The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-03-27

0L2AMTLAMD RKE A
when Colonel Ernest V smith. chief
of staff ut the southern division. was
paying his official vist to the YANKEE
camp At Macon On. there was one mat
ter In which he was more than Interested
This concerned the average axe OF the
club
This Same query has come up often
hefor" Moro than one non.comhethh'
has asked from time TO time the average
axe Of q major league squad II u und'r
thirty or az fnr down NJ twenty-five
The Veteran,
As som" philosopher has donbtleSs re-
marked before, Time has n way of plhlhs
uloug Eight years ago youngrt"r
broke In with Connie Mack's Athletics
To-day he is the Yankee veteran, the oid
est member of the squad HIS name N
John Franklin Baker John Franklin II
now thirty. known in som" professions
~ mere youth but In baseball only I"
few strides this side Of the roads enh
Tho Yankees are younger than mot'
major league squads and yet the elastic
dop" anont their age average Is an inter
"stiug matter
Average Ace.
Taking In the complete squad. there
are thirty three Yankees In camp Th"lr
combined uge IL 7St years. which means
an average Tor the entire squad OF '""n-
y three years aud nino months quite
"a number Of these hr" recruits VINO VIII
not BE- carried To get closer 10 me
eKRct situation We took the roster of th'
seventecn who were accounted as r'Sn
lars last season The average nge o'
these seventeen ~ twenty i've yents ana
nine months. Just two years beyond that
II the entire squad In camp today
AZ remarked before the Yankees are n
young club ana yet their RF"rag" r. not
greatly below IN" Rverag" of many others.
I al ,It,g N q IA " T.
major league nge todHy WAS between
! twenty six md twenty seven years,
which is very closo 10 the sportve prime
More Vital Statistics.
Some time ngo We displayed n set Of
| statistics which showed that tn" greatest
| average age In stHrd0m WAS around TWEEN
| ty-slS at which ug" i.rlole Wagner,
/ Walsh. MuthoNtqn and many others were
/ AT their best
# is a quaint coincidence that the aver
Rg" ar" Of the major Lacquer Is also
] twenty six showing ugrIn TINT for the
trained athlete thia ng" II the prime"
, proved In two directions
A. tVenty-slS II man apparently rot
. only Inns Mis- FUN strength Hud power. but
also sufficient e,p"rcuo" and judgment
10 pat THIS physical power Ia iis hcs
use. li' may be Hs good physically nj
twenty three ns he H. a. tWcntv-siN Bu
~ twenty three he lacks tho experience
hIl 'N' llStft'ON lNhI tIf"' hlIlIlbUd
yrnis ut competition bring
The Tor AGE
The Yanks ar" unusual In not havln,
a bnll pla}rt over thlrty There Ism
another club I'm bnscbal that can show
any such temporal circumstance
In summing up the list Of Yankee reg
ulhfs VI find that whllo the TOP ng
limit is thirty. n" youngest age ~ twen
ty-i"o II. the fun squad of thirty thre
there are twenty three men who mr.
twenty-five or under and twelve men VIII
are twenty three or under
50 apparently the average hig leagu"
makes his start around twenty two nm,
IL through around thirty giving hin
something liko eight years of Aervic'
Th"f" nre any number who have serve
, much longer than eight years. but thrr
are also any number who have made goo
at twenty-five ana have then faded ou
| NJ tWrnty-sip or twoutN-seNcn.
Slowing up.
Some time Hgo We had talk with
ban player of thirty-two as TO when IN
slowing up process arrived lie state
that In HIS case he began TO lose Jus,
riflo of hts speed NJ twenty seven. hJ
that II wns not untn he WAS twenty hin
tNat hr finally realized the fact But b
looking hHck he could distinguish an a
mpht inpetceptiblc slowing up that suC
l denly presented lts,lf NJ an csinhliHhe
fhct. no longer 10 be- doubted This ma
was on" NJ The fastest In tho gH'uc
oven after he hpd begun to lose h
q speed h" had sufficient quantities Of
n l@ft to hold his own. II simply bcgn
. 10 dawn on him AT twenty nine that
9 wns losing certain hits being thrown o'
n by n foot or so on lnficld taps that
l. wns formerly beating out
The Football AGE.
Tho football nge II hard to figure,
nineteen out Of twenty ~ those "ngng,
In this Fgfira he
I the close of their college careers. wh'
they nrc still short of the athletic prim
Their" are few football players ms o
an twcrty-slr vet at twenty SIX the
! would be At their best ~ twenty-s
\ they would silll have all the speed NJ
y power OF YOUTH with greater stnmin
9 greater general ruggcdncss and &
o. more experience,
An entry IN snort comes 20 his rrlr
@ quickly. After this he begins TO descrr
10 by somewhat slower measurc.
/ The hall player who start. his b
@ league career Rt twenty-five may con
To his best game In two or three yea
with something of u rush. and then carr
o the fading out process for eight or nit
% years longer
= As they move on IN the game heyor
,, thirty It Is not so much matter Of hen
70 or arteries or general condition nH II
n n matter ~ elasticity and supplcne--
forty a man might have hll the v,,ali
he had nj twenty-siS. but his old Ella
y ticity would ho missing. lie might car,
b. hs great n burden, but he couldn't car
Y II nj anything like the same speed !
q might walk as far. but he could new
run as fast
n Nap Ruckcr, Rrooklyn'- old left hand
q who has laid aside the pitching mitt NJ
j. taken up scout duty viii comb Il
~ Southern tho TcNns and the South A
N lantc leagues for promising youngstc
, .tr.npthpn tina nnivers