The Washington times., 1930-05-24
RUTH STATES
RULES ARE
OBEYED
BY BABE RUTH


having dinner with a friend of
mine the other evening and con-
versation turned to golf. re-
marked that I love to play golf
and he Immediately invited me
to play round with him.
81 can't do it," 1 explained,
1--WE haven't any off days COM
ing up any time soon and it's
against the rules to play golf
on days when there is a ball
game. Anyhow / have to re-
port at the park in the morn.
ing"
My friend was much surprised.
why / didn't know YOU had
to report in the morning." he
said, Il thought ball players
only came out at game time
and worked only in the after
noon. Most other fans hink
that, too, / guess"
AS a matter. of fact ball play
ers follow certain training rules
on all big league clubs. A base
ball season is so long and there
are so many games that naturally
you can't train as fine s foot
ball player or fighter. In base
ball the idea of training is to
keep in good physical shape with
out getting a really fine edge. In
other words you have to keep fit,
but you can't afford to get drawn
too fine or overturned.
1 suppose the Yankees are
typical of other big league clubs
and our training rules are simple.
For instance, it's a rule on our
club that all players have to be
in the dining room for breakfast.
by 9 o'clock when we're on the
road. We're supposed to be in
our rooms at night by midnight.
When we're home all players
are required to check in at the
clubhouse at 1890 o'clock every
morning, and if we happen to
be in a slump we work out every
day.
The idea of reporting so
early. however, is not so much
for the workout as it is
checkup to make sure that
players are up and that
they're not doing things they
shouldn't do.
So far as any diet rules are
concerned, there are none other
than common sense. Most man.
ayers watch the meal checks
when a club is on the road and
in that way see that man isn't
overeating. It is generally &C
cepted rule that players have an
early breakfast. eat little or no
lunch and then have their heavy
meal in the evening and early
enough that it can be properly
digested before bed time.
Some managers are sticklers
on diet. / guess John McGraw
pays closer attention to what his
men eat than any other manager
in the big leagues. know that
MAC" very frequently hops
aboard a player about his diet,
and he is particularly careful
with pitchers on the day they
plCcn pail game.
Some clubs have definite rules
against golf and others haven't.
Miller Higgins never would let us
play golf, except on off days. Bob
Shawkey hasn't a definite rule,
but it's understood that we shall
play golf only on days when there
Is no ball game. There are two
reasons for that. One is that 18
holes of golf in the morning tire
a man so much that he isn't in
shape for a hard ball game in the
afternoon. The other is that golf
is to much conversational game.
Fellows always want to talk about
their play. and if ball players
are permitted to play all the
time, the first thing you know
they're taking golf when they
ought to be giving their atten-
tion to baseball.
Training methods, of course,
vary with different ball clubs,
but the most common method
of getting ballplayers in shape
is running and jogging. In
DdSCDdAS yOu huU"J LHC
you've got to watch closest is
your legs, and jogging around
the ball park a couple of
times day is the best leg
conditioner there Is. It also
helps the wind and gives
fellow bottom" without get
ting him down to too fine
point in his condition.
Naturally. different players
have different training problems.
My problem is to keep my weight
down, and I use different methods
for my training than fellows like
Combs and Gomez, for instance,
whose problem is to take on
weight.
But we have rules, you can be
sure of that. And there's some
thing else to baseball besides re-
porting at o'clock. playing a
ball game, and then taking the
rest of the time for yourself.
Copyright, 1880, by The Christy
Walsh Snydicate)
MOOSE JUNIORS PRACTICE
Moose Juniors practice today
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