The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-08-04
HOW TO HANDLE
A BASEBALL TEAM
Clark Griffith Tells Of Best
Method to Get Results.
MUST STUDY HUMAN NATURE
The Successful Pilot of a Big League
Club Has to Be a Good Judge of Men,
Otherwise He Will Be Failure-Says
johnson Is Greatest Pitcher.
BY CLARK GRIFFITH.

johnson Is 1feaIeSr FltCneT.
BY CLARK GRIFFITH.
To my mind the successful big
league manager must, first of all, be
student of human nature. No man
can hope to direct a squad of other
men and get the maximum results I'M
less he understands the fellows he is
working with-unless he knows their
dispositions, their characteristics, their
virtues and their weaknesses. Different
men have to be handled different ways
or there are bound to be friction and
wasted effort.
OF course it's necessary for a man
ager to know baseball from every
angle but that is simple matter.
dare say there are half a dozen men
on my team who know as much base
BAH rs l do-and perhaps there are
some who know more. But q manager |
might be equipped with the most pro-
found knowledge of baseball in the /
world, might be the most popular man |
among his players in the game and |
might have the greatest players in |
the country on his team, and he would |
be in the second division all the time |
unless he understood something about |
human nature
Suppose an outfielder apparently has
lead in his shoes and lets n few bounds
pass him. The manager knows he is
capable of better ball. Perhaps that
outiiclder is the sort of Il man that
can't stand the gaff, ana If the man
ager jumps into him when he comes to
the bench-calls him Il bonehead and
quitter-hc may impair that mans eff
iciency for weeks, or even ruin him
for all time. On the other hand, If
he pats him on the shoulder and en-
courages him a bit the slump may be
brought TO an end in hurry.
But il may be that the offender is
the type of man who needs good rid
ing to straighten him out Harsh
words are the spur which viii start
him right again, and he ought to have
them. Pet him and he gets SO nervous
he can't do n thing, but arouse his
fighting blood and he acts like a new
man. The manager must know his
men to avoid mistakes Apply the
wrong treatment in either case and ir-
reparable damage is done. No two
thh DG ilduultu ulIhc-SOIuS uluSI NC
jollied some let alone; some kidded
and some must feel the mailed fist.
incidentally it has been my experience
that the last named are very much in
the minority.
Why the ability to read human ma
ture and understand men is necessary
to Il manager a thousand times every
day.
Take, for instance, the pitcher 1t
may be that John Southpaw is good
tightcr-the more you so after him the
madden he gets. SO much for that.
But this same John Southpaw may be
the type who gets so mad he loses the
ability to think clearly when the other
team rides him, and pitches bad ball
On the other hand, he may be one of
those whose mind clears and whose
arm becomes stronger the madden he
gets The more the opposing players
go for him the better he gets.
If John SOuthpaw is of the former
type he isn't going to be much good
against a scrappy, laxative team. II
he is of the latter type he is the mar
to work when the sarcastic talk i.
coming from the coaching lines.
Philadelphia had an example of the
two types of pitchers mentioned in thu
National league team in 1913 Ton
ScatOn, now with the Brooklyn Fed
erals, Is fighter all the way through
but when a team goes after Tom ant
heaps abuse on him he gets so mae
it hurts his box work On the othe
hand IL is disastrous for a team L
nDIIGn a lpX0n6ap "
mad, and the madden he gets the bet
ter his brain and arm work. If m
team had Alexander TO face l woul
tell them to let him absolutely alone.
Yes, and | am just as well Statistic
that they don't have to face that cha
too.
Well, that's about all there is to thi
big league manager proposition. TIL
man who understands human natur
thoroughly, knows baseball from stcl
to stern, uses good common horse sens
at all times and IS lucky is going [
have some degree of success as a hos
in the big leagues.
| don't see how manager can hay
a set system of play as long as it take
nine men TO make up team.
There is a lot of discussion anon
baseball men as to which is the great,
pitcher, Alexander or johnson. thin
Johnson is the greatest pitcher {
earth. But they are both in a ella,
by themselves.
| will say, however. l am convince
that Johnson has more speed tha
Alexander and that he has more stu
on his fast one On the other han
there is little doubt that Alexander
slow one is wonderful. They say W.
ter has no slow one Well / am IL
willing to admit that. But, tell IN
what does he need slow one for, an
how?
! would just like 10 see the pa
matched in Il worlds series 1t won