a. a rule.
As man wears along through the days
f, Of his baseball usefulness. this uncer.
tainty In the spring becomes more pro.
| nounced, since he knows that eventually
a season will arrive when his ''stufr' 10
gone for good.
Take my own case. Until the Giants
reached Philadelphia on the way North,
felt fine. but. with the colder weather
and the days of idleness on account of
rain. my condition went bad. and came
up one morning with a heavy cold.
\ found / had no control of the ball, and
In the first game which I started against
Brooklyn. Robinson's club hit me all over
| the field.
| Shortly after that, a moving picture
man came to me with a proposition.
DO you want to take this upy' he
asked me.
wait until see whether I ever win
q game. and then III talk" 1 replied
That afternoon. / took my first game
against Philadelphia and felt better. 1t
did more to cure my cold than all the
other treatment which had been admin
istered.
Have on Seasons.
| A ball players showing for the most
I art run IN SIS bo 0nI . t.
only the unusual man who can keep Up
his top pace year after year. There have
been few Of them In the history of the
game. and even these stars worry. I
refer to such performers as Cobb, wag-
ner. Lajoie. ct al. Generally. the season
following raise in pay brings bad re-
suits in the cases of many players
Larry Doyle, did not have a good
season last year He got away badly,
and he worried about II constantly. until
| he did not know whether he would ever
come back The trip he made around
the world acted as a tonic on him. for
he was under no pressure and he hit
hard all the way. He came to the spring
camp sure Of himself. He has been
playing great ball, and owing to his good
! start. I expect TO see him enjoy one Of
the best seasons of his big league ex-
I perience.
Al Demaree went through the spring
"trip without a hitch. and he broke away
| into the race with a whirlwind start
4 He is pitching great ball. the best nf
any twirler on the Giants staf now, and
] he will probably have q year that will
mark itself up as the banner one of his
| big league career 50 far He believes
himself that he has the goods. vhich Is
about half the battle. Maruuard got on
| to a wonderful start In 1872 and he took
ninteen games before cracking. II there
/ had been an occasional defeat inter-
spersed IN his record here and there that
| much better record as a whole. since
/ that long string Of victories was a big
strain and when it was finally snapped.
, the tendency was for him to slough on.
Still. the good start was responsible for
| all the wins.
| Look at Joe Wood. In 1872 he had his
big season. In spring practice In 1913
he never looked better, but he got on to
a bad start N the championship race,
and his work through the run Of the
summer was not up to his standard.
Chief Bender. of the Athlst'cs- did not
get away good in 1872 could 60 ahead
reiterating instances to prove this A
| frequent remark OF big league pitchers
is
We'll. row I've got the first one, PER-
haps I can show something"
| Tigers Look Good.
Out Of letter from ''Ty" Cobb to &
a friend Of mine. / have received per-
mission to take the following quotation
on his opinion of the race In the Ameri-
can League. and don't know any man
better fitted to express an opinion:
| We (the Detroit Tigers have a good
club this year and will be bothering the
/ boys up around stations one. two. and
4 three the whole season. The White SoN
look dangerous because Of their pitchers,
and you know the Athletics. They are
| always dangerous"
1 Cobb Is not a man to be overly opti-
mistic about his club. and his statement
| that he expects Detroit to bother tho
leaders comes as a surprise to me- He
was not in this state of mind last sum-
mer, so he must believe that "Hughie'
Jennings has improved his club by the
new blood he has added this spring.