Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1916-11-09

PLAYERS Join Fro Ranks.
Few OF THEM WILL STICK
Detroit and Connie Mack Landed Some
Promising Material McGraw Sc
cured a CouPIe-Sig League Scouts
' Haunted Campus Games.
An unusual number of college base
ball players have entered the big lea
This summer, liow many will he prom
jlont 10y the time the big league sea-
son ends:
III thc usual average obtains, the sue
ceSsful ones will he in II minority. Yet.
again, s"Elc of the ~ncunhytcs have dis
played ability Oil the university 4lia-
mond which ~bcSpcakS at least Il certain
amount Of success.
George Smith OF Columbia. for OK
ample. After he has been Swcctcncd
down. there would appear to he strong
likelihood of his being 4 valuable nom
Der of the Giant pitching squad. And
Pie Way has also gone to McGraw's
team. Way is a husky youth. who has
speed, control and curves. He may de
velop into a big league star.
Detroit Gets Good Player.
Watt, the Columbia captain, has sign
ed with Detroit, and Andy Coakley says
he has 10 doubt this player will make
good in big company. Watt, he says,
is one Of the closest students of base
ball he has cver met. He is always
considering how to improve his game
and will develop swiftly, Coakley thinks.
1t is reported from New Haven that
but Ernest Soucy said in New London
the other day that Mahan was not go
ing to play professional baseball.
HE turned down an offer from the
Boston Braves to my personal knowl-
edge" said Soucy. land don't think
he will play ball unless he receives an
offer of a salary much larger than he
mas Yet received.
Athletics Have Good Catcher.
Jing johnson, the Ursinus pitcher,
made his debut for the Athletics
against thu Red Sox and received IL
fearful lalnbasting. Red Carroll, the
Tufts catcher, however, made Il fine
impression. catching Johnson in fine
style ana nipping three men who at
tempted to steal second.
The idea Is not to make baseball an
end, but merely q means either to COM
pleting their education or of laying
aside means to assist them in business
projects. But others. it is to be feared.
have not looked into the future, at
least not beyond the immediate future.
Baseball, if they make good, will pay
them more at the outset than they
could reasonably expect to earn in
business, and that is the lure. A few
eventually will be transferred to the
minor leagues for Development" Very
few college mcn ever return from the
so called bushes. Even assuming they
not only succeed, but become famous
as professional baseball players, what
does it all amount to in the end:
Lure of the Diamond Is Strong.
Some years ago one of the colleges
had a brilliant baseball player. He
was also a brilliant student. His in
clinations We're toward law, but he
went into the big leagues, where his
yr1 ,1n woe Ncfo 11ichn1 o+ c,.c III
stayed with M club a number Of
years, then ne went to another and
after twenty years of service slowed
down. Now he is running a minor
league team. AS he looks back into
the past and asks what baseball has
done for him he must find the answer
rather depressing. His professors when
he left college agreed that he had it i'll
him to succeed in almost anything to
which he directed his mind. But the
quick money and the %evanescent fame
of the professional diamond We're too
alluring 10 be resisted.
Scouts Attend Ball Games.
ut would be well if the colleges and
universities took steps to combat this
annual descent upon their players Of
big league managers, whose only
thoughts are selfish, whose only ideals
nrc mercenary," said a writer recently.
college coaches who work With one
eye on the teams they coach and the
other on big league managers from
whom they expect a handsome gratuity
IN return for student ball players
should be suppressed and promptly.
10 to a college game in which players
who stand OUT above the average are
competing and you will see scouts
from professional lines watching every
move Of the men whom they expect to
sign, studying them and sizing up their
yrinfc nc tho,,~I, {I1- ,o- l:r~ -