The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-01-13


of spring, and it does achieve a GER
tain amount of training. 1t must
be regarded as one of the most ben
eficent practices baseball has de-
veloped since Abner Doubleday in
vented the game back in 1889. Those
who complain about it the ioudest
in April are the most eager watch
ers of the calendar in January and
February.
If Cap Arson presents no other
claim to niche in the baseball
hall of fame which is to be estab-
lished at Cooperstown, N. Y, he de-
serves it as the originator of spring
training. While diamond history
tells us of Arson only as a heavy
hitter, first baseman and manager
of the Chicago club, he was the
greatest Snowman of baseball his
tory. Many of the ideas which John
j. McGraw used with the Giants
originated in the nimble noggin of
the immortal Arson, when Mac was
only fresh, pugnosed kid selling
magazines and candy on the Erie.
Fantastic uniforms, Navajo blan-
ket bath robes of dazzling hues,
dark blue Dutch boomers IN
one series and skin-tight pants
in another, all complimented An
sons showmanship. One summer
his White Stockings actually played
in dress suits, shedding the spike
tails when the game got under way.
Yes. Cap was grand student of the
theater as applied to baseball. So
he invented spring training.
THERE have been many claim
Il ants to the distinction of hav-
ing originated this seemingly SIM
pie and natural stunt of going away
for baseball training. Some base
ball historians credit the invention
to Ned Hanlon, who took the ia
nous Baltimore Orioles to Macon,
Ga, in 1896. Among the voyagers
were McGraw, Hughey Jennings,
Willie Keeler and Kid Gleason.
Mac learned lot from Hanlon,
who, by the way, still is hale and
hearty, down IN Baltimore.
But it wasn't Hanlon who first
got the notion of spring training,
though he was the first major
league manager to take a club into
the real south.
In 1885 Ansons club won the pen
nant. The boys went home loaded
with honors-Some of them maybe
a trif1e too complacent. When Cap
gathered corps of his athletes
about him in February, 1886, he
was astonished at the evidence of
copious beef consumption displayed
by his leading opponents.
This won't do" Arson an
nounced. You men will have to go
down to Hot Springs and take the
baths. l simply could not open the
season with a club in your disgrace
full shape. AL Spalding would muir
der me-"
And so it came about that the
Chicago club of 1886, eleven strong,
With the late Billy Sunday the only
member who did not need the dras-
tic cure, went to the Arkansas spa
and spring training took its place
as a grand baseball institution.
y y u
TN the old days, when ball clubs
l. housed their players in second
rate boarding joints, good hotels de-
clined their custom, squads were
compact and trips short, spring
training involved comparatively lit
tie expense. Now it means anything
from $4,000 to $4,000.
1t is likely the Cubs, who will
start their preparation this year
with 10 days at Catalina Island, in
the Pacific, and eventually work
over to Miami Beach, on the At.
lantic, will spend as much as $4,000
on their training. OF course, a lot
of that money comes back. But
while McGraw's old Giants in
variahly showed a profit on their