Evening star., 1925-03-19

But all is not base ball down here
in Florida for the Athletics. When
the writer arrived he was greeted BY
tall, stately gentleman in immac-
ulate white flanne1s, white bucksklns
and naval coat, whose kindly eyes
peered out from beneath bushy eye
brows
Good evening, admiral; how do the
waves roll?" the writer inquired.
Over and over, up and down" re
sponded the admiral. But mostly
down. This year, however We arc
going to turn the AS on their heads
so they will catch water instead o.
having it run off the peak Of the
roof all the time
AS in the Social WhirI.
The admiral" of course. was Con
ME Mack. Connie has plunged him
self and his club into the vortex OF
society down here, and the young
men, who have been removed from
the surroundings Of commercial
hotel, are SO smitten with the nov
city of things that they are arrang-
ing all kinds Of cocoanur parties, fish
ing expeditions and real estate
soirees. 1t Is a popular pastime I'm
Florida for the ball players to buy
lots in the morning for $500 and
sell them in the afternoon for $4,000
or thereabouts
Having embarked upon the gay
| whirl of life, Connie, by the way. has
been introduced to bridge but he
! hasn't got to the point where he can
/ think of it TO the exclusion of base
| ball.
What is the lowest bid?" Connie
| asked as he was being initiated into
the mysteries of the game
"CfluhS - "a replx
the highest bid"
TN bid them both" quoth Cor
nelius.
"They have been clubbing me for
years and gigging me In. I'll play
both for luck. And the other bids ?"
Diamonds and hearts"
I'll have my young men bid their
stout hearts and then they will wear
diamonds"
You bet they will. and right on
Broadway, too" put in Tom Shibe.
| The Athletics are no longer the
bashfully inexperienced crowd they
were"
Praises His Athletes.
Mack is full of praise for his boys
and the pep they are showing. But,
then, all the American League man
ayers are prone to sing of pep this
Spring. Perhaps it is the heat-and
for some of them it may be the i'm
proved surroundings.
Hitherto the Athletics have been
confined during Spring training to
the heart of a city, where they went
to sleep to the music of an automo-
bile sonata and woke up to the sound
of trolley car reveilIe. Down here.
where the end of Florida runs into
the sea. they are lulled by the music
of singing palms and wakened by the
chattering of cockatoos and the
songs of mocking birds.
The two most talked about young
men on the team are Cochrane, the
catcher, and Groves, the famous Bal
timore lefthand pitcher, who has
been called everything from a mullet
TO a whale. The clubs that did not
get him call him a mullet and the
Athletics see him as a whale. Con
ME Mack was asked his opinion and
replied:
Says Groves Will Make Good.
I'm my time I have caught good
pitchers and signed good pitchers.
and I am sure that I have another in
Groves. It may take little time to
break him into his new surround
ings, but when he gets his bearings
he will lay a course due north to the
pennant pole, If you will excuse my
nautical language.
That is one reason why We are
increasing the seating capacity of
Shibe Park. We are getting ready
for the rush.
''As for Cochrane, well, the young
man has much to learn about catch
ing, but he can hit so hard that they
will think there is another earth
quake in New York when he gets up
that way"