The Washington times., 1922-12-17

T HE baseball meetings are
over. Not much was ac-
complished. Not much ever
b accomplished. sg ~
Yet the meetings. served the
purpose Of keeping baseball in
the newspapers when no base
ball Is being played, giving the
game millions Of dollars worth
Of FREE advertising.
How would Flo Ziegfeld, Bill
Brady, the Shuberts and other
theatrical producers like to have
the same amount Of publicity
Tor their amusement enterprises
out OF seasonf
~ UN-DowN men in their
N. fifties should attend base
- ball meetings If only to
study George Stallings and Will
bert Robinson.
These names are familiar to
I men In their fifties II they ever
took an interest In baseball.
They are .old-time bali players,
still connected with the game as
managers.
They are living examples Of
I the benefit Of outdoor life, syof
consistent exercise. They are
ardent gunners, spending much
ofstheir time in winter following
the hunting dogs afield. This IL
The ideal form Of exercise for
uiiddle-aged men.
~ oBINsoN, crowding sixty,
II. 4. grandfather, has the APP
pearance and manner Of q
he6lthy man Of forty.
Stallings, bronzed, statuesque
Southerner, Il beyond fifty, but
looks rs young as the grown son
who followed him about the
lobby Of the Commodore during
the meeting.
kOf course many rundown
men IN their fifties cannot
afford the time or money in-S
volved IN hunting. However, all
can afford WALKING, which is
what hunting amounts to. The
hunting merely adds interest to
the walking,
eTyY COBB. the greatest ball
player that ever lived, lean
and leathery and in perfect
physical condition after weeks Of
quail shooting, spoke to the writer
about matter in which he
seemed deeply interested. ~ "a
Cobb wants the ball players TO
establish 4 permanent fund from
which TO care for the old and indi-
rent and injured players.
The thing was brought home to
Cobb by the case Of Merritt, q
Young player formerly with
Cobb's Detroit club, later with
Augusta, Ga, which Is Cobb's
home town
Merritt, ! boy Of great prom
ise. was crippled for life In an
automobile accident. His mother
a ar, invalid, he has no funds, he
n dependent On the charity Of
friends. Il L Z particularly sad
rrASEBALL, richest Of sports.
makes no provision for such
cases.
II Is The fault Of the players
= . 4 .
The writer, as he told Cobb,
hsrnmefed for some years at the
Ss1cresffon that certain per-
cenfare Of the players end Of
the worlds series by taken out
ev&rv year for relief fund,
Hsd SIC, 900 been set aside each
wear, beginning ten years ago, II
you'd now amount to 100000,
iera what might have been de-
voted 10 deserving cases. \
n would have obviated the
reressitv Of Benefit games and
cbsritv collections TO bury play
80 wko died destitute. It would
have provided for the Merritt and
similar eases.
: 49, N W.. ~ ------------ AZ .ss7 H Z. tSt
vrvHE BAN players Of the period
when the suggestion was
first advanced would not
fhev were young healthy, the
>vorId was before them. II
eWesIl never need anything like
80 "a " fhcv aid. with the opti-
,rism 81 youth. why should we
AZ ANYTHING for . lot Of old stiffs
mo dfdnf save their money ~ Z
Thev allowed nothing for
hsa.s, trsilty- mat Y ths r ~-y
= wos'T of these players are
now out Of the big leagues
kvx Some Of them have seen
tIrnes when they would hAve well
coined relief from Z fund, from
fhev see the value Of the sug-
restion now that It Is too late.
Cobb might Be able 70 talk the
|Irhinx such = fund, an Insurance
against dependency on charity IN
<confin1,rd an Page ~