Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-25

By GEORGE E. McLINN -i
 I'm sorry but 1t will be impossible for me to accept your offer. l must go home immediately-an important engagement" t:. % .-. ,.:.'
 The speaker was Grover Cleveian nd Alexander, otherwise Alexander the Great, and generally rated as the best pitcher in baseball. -a' ~ -'7f'>
 But MT. Alexander, remember, you are spurntng $500 a. week for 20 weeks. or s1o,ooe-the easiest kind of money" said the man who was talking with the pitcher. And I'll guarantee that all you'n need to do is appear on the stage twice day. say two or three words and look pleasant" The tempter was A. vaudeville agent, and he was trying to sign the baseball star to contract.
 Alexander shook his head and sigh . ed, I'm not an actor. and don't want acting to be a profession. I like mon ey, but it can't be done.
 Likes Hunting Better Than Monsy.S
 q look forward to the fall and win ter just as eagerly as the schoolboy looks forward to spring and summer. Fall and winter to me mean vacation and vacation means hunting. To get out my gun and go into the fields aft CT birds is my favorite pastirne. won't say there is not enough money in the world to cause me to give up my hunting vacation, but s1O,Ooo is L.
 q was born on the plains of Ne braska, where hunting was our great est pleasure" continued the pitcher, -and still think it is the best sport in the world for fall and winter: Me for Nebrasla;' let the city fellows have the vaudeville jobs." '~.
 : Alexander is quite as expert with a gun as he is with a baseball, too. Many are the seories he tells of his days m the field It is this life in the open tbot orivar him f1,e nerves the muscles and the courage to win, more than 3o baseball games season. He thrives on hard work. and many of his best games are pitched near the end Of a hard. season.
 Ii probably is known by all who will read this tale that Alexander pitches for the Phiffies.- Tn 1915 his club cap tured the National, League pennant. It was Alexanders pitching that was principally responsible for the success of the team He attributes much of his success on the diamond to his training with the gun afeld.
 Pitching baseball in the middle of a hot game and shooting gun at same" the twirler insists T don't mean to say that there is much sim f1arity between the real action. In one case man grips baseoa!i m his hand and throws 1t across a, plate, ,,
 making sincere effort to prevent a man with bat from hitting the ball where they ain't.' In the other case a man throws a gun to his shoulder when bird, or birds, flush, and seeks to hit a bunch of feathers with load - But while the action is different, both basebaI1 pitching and hunting re- uuire first of all. a clear eye and a quick eye-an eye able to judge dis tance perfectly and cause the arm to work in perfect harmony with the mus clex I.e me illustrate what
 His Dope on Shooting.
 If q pitcher were to stand on the mound, close his eyes and try, to hurl a baseball across the plate, the chanc- es arc he would hit a reporter sitting in the press box. <
 If the hunter were to put the gun to his shoulder. watch the birds flush, then close his eyes and attempt to drop one. it is a safe bet that he would kill one of the dogs. So you see the eyes are vital to action Of any kind. am not expounding new theory when I tell you that. es. :
 "But we know that some men can't grip a baseball and throw it with suf- ncSent accuracy to hit the side Of a ho0se. There is not that Judgment of distance and strength of muscle which one finds in the baseball player, who should hit inside a 12-inch circle from 45 to so feet away seven times out of ten, without any: preparation for. the. throw. sI ~ r.-s :. !; i- 's=s5s
 We also know that there are men. who can't stand with, a gun to their shoulder, set themselves, pun the trig- su,-s