The Washington herald., 1915-01-11
institute Runners Protest Against the Ruling Of AAU Official
Morgan Is Overweight;
Must Hustle to Hold Job
Nationals Watchcharm In
fielder Slowly Drifting Into
White Hope Class.
OTHER SPORT COMMENT
BY WILLIAM PEET,

Will they call him Rubberneck'' Ray
Morgan?
Will he lose his job as second sacker
OF the Nationals?
! Let US hope not, but just the same
/ Ray Morgan is getting fat.
The Charlottesville training trip will
m,an something to Ray Morgan this
spring
coming here under the MCAleer regime
/ i'm the fall of 1872, he was declared to be
too light for an miielder. He tipped the
scales at l42 pounds.
| The following year Morgan picked up a
! few pounds and last season added few
more, establishing a playing weight of
about 16O pounds. which did not seem to
slow him up bit, and II anything helped
| him.
Morgan during the present winter of
idleness has probably added eight or
ten pounds more, and some of this will
have to come off before the season opens.
Ray laughs at the idea of becoming
a white hope, but he has probably never
heard the horrible story of Bill Cunning
ham. Rubber Shirt Bill" he was dubbed.
by the local writer's who accompanied
the Nationals to Atlanta back in the
spring of 1911, so here goes.
cunningham was purchased ITOtn lIe
New Bedford club of the New England
League in the summer of 1911 and Joined
the club at the fag end of the season.
taking the final whirI around the circuit
incidentally hitting the ball like a fiend
showing speed on the bases and rare
ability as a fielder.
The next chapter of this story "a short
onc). has to do with Atlanta, Ga. the
following spring. Cunningham appeared
R,rl ,,-ifl 9TH afal
and Jim McAleer threw a dozen fits when
he spied him. Bill had jumped up from
16O pounds to 1Sj pounds and looked as
big as a house. was as slow as an ice
wagon and could hardly get out of his
own way.
Il have telegraphed for a rubber shirt.
II will be here in two days. ! want you
to wear it during practice and IL YOU
don't take off twenty pounds before the
season opens I'll fine you 500 and you
will warm the bench. You should have
kept yourself in condition during the win
ter"
That's what Jim McAleer handed Bill
Cunningham. and he wasn't smiling
when he unburdened himself. either.
The rest is history. Cunningham work
ed like a Trojan. but could not get into
shape to do himself justice, and, al
though finishing the season with the
Nationals and going to Charlottesville
with Griffith in 1915 he drifted back to
the minors.
We hate to draw such a horrible night
mare picture as this for Ray Morgan,
but the Baltimore boy cannot deny he
is taking on flesh at an alarming rate.
Morgan told the writer one day last
season that ever since he had his tonsils
removed, shortly after the close of the
1913 season. he started to pick up weight.
There is little danger of his going
through such an experience as did Bill
Cunningham for the reason that Morgan
does not possess Cunningham's big bony
frame.
That the proposed tour of South
America by major league baseball
teams during the winter of 19l5-16 will
be a financial success and boom for the
sport south of the equator is the conf
dent prediction made by several Ameri-
can business men conversant with con-
ditions throughout the southern conti-
nent. Baseball is frequently played by
Americans residing in the principal cities
of Chile, Peru, Argentina, and other
South American countries. These games
never fail to attract the natives. who
watch the play with interest. These
younger generations are taking to the
game, ana already play IalT DdSeDall.
Leagues composed of native players are
predicted within the next ten years, and
speaking on this poi-t a returned Amer
lean said recently:
In the natural course Of evolution. the
intrica cies of American baseball will be
mastered, and the national pastime trans
planted south of the Panama Canal. Gil
matte conditions are as favorable to the
success of baseball in South America as
in the United States while the interest
shown there in other sports shows the
existence of embryo baseball fans. 1 am
certain that in time amateur baseball
will be followed by the professional
league, and it is not a dream to imagine
that some day South America will send
a team north for real worlds series"
Englishmen keep up an active interest
in sport much longer than Americans.
Cross-country running has many veter-
ans still in the game in England. For
instance, the Ranelagh Harriers have a
challenge cup race over a five-mile course
and c. II. Spendlove, who is forty-ive
years old, recently won the cup for the
first time after trying for it persistently
for twenty-siX years.
There Is no reason why Jack
johnson should not develop his
foOtwork training with one of the