New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-07
By JOHNNY EVERS,
Cantnin of the Boston Braves.


Hardly week passes that some ian
does not ask me: (Which do yot
think is the more successful manager
the one who plays or the one who
directs the play from the benchT For
this reason / have decided to devote
the seventh article of this series to
"MANAGERS," and ! will try to an
swer the question as convincingly as
possible. However, | want to make II
plain at the outset that this is just my
opinion. Other students of the game
may differ from what have to say and
thew may be able to substantiate their
stand with equally convincing argu'
ments. There are goou arguments Pio
and con.
Naturally managers and their ar
ferent methods are one of the biS
CHAPTERS of baseball-one of the chap
tiers that demand a major portion OF
the attention of every real student OF
the game. 1t has been and still IL
one of the chapters that ! study just
as carefully. possibly even more so
than I did when | first climber under
the Big Tent
7 have come to the conclusion that
bench managers are the more success
full. for | believe that the game has
grown to. be such big proposition
that il is almost impossible to comblre
the two positions of player and man
ager. And they are two distinct posi-
tions.
A player should not be required "a
think as a manager. That il TO say,
he should be permitted to devote all
of his thought to playing the plays
Every layman must realize that man
ager is required to think, not only spon-
taneously, as plays and situations de,
velop, but he also must think as good
chess and checker players think, tina,
is. many moves ahead. There are times
when the game has only reached the
third. fourth or fifth innings, but the
manager ia playing the game IN his
mind in the seventh, eighth and ninth
innings. He is trying to devise ways
and means for developing the situa-
tions that will prove most favorable
to his club. Or he is trying to devise
ways and means Of offsetting the gen
eral trend OF the game, which he is
quick 10 realize is not for the best
interests Of his club.
Faces Double Task.
Therefore. one can readily appreciate
that to be player-manager a man
must keep his brain divided into two
parts, so to speak. With one part he
is playing the game play by play. With
the other he is playing the game ali
inning or two ahead.
AS a youngster did you ever try TO
catch a fly ball in the outfield while
thinking about something else? May
be you hunked that afternoon in some
Of your studies and you were thinking
about that. The ball is batted In your
direction, and instinct tells you that
you must catch it, but as it begins TO
fall it seems impossible for you to be
sure that YOU are under it. That's the
situation in a much less intricate way
that a player-manager constantly finds
himself in.
Years ago, when baseball was truly
in it's infancy and when playing the
game meant little but fielding the ball
and batting it, when what we call in
side baseball to-day was a thing I'M
heard of and undreamed about, Eel
low could easily act as manager and
player at the same time. He had TO
think only with the game itself, not
ahead Of IL.
Now il is different. Baseball to-day
is scientific game. it is sport re-
curing the use of the brain as well as
the arms and legs. 1t has passed the
time, in my estimation, when man
can do himself justice as a player and
his club justice as a manager by trying
TO combine the two jobs. And doesn't
It seem that that idea is becoming
more general-that il IL being more
widely admitted every year?
Glance over the list of managers fol
the coming season in the National ant
American leagues. What is the result
You find that Miller Higgins, Charley
Herzog, Roger Bresnahan and Bill Car
rigan are the only managers who also
are playing. OF these Bresnahan anC
Carrigan can only be counted upon &c
play in about 90 per cent of the games
Miller Higgins has told me that just
as soon as he can find the man he
wants to cover second base for him h
will retire as a player and become 9
bench manager. | wish to add here
that | think Higgins is one of the
best managers connected with baseball
at the present time. He possesses
every quality that a manager to-day
must possess to be a success.
Can See Every Play.
Every one must admit that a bench
manager has every play that is mad,
right before him, whereas a playing
manager frequently does not And be
cause he sits on the bench and is il
such an ideal position to study the
game from all its many angles, th'
bench manager frequently will notice
defects in the opposition's play tha
will greatly benefit him in arranging
his plan of campaign. These same de
fects could very easily be overlooked
by the playing manager in the field anC
with this without rejecting upon hi:
ability either as a player or manager
in the least. He would not see then
because he is not in a position to seq
them.
Baseball has advanced to that stage
now where a manager, during the
game, devotes most of his attention
to The offensive play of his club. Play
ers are supposed to be capable OF
handling the defensive end of the game
in the field when they are selected fol
major LEAGUE duty. Then, too, the
captain of the team plays & part in the
direction of the defence. BY this,
do not mean to imply that the manager
does not bother himself with the de.
fence at all, leaving it entirely to the
captain. Far be it from that But YOU
can readily appreciate that he cannot
take so prominent part in the team:
defensive organization, once it goe:
out on the field, as he can when his
club is az bat.
When on the attack or at bat. it is
the manager who is operating. Almost
every player that steps to the plate
goes up there with instructions OF
some kind. And a good manager would
rather see that player strike out while
trying to follow instructions than 10
disobey instructions, and yet be fortu-
ME enough TO get hit