The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-25

AScS uS pldySi. SdsS o0SaooO o yoo and has a great record is no certain calibre. The line of demarcation is gcAle his profession.
 "The difference between a major leaguer and minor leager," I heard some one say one day, "is one step in going to first base"
 That is a pretty good definition, though, of course, it is not complete.
 Often you see a minor leaguer who looks like a world beater and you have no doubt that he would be a star in the big league. That is true sometimes. As a rule, though, you are thrown off your judgment by Jack of comparison. With that par ticular minor league team the player really Is wonderful. Put him in the lineup with a major league club and you will see the difference immedl- ately. What you thought great speed then looks slow.
 Always Close
 To your surprise you will often find that he Is always being thrown out at first by just one step. He lacks just that little difference in speed. It may be some other fault, like getting away from the plate; like facing pitching In a new form. That one little thing Is missing. That Is what my friend meant by "one step" Tn getting to first.
 The first thing I notice in young sters when they report Is their speed. If they have 1t I pay more attention. If they haven't-unless they should happen to be phenomenal hitters- they might as well go right on back. Very few recruits from the minor leagues know anything about the art of base running. As a rule they have been allowed to go along in a hodge, podge way and do the best they can. If they play well enough to win games that Is considered sufficient. Very little attention is paid to per- fecting their style-making them fin- ished ball players.
 Sliding Important
 Sliding is extremely important in baseball and I spend as much time on that, if not more. than any other branch of the training. Merely slid- ing into the bag is not sufficient. They must know the hook slide, or ''fall away" and they must be able to do it either to the left or to the right.
 The idea of this slide is for the player to go into the bag feet first and throw his body either to the left 
 ing touched with the ball. The run ncr hooks one foot to the bag, which serves as pivot for his body to swing around.
 If the runner does this slide per- pectly the biggest spot the baseman has to touch is the calf of his leg. He does not like to touch the spikes -cold steel.
 Sliding practice is 8 tough grind. fa I fn do there is no excitement about it. Those who are determined, though. stick until they have mastered the trick.
 Practicing Sliding
 We use a sandpit about five feet wide and ten feet long. In regular turn they go into this time and time again until all are tired out.
 One of the most determined players I ever saw was Baby Doll" Jacobson, now with the St. Louis club. He is giant in stature and always was a good hitter. For a big man he is rather fast on the bases. He was a very poor slider, though, at first.
 It was tough on big fellow like him to hit that sand with his whole weight, but he stuck at 1t for hours at a time. Not once did I ever hear him whimper. In time he got where he could do the hook slide as well as any of them. You know, there Is no longer jolt to sliding when the trick is mastered. Men like George Burns and Jack Murray could slide all day and not be hurt. Murray, if you re- member, was so adept in sliding that if no effort was made to touch him he would come right up on his feet, using the bag as a brace. Ty Cobb is another beautiful slider. As a mat ter of fact baseball has improved so much in tte finer details that a major leaguer has to be a good slider to hold his own in the hot competition.
 McGraw Does It Himself
 Half the battle in training players in spring practice is to be able your self to do the thing that you want them to grasp. Nothing so impresses your pupils, old or young, with the correctness of your ideas and system as personal demonstration. When man is past 45 this trick of sliding into sandrit Is not easy. I often Illustrate by doing 1t myself. just the same. In my days on the Orioles I was an excellent slider. That was one of my strongest points. Knowing the trick so wei. I can get away with 1t even with my increasing weight. Many nights. though, I go to bed a very SOTO rnuscled man.
 IL IS HuCn edSIer anu more euJOy- able to direct batting practice. No ball player ever loses his love for smacking baseball on the nose. The feel of it Is just as satisfying to me now as it was 30 years ago. have never lost my "eye" and can Judge ball just about as accurately today as I ever could. Batting IS not such a jolt to the system and I find little difficulty in holding my own with the young fellows in that department of the game. I usually take rart in every rra actice game where we choose up and play the regulars against the rockies. l play with the rockies, of course, and we give the regulars some pretty tough battles.
 Looking For Pep
 In these practice games I have an excellent chance to observe the spirit