The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-02-26

the college man because of his havll
TO illustrate the advantage of the
college man 1 pointed out that the
boy with trained mind usually tried
to find his faults and correct them,
while, the sand lot player often tried
to hide his. In the ignorance he
though he could get away with it.
1 am still of that belief, but it is
possible that some old timers have
gained an erroneous impression from
what l said.
did you mean to say" an old
friend writes, that all the great
players are college menu
OF course, L didn't, I was merely
pointing out a principle, the benefit
of trained thought. AS q matter of
fact. very few of our really great
stars have been college men. That
merely proves my theory, though at
first the two statements may be con-
fusing.
The fact that ball players have be-
come stars of the first magnitude
without the benefit of early college
training merely emphasizes their
greatness. BY hard work and APP
plication they have overcome the
handicap. Any one of them will tell
you how much he missed those early
advantages. Had he possessed that
early knowledge he would have been
a great star much quicker.
o O o
Few College Men.
Looking over my selections for the
three great all-star teams it will be
noticed that very few of them have
been college men. That is due partly
to the fact that in the early days
of baseball very few college men
took up the game as a profession.
Even in this day the college man
usually goes into baseball as a tenn
porary means of livelihood. Love OF
the game causes many of them to-
stick. The mediocre ones drop out
and go into other occupations or pro-
fessions,. for which they have been
trained
George Sisler, for instance. is a
college man. With his natural physi-
ca. qualifications and his mental
training he jumped into fame almost
Immediately. No long spell of season.
ing was required. Another instance
is that of frankie F'risch. He is a
college boy, coming to us direc; from
Fordham university. Frisch's alert
HlluQ Tic luSi vi ~
baseball Immediately. He would no.
tica mis- own faults almost as soon as
I would. Without hesitation he would
come to me for advice. lie was quick
TO put theory ant practice together.
On the other hand, take players
like Willie Keller, Ty Cobb, Iris
Speaker or myself. While Cobb had
the benefit of considerable early edu-
cation. he was not actually college
man, 1 am told. The rest of us didn't
even have that advantage, as. re-
suit, we had to work our way up by
slow stages, always conscious of our
carly disadvantages. But we over
came it and reacl d the top.
The lack of this early opportunity
was made so plain to Hughey iJen-
nings and myself that we spent three
or four wirters trying to get a col
lege education. even after we had
become big leaguers.
Must Use Mind.
Whether the player be a sand lot
man or a college boy, he can, -ot pro-
gress without using his mind. The
town lot boy, therefore, Is entitled to
all the moro credit when he becomes
star
The man with a stubborn mind.
who thinks he can advance pnySlcal-
ly without improving himself mental
". rarely becomes a star. I don't
know of one.
Mere book learning will not do the
trick, either. A boy to improve must
have a chance to observe the ordi-
nary conventions of life and the
ways of intelligent people off the
field. l have made it point to see
that all of my young players had
this opportunity.
Often when n young ball player ar
rives in the big league he has never
been in a first-class hotel. In the
smaller leagues he has got the i'm
preston that roughness and ignor-
ance Of the niceties o. life are
part of his profession. This must be
rreeted
have found that environment
means a lot to him. Throw him in
the company of gentle or educated
people and he will Immediately try
to act like them. I am told that in
the army the solder who keeps him
self the neatest and feels the elias
siest" is usually the best fighter.
Every Regiment strives to get
esprit de corps, as they call 1t.
II III