The Washington herald., 1918-01-19
TRAINING ARMY
MAN-SIZE JOB
Priming Ball Players for
Campaign Easy Compared
to Shaping Regiment.
ny GRANTLAND RICE


Revenge.
When the drill somehow seems longer
Than n ever was before;
When my back feels halfway broken
And my aching feet are sore;
When lectures crowd upon me
Until figures fag my brain.
And life, for just the moment
Is an anguish and a pain
Then it is / pause a second
In the long days rushing pace
And ] cuss the bally Kaiser
TIL I'm purple In the face.
When a lengthy hike Is ordered
When the rocks are like a thorn:
When the reveiIle reechOes
On q cold and wintry morn:
When my pleasant dreams are ban
ished
And rub my half-shut eyes
To see gray dawn a~stesling
Out Of January skies
Then IL is find existence
Is bsreft Of all its thrills.
And cuss the pop-eyed Kaiser
Till I'm blue around the gills.
The Big Job.
lou Know now AOhk u taxes 70 WHIP
a ball club into shape and into proper
team play. The manager has only
twenty or twenty-five men to handle.
They are all old hands at the game, or
at least experienced through several
seasons in various leagues.
These are taken South and six weeks
is required TO get them started Then
il is frequently May or June before
team play Is developed properly.
Figure from this the Job OF handling
a modern regiment There are 2.50O
men in place OF twenty-five Most OF
these 1850 knew nothing Of their game.
They have as many various duties to
perform as a ball player. for this is a
war OF specialists and of team PLAY.
The infantry and artillery must work
together. to avoid big loss, as Evers.
Tinker and Chance once worked.
The bombers, the sappers, the bayo-
net advance guard must all work with
fne team play or the result is decided
ly painful.
Suppose we had never had any
amount Of baseball In this country.
And suppose one season We suddenly
decided to develop a great number OF
leagues consisting Of a million players.
How would these players look at the
end OF the first year? Figure that out.
and then figure what the regimentsl
commander is up against with less
than a years start
As for An-stsr Clans.
when it comes to an all-stsr line
up from one college or school" re
marked q football expert the other
day, ''just how are you going to beat
an aIl-star Indian team
Which is no easy query to answer.
Take a short look at the roster. First,
Jim Thorpe. the greatest all-round
football star that ever lived. Then
such men as Guyon. Mount Pleasant.
Hudson: and in the line such men as
Bemus Pierce Then there were Wau-
seka and Metoxen.
A team composed Of Bemus Pierce,
Mount Pleasant and Thorpe would be
no easy one to handle II the the other
eight men failed TO report for the day.
The Indians glory has wsned swift
ly in the last few years, but IL Is just
as well to remember that Carlisle has
turned out enough stars to hold their
own with any all-time array that
might be picked from any one place.
Mstty and the New season.
Matty lifted his Reds from last
place to the edge of the elect his
first year out. The big test is now
ahead, for the going is harder once
you reach the first division. From
every indication he has more than
made good as a manager. and IL will
be surprising to see him finish
around third place next year. II
he can get the pitching he hopes
to have there is the chance that he
may range even higher.
The Reds had the organization
and the punch last year. They
lacked the pitching only. II they
get this the long drouth that has
assaiIed Redland for forty years
can at last be broken. The only
trouble is that just as Cincinnati
has shown promise and has risen
from the depths Fate has had
way of rising up and imparting a
swift kick in the face, only to
crumble all pleasant dreams.
But Fate at times gets tired
working on the same material. 1t
may be the Redlsnd shift to better
luck is due.