Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-03-25
sY JOHNNY EvERs.

Hardly a week passes that some fan
does not ask me, which do you think
il the successful manager. the one
who plays or the one who directs the
play from the bench?' For this rea-
son / have decided to devote an arti-
Gle of this series to managers, and
l win try to answer the question as
eonyincingly as possible. However.
want to make IL plain at the outset
that this Is just my opinion. Other
students Of the game may differ from
what have to say and they may be
able to support their stand with equal
ly convincing arguments.
Naturally. managers and their diff
ferent methods are one Of the big
chapters of baseball-one Of the chap
tiers that demand a major portion OF
the attention Of every student of the
game. II has been and still Is one
Of the chapters that ! study Just as
carefully as did when I first got
under the big tent.
have come to the conclusion that
bench managers are the more sue
cessful. for I believe the game has
grown to be such a big proposition
that it is almost impossible to COM
bine the two positions Of player and
manager And they are two distinct
positions.
Player Must Not Sc Worried.
A player should not be required to
think as manager. That Is to say,
he should be permitted to devote all of
his thought to playing. Every layman
must realize that q manager Is re-
quired to think not only spontaneously
as plays and situations develop, but
he must also think as good chess and
checker players think--that is. many
moves ahead. There are times when
the game has only reached the third.
fourth or fifth inning. but the manager
Is playing the game in his mind in the
seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
He is trying to devise ways and means
for developing the situations that win
prove most favorable to his club. Or
he is trying to devise ways and
means Of offsetting the general trend
of the game. which he is quick to rea-
lie is not for the best interests Of
his club.
One can readily appreciate that to
be a player-manager man must keep
his brain divided into two parts, 50
to speak. With one part he is playing
the game, play BY play. With the
other he IL playing the game an inning
or two ahead.
As youngster, did you eyer try to
catch ny ball I'M the outfie1d while
thinking about something else? May.
be you funk9d that afternoon in some
of your studies and you were think
ing about that. The ball is batted In
your direction. and instinct tells you
that you must catch It, but as 1t be-
gins to fall 1t seems impossible for
YOU to be sure that you are under it.
That's the situation In much less in
tricate way that player-manager
constantly finds himself in.
Years ago, when baseball was truly
in its infancy and when playing the
game meant little but fielding the ball
and batting II, when what we call in
side baseball today was a thing un-
heard Of and undreamed about, a fell
low could easily act as manager and
player at the same time. He had to
think only with the game itself. not
ahead of It.
Baseball Scientific Game.
Now 1t is different Baseball today
is scientific game. 1t Is sport re-
quiring the use of the brain as well as
the arms and legs It has passed the
time, in my estimation. when man
can do himself justice as player and
his club Justice as q manager by trytf