El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-05-17
On The Screen Of Sport
BY HUGH S. FULLERTON.


TATE TALK a lot Of form in base
w ball We dope out the indi-
viduaI strength Of players. We cal
culate what each pitcher should do
against the known hitting strength
Of each other team. All this is good,
but there is something which IS too
Intangible TO dope and that is team
spirit.
The other day it poured rain upon
New York. There were four major
league teams cOOped up in the hotels
OF the city and / went from hotel to
hotel and visited them. In one place
was a team which looked fair on
paper but which has been losing
steadily. and this I'm spite Of some
brilliant work by individuals. The
team had Just come down from skull
practice I approached a knot Of
players and heard them cursing the
The Losing Spirit.
Does that stiff think he can 60 the
said. Don't he think a player has
sense enough to know what 10 do
without looking at the bench TO get
a signal2 If he's a good manager I've
got Cobb looking like a minor
Lacquer"
All through the team the spirit was
the same. Possibly it was because
the team was losing. but more prob
ably il was losing because that spirit
exists ia the team
I went TO the second hotel The
team 10 there is fighting for the lead.
7 found the players sitting around. A
card game was on upstairs with some
actors and other outsiders being en-
tertained. The manager was not
around Some Of the players had gone
TO the theater. Others were off on
various errands as soon as the game
had been declared off officially. No
one was talking about baseball A
group was discussing the various
abilities Of race horses. Another was
arguing as to whether Dempsey or
Willard would win the fight
The team was composed largely
Of veterans. One Of the kids took
me aside and eOnfided in me that
he thought the team had n chance
TO win if sthem old timers would
get out and hustle.
At the third hotel L found a rather
detected bunch They are not houe-
ful. but they are determined to DO the
best they can. They are a bit sore
because the owner doesn't get some
players TO strengthen up the weak
spots. They gleefuly point out the
weaknesses Of the others. The team
IS strong for the manager but the
players feel rather sorry for him be-
cause Of the handlcaps placed upon
him
weather Unpopular Too.
At the last hotel I found bunch
Of fellows hanging around GUESSING the
weather and figuring that their win
ming percentage would have been i'm
proved had not the rain interfered.
They were fretting because Of the en-
forced fdleness. I talked TO them
about the team They freely con-
. n7rH
stronger in some ways, but they
thought they would beat them out
The infielders told me how good the
pitchers were. the outfielders cussed
me out for criticising the fufield and
related yarns OF what great plays GER
tain infielders had made. They
boosted each other all around the lot
and then they Joined in the chorus
claiming that the manager is the best
fellow and the best manager IN the
world. They Offered TO break a leg
OF a neck TO win for him and cussed
best manager Of them all
Now, which team would you pick 20
All right; It was the Brooklyn team /
which was last mentioned.
Often Il IS q marvel TO ne how
some managers overlook bail players. I
Ray Fisher is case in point Fisher
always has been a good pitcher all ]
though at times he has not attended I
strictly to business Last year he ]
,ame back TO the new York Yankees D
tiled with a desire to show them that /
be still was good
Looked Good.
During his game Marty McHale, ]
who was quite a pitcher fin his day. .
sat with me and we watched nothing I
lut Fishers pitching. studying him on
every ball pitched and Marty re-
marked after two games that Fisher
rad everything he ever had possessed !