Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-29
CARL SAWYER IS UNDECIDED
AS TO MOVIES VS.. DIAMOND
Nationals ln6elder Debating Question of
Quitting Base Ball to Dodge Pies
In Film Comedies.

There is no Joy in the heart of
"Huck" Sawyer, the Los Angeles boy
who shares with Nick Altrock the dis
tinction of being the funniest man on
the base ball diamond, says the Los
Angeles Sunday Times.
on one side of Huck at the break
fast table is contract with the Wash
ington Americans, on which team he
played last year. Propped up against
the coffee pot is a contract with the
Keystone Film Company. Neither is
signed.
Huck can't decide whether he would
rather be movie or a base ball player.
Since the close of the big league sea-
son in the east Huck has been work
ing in the Keystone comedies at the
studio in Los Angeles.
II have had TO dodge pies; they have
run automobiles over me and made me
fall down from roofs and put me
through many and various stunts, but
somehow j like it. love base ball, out,
oh. you movies"
Huck says in the first comedy in
which he worked they ran a Ford car
through a department store and then
over Huck. He nearly sacrificed his
fair young life. Then they decided the
play was too long and cut his part en-
tirely.
Different Kind of Comedy.
Its altogether different from base
ball comedy says Huck. 'In a way
it's easier; then again it isn't. Out
there on the coaching line, you haven't
anything to be funny with except your
cap. But you do have room enough to
move around. That was what made the
of rot
are confined to a place about as big as
a ten-cent piece right there in front of
the camera. That darned camera never
lets up on you. In base ball, you can
stand around and wait for a funny
hunch. but that picture camera is on
Your trail every second. She keeps
right on clicking and she don't give
YOU any chance to think"
Huck says he hasn't made up his
mind yet which career he wants to
stick 10. 1.-The big advantage of pic
lures he said, ''is that it lasts SO much
longer. You are through in ten or
twelve years in base ball and you have
to be lucky to last that long. but you
can keep on with the pictures indef-
IiteIy. You get more money, too.
"Of course, there are few fellows
like Walter Johnson, who last a long
time and make a lot of money in base
ball Walter saves himself. He will be
there as long as a movie star. Most oil
the time he is tossing the ball around
like playing catch. Then he looks
around and finds three men on bases
He spits on his hands and rubs it off Oh
the knees of his pants. Then you car
look out for yourself. You see hin
start to wind up. Then you hear thu
ball swat the catcher's hands. Yo,
never find out what has happened il
between.
Walter is practicing this winter will
Lii nod
with ii. it ought to be the sensation o
the big leagues next season. None o
the catchers can learn to hold 1t so fan
Walters regular catcher is Ainsmltf
who is the most powerful man in bas
ball. Last season a player slid in HON
and Ainsmith blocked him off. 1t mad
the player SO mad that he jumped u
and wanted to fight. Ainsmith jus
pants and held him UP kicking like
spanked baby. 1t takes big guy Xix
that TO hold Walter Johnson"
Is a Picturesque Character.
II Huci1 decides to quit base ball, til
game will lose one of its most pictul
esque characters. He and Aitrock wor
together on the coaching lines. one 8
first and the other at third Huck
great stunt is to balance himself on tn
a.oacher's chalk line as though it wer
a tight rope. while the batter swats tn
ball.
One day last year he and Nick pull
ed some stuff funny that Vean Gregg
who was pitching a winning gam
stopped working to watch them Whe
he started working again. Vean ha
lost the combination. They began
hammer him all over the lot and he loi
the game.
In Chicago. one day. the umpire OF
deretkNick and Huck of the lot. "Thei
people came out here to see base ba