Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-04-20
BY JOHNNY EVERS.


IT. IN old question mis- Is a clul
Gamer repaid tor the great expense 0
| S'nhing his p!Htprs South ever!
spring - prepare Them for tie cham
ZION ship canlfaign?" II has been ask
"a ~ long rs AN rrr.emb~r auc
Probably Will CpnJiu - t. b" asked a.
long As baseball j. PLAYED
1t may appear that, vixen a cIut
Owner plants many rhousand-dollaI
seeds go" SoGth during the spring
to cCndit,on his players. he has NJ
ChanC" q realizing anything on that
money: that it is an expenditure that
might more prOfitabp be made III
sOm" other direction. 1t is true that
!eW club owners realize anything in a
monetary way during the spring train.
ing junket; in fact. il is comparative
by seldom that an even break in finan-
COS is scored during this period.
But let Us suppose that of the eight
club owners in the National League,
one should not send his club South for
spring training that he left the mat
ter of getting into condition entirely
in the hands Of the players themselves
at their respective homes, in which
event supervision Of their work would
lie utterly impossible Would it be
POSSIBLE for his club to enter the
campaign physically perfected to COM
lete against the other seven clubs
whose players had had the advantage
of spring training in the South?
There is still another angle. Sup
Lose none Of the major league clubs
were sent South to train None would
be in the same fpttle they all are now
to begin the season. Thus, the public
the fans who pay the freight-would
not be given the best for their money
during the early weeks of the cham
piOnship season.
Weather Is Big Factor.
In making these statements I am
not trying to bclittle the chances that
the club owner takes in making this
spring-time outlay 1t is big gamble
The weather in the South may be bad
and the players may return North lit.
tie benefited by their sOjourn at the
camp. Then the club owner suffers
sent his players South at all. In the
spring training business the club own
crs are very fair to the players. They
not only pay all the players expenses
at training headquarters, but they also
pay the fare of the players from their
homes to the point designated as the
starting place of the spring junket
For instance, if a player lives in
Troy (as / do and the starting point
of one section of the Braves is New
York as it was this year, the players
fare from Troy to New York City is
paid, as we'll as his expenses from
New York City to Macon and for the
rest of the time until the club reports
for its first series of games at Boston.
The only time player has to pay his
own expenses from the beginning of
spring training until the champion
ship season ends is when his club is
playing in it's own city. Whenever
the club is on the road the players
expenses-railroad fare and hotel bills
are paid by the club owner.
have heard it said that the cost of
spring training to each club owner
averages about $500 head, and when
there are 80 and sometimes 40 play
ers taken South one Can gain some
idea of what this means financially to
the average big league club owner.
AS matter of fact, think that eli
matte conditions have little to do with
a players getting into condition. Dur
ing my time l have trained at my
home in Troy, in California, in Texas,
in Florida and in Georgia, and l feel