Evening star., 1923-12-12


series of base ball ar
ticles II my autobiography. he
called it-I was much in doubt,
and still am, as to what people
might want to know about me.
why" he said, "in the first
place, thousands of fans would
like to know what you are doing
now." Then he stopped.
And" he went on again, "they
certainly would like to know
what made you a. great ball
player and SO on.
"A thing that has always puz-
zled me-" he added, "is why you
had to quit playing-why you
dropped out of the game"
But l haven't quit the game"
l told him. Il play ball two or
three times week right now
this was in September-"and l
make pretty good living out OF
it."
We'll, start right there" he
suggested. by the way. Honus,
how old are you? And, another
thing. A lot of folks think You
talk with a German accent. Were
you born in this country
I'll answer all that at one time.
l am forty-nine years old. l was
born in Mansfield, Pa, which is
now called Carnegie OF course,
i never had a German dialect.
Moreover, my name is John Peter
not Hans or Honus. Those
were given me as nicknames. |
went to school just the same as
the other boys, and | don't even
speak German well. My father,
though, was born i'll the old
country. He same here when
young man and went to work as
coal miner in the hard-coai
fields.
Still Plays Regular.
Though | am forty-nine years
old / play base ball regularly,
and | don't mind telling you |
play pretty good game yet. l
don't feel a year older than | did
when l was. leading the National
League as batter with the Pitts
burgh club. ! play with a semi
pro team in summer and often
get in as many as four games
week. In addition to that have
a sporting goods business which
I help my partners attend to be-
tween times.
l play ball simply because 7
like TO. | have never got tired
OF the game. AS a rule, ball
players who like to quit the game
and. forget. about it never were
really great players. To be sue
cessful i'll base ball a man has
got to feel it. The game must
be in his bones. He must love
it. It's just the same as any
other business. ! don't believe a
man ever made a great success
of any business that he didn't
really love. .. ..-.
You may be surprised when |
tell you that / never thought of
quitting base bali as game. and,
what's more, that never in my
life did 4 pay much attention to
the money end of it.
Any man who succeeds in max
ing. himself the best. in, his trade
has earned place in life and his
name will be remembered.
To say that base ball is a USE
less profession would be as much
as saying that the 10000 people
who went out to see a game
during the last world series were
all fools. A man who can do
something to entertain and hold
the interest of $1,000 people at
one place, and 100000 more scat
tered over the country, has made
a successful mark in life-make
no mistake about that.
Never Tires of Base Ball.
| did not drop out of major
league base bail because l was
all through. / was not released.
There was a contract on the
table for me to sign at increased
salary. AS l say, l never paid
much attention to the money end.
/ wanted to stay at home for a
while. | had travelled around
from city to city for twenty
eight years and was weary of it
the. travelling, l. mean, l was
never tired of base bali.
NO." l finally said to Mr..
Dreyfuss, 81 think I'll quit.
ily."
He knew that I meant it. He