The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-02-24
You Can't Bat 300 if You Bat
Around All Night Is the
Real Answer.
OTHER SPORTING GOSSIP
Griffith Always Has Insisted Upon
Clean Living on Part of His
Bail Players.
BY WILLIAM PEET.

BY WILLIAM PEET.
1t is singular coincidence but never
theless the truth, that the great majoriy
Of professional ball players who have at
tained success. are clean living men,
temperate and loyal.
Eddie Collins. former Athletic second
sacker, now with the Chicago White sox,
ripped leaf out of Walter Johnson's
note book when he addressed a Sunday
school gathering in Palmyra. N. Y, re-
Gently
Collins Ten Commandments, or, as he
announced, The Ten Rules of Life" are
as follows:
First-safeEunrd your honor.
second-Don't overent.
Third-Be a good loser.
Fourth-Smile.
Fffth-keep good hours.
sixth-Have courage to do right.
scyenth-Don't think you know
1t all.
Eighth-Be prompt.
Nfnth-Don't drink alcoholic
drinks.
Tenth-Think clean thoughts.
Walter Johnson, the Nationals great
pitcher, never had a lame arm in his
life. simply because he kept good hours.
did not overeat, nor drink alcoholic
drinks and knew, how to take care of
himself.
Johnson is good loser, is always
prompt, has the courage to do right, con-
tinually smiles, and thinks clean
thoughts.
There must be something In Eddie Col
ms ten commandments for ball play
er, as Walter Johnson is a shining ex-
ample and so are dozens of others We
could neasily name.
Manager Griffith has always been a
stickler for clean living. He will not
stand for dissipation in any form, and
several of his players know this to their
sorrow.
The day of the "boozer" has long since
passed, so far as baseball is concerned
the rule Of the present day seems to be
that You can't bat 800 II you bat around
all night"
The baseball writer for the Cincinnati
Enquirer doesn't believe that Griffith
Will make much OF show in the Ameri-
can League race this year. He says that
six teams will be punched for the first
division throughout the greater part of
the year and that the Griffith crew will
wind up about seventh or eighth.
All of which goes to prove that per-
sonaHttes sometimes cut quite figure
in the writing of some baseball dope
From about the beginning of his last
season in Cincinnati until he left the
Rhine, Griffith and the man who wrote
the aforementioned article in the En-
quirer, did not speak as they passed
by. The writer in question owned one
share of stock in the Cincinnati Reds.
was a bosom friend of Garry Herr
mann-who. by the way. is one of the
best friends Griffith has in all the
world-and that writer considered at
one time that he should have some
thing to say about running the team
In Pittsburgh Griffith and he had
set-to. They had been very warm
friends UP to that time. Going back
to the first game OF that season,
Pitcher Art Fromme, of the Reds later
of the Giants, was beaten, II to 2 by
the Pirates. So when Grif1th an
nounced the evening before the initial
game of the teams first trip to Pitts
burgh that Fromme would pitch, the
writer-stockholder got very angry and
rallied out upon Griff1th and his hand
ling of the club.
What passed between them need not
be told, but when the air had cleared
Griffith had told his critic to lust
keep on writing baseball and allow
him to run the team, that the writer
need not come to him for any news
whatever, that IL he (Grifith) discov-
cred any of his players. giving the
writer any news, that man would be
fined or sent to another club The
next day Fromme held the Pirates to
one hit i'm eleven innings and beat
them, 1 to o.
From then on the fight waged warm.
Griffith was pooh-poohed by that writer;
he had bad luck in many of his games,
and the other writers sided, in a way,
with their fellow-craftsmen. Griffith
could have returned to Cincinnati the fol-
lowing year had he desired to, but came
East for the worlds series, talked with
the late Thomas c. Noyes, was offered
| the management of the Nationals and
accepted 1t.
Since that time the Enquirer's baseball
man has not dealt kindly with Griffith
or the Nationals in any way.
And that is the reason why he SAW
Griffith cannot come out better than
seventh in the coming race.
All Of which makes Griff have a big
laugh, because the writer had predicted
that Grifr would not finish better than
eighth during his first season in Wash
! ington, whereas Griff finished second
with mighty close gap between the To-
SoA NAAO anu fACu QUA
! Fielder Jones and Joe Tinker, man.
! ayers, respectively, of the st. Louis
Americans and Chicago Natioals, are due
! to be shocked II they persist in the be-
/ lief that their Federal League teams OF
| 19i5-with but few changes-are strong
enough to step in and cop the pennants
writes N. B Bea.sley in the Detroit Jour.
| nal
Jones and Tinker have been slashine
! right and left; in most cases they have
been Riding their teams of the major
| leaguers Of last season. Jones, II reports
be correct, intends showing Jimmy Aus
tin to the bench and putting Charlie Dea
| on third base as a regular. This may be
| all right but unless Deal has improved
wonderfully since leaving Detroit and
Boston he will hardly show the elias.
4 Austin is capable of.
Austin, though not the best third base.
man in the American League, is far from
being the worst.
Jones, in retaining Sisler, promises tc
use the former University of Michigan
star as a pitcher. This is a mistake
Jones claims to be satisfied with Bor-
tons prospects as a major Lacquer, an6
he insists that Sisler Is better fitted fol
| hurting duties than ANYTHING else