Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-03-01

The players are experiencing an
odd sensation. Cold chills race up
and down their spinal columns every
now and then for fear that this one
or that as an individual may not be
among the elect when the team is
picked.
Plenty of Spirit.
The motto at Catalina is not First
Mace or bust but I'VE have busted
in the last place for the last time. F"
The Cubs of yesteryear thought they
were working one Spring ago when
they were dancing around with Mar
awhile leading the grand march and
Bill Killefer welding the baton. but
this year 1t is more than thought. Ii
has drilled a way into their skulls.
Fine weather greeted them and fine
weather clings to them. 1t Is hot
weather for a tenderfoot who has JUS
glided out of the frost bitten East
The sun is not enervating. 1t is
steaming. The ice-bound arms that
tried out their strength some days
ago, after they had been packed all
Winter in woolens, quickly found
their normal throwing condition, and
If the present temperature prevails
this Chicago team will leave ft to
play base ball on any day in April
that the first exhibition game begins
1t Is even better weather than that
of 1925. when Catalina did its share
to make the Cubs good only to have
the benevolent assistance almost ru
ined at the beginning when Maran-
Vile broke his ankle in an exhibition
game a. Los Angeles.
Mccarthy Telling EN-.
Joe Mccarthy, erstwhile leader OF
7 mis- M nj q Stacking
the base ball knowledge he possesses
as a leader Of the bush to demon
strate that he can take his place
somewhere near an equality with the
veterans he must try to circumvent
In the National League.
Mccarthy does not know all the
mannerisms and the strong and
weak points of the major leaguers
against whom he must play his chess
men In 1926. He doesn't pretend to
say he does. He modestly admits that
he knows mighty little about the Ma
tional League, taken as a whole. but
Joe says a man can learn and hear.
What he does know is how to play
base ball. He has theoretical
knowledge of what players should do
and where they should be that is not
surpassed by any manager. That
statement is big and may cover a
at home on the grand round, but it
is fact.
Not only does he coach men about
the way 20 handle themselves as midi
viduais. but he coaches them in the
ways to make plays as d team. That
is one of the reasons why Little Joe
and he is not so awfully little-haS
taken teams in the American ASSoci-
alton who did not wear blue ribbons
as individuals and guided them along
the way to win from others who
scoffed at them.
Playing to Win.
That is also one reason why he
divided his players into two sections
before he had been here long enough
to realize that he is the only man
ager who trains a ball team with a
mountain for a backstop and another
for the grand tier of box seats. Hc
wanted his players not only to condi-
ton themselves to play ball but to
learn how to play to win.
1t would seem that every manager
coaches his players to play to win, but
this Mccarthy boy coaches his pitch
ers where to be when the ball comes
IN from the outfield, and he coaches
his inf1elders where they should be
when the ball comes skipping along
on All outfield assist, and he does
lot more that is chock-full of horse
base ball sense. That's why the Cubs
are experiencing sensation as to the
preliminaries Of base ball that never
Jared their base ball funnybones in
some other years.
This year when a ball happens to
get away from an infielder ii is not
very likely that a young man on the
base lines who sees only the humor
of the thing will DO a clog dance
while the runners circle around and
everybody has a good time among
those present. except the owner of
the Cubs.
Copyright. 1897