Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-05-10
y. JAMES J. CoRBErT.

SUCCESS in managing a ball club
Connie Mack smiled, and replied:
IBcing fortunate enough to have
SOME wonderful ball players on my
Kosher
Il,e answer was characteristic OF
AIaeti modest. unasSumnc and ever
ready to give the credit to his men
Rather than himself.
ri you nsis,, upon, giving all the
glory TO your players" was the rctort.
VIII YOU be good enough TO tell what
You think should be the cardinal rules
to guide any individual who wants to
Mack answered.
; :. The first thing is to call 10 mind
Wptild have them do unto YOU. and
then practice ii in your conduct to-
ward your PLAYERS. The second real
rIls is to no.I ne5fee; teamwerk TO its
do ahis you can never hope 10 have q
snpoth- running machine and you never
canabe assured Of success in pcnnant
ambitions.
Mack Studied His Managers.
:. ..fBack In the days when started
my baseball career worked under
VARIOUS managers and studied the
mathodS of each found that the
results was the one who treated his
players much as a father would his
som with patience and with kindness.
ways got the Very best out Of his sub
ondinatcs day in and day out, week
after week, and year after year.
ssSome persons claim that there is
handled by kind words, that only driv-
ing-methods will make him work his
best disagree viii tha: theory.
a~kindly way. perhaps mixed with
firmness, toward the most hclliEerent
member Of his club, will get better re-
10 ma no
uses the whip 1t may do for time
to lash a PLAYER who IS bi, stubborn.
come snrly;. And all the while that
and certain bitterness.
"a player who is driven to his work
issSone who never performs with a
Whole souied spirit and that's the only
spirit that wins.
=. ~Rcsponded TO Kind Treatment.
rI2arlicr in my carer as an American
team were mostly seasoned men who
had been developed by other teachers.
Some we're classed as tough customers
and as. very difficult TO handle, But
In all the years of my connection with
the Athletics ! have never encountered
one player who would not respond to
kindly treatment. l always found that
IT, took him aside and talked TO him
ina fatherIy sort of way that any
& on t the next day he Wopd be out
ot--the ball field fighting his head off
TO, show me that he appreciated the
confidence ! had in him."
-What is your system relative to
young stcrs coming up for a trial" he
Wa asked.
possible and then give him two or
three more" answered the man who
ranks as the greatest developer OF
green" material in all baseball his
Were Not Given Chance.
aDuring my career as a player
saW many youngsters come up for trial
WIS, Who i Locke Ike netsnsial stars, yet
they had not been accorded a real
chance They got trial and were
nervous and off their game, as was
po[tun!ty 10 settle down and show
what they really could do the mana
gGs passed Judgment on the play they
mants. and they were sent back TO the
buEhes. discouraged and disheartencd:
labeled as as failures. when little
their real brilliance.
In after years when ] became a
lesson Of those day. S When 'sF Bow sne came ins
tonne for tryout l usually talked
,o-hin and eXplained, that expected
cratic At the start ana that 1t would
nol. cou.t against him If he was.
- Few Looked Like Stars.
because OF this the majority of
thSSe boys would go about their tasks
minus the nervousness so chara ctcriS-
tie, of the youth just breaking in. and
1T tNas comparatively easy for me 10
gel quick line on what that boy
cos3d and could not do with Il base
ban.
&ery few OF the youngsters who
made up the Athletic machine OF
1891 looked like stars in their
earliest trials Some Of them blum
deed fearfuily, at the outset. Eut
they quickly found themselves and
l-fl IN NJ iat
:. Ellis iinal question was put TO Con-
ME Mack:
oiIavc YOU ever regretted that you
mEde baseball your profcssion?"
II have been in the game as PLAYER
manager and part owner of a big
league club for thirty-tive years" re-
pned the Athletic leader. and | have
liysd through some stirring ana
troublesome times. But every hour
th1t ] have lived in baseball has been
one Of happiness and ono which /
never would trade for anything elsc."--
Coayrght. 1919. by King features
Syndicate, Inc.