Detroit evening times., 1943-01-14
PegIer Pities
Ball Players
And Writers
They'll Miss Sunny South
in Spring, He Says
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER


dustry has decided to abandon
spring training in the grand
manner this year and there goes
another of those cherished insti-
tutions of the u. S. A.
That the athletes can work
themselves into condition in the
North has never been doubted
by the older generation of mag
mates and managers including
Cousin Egbert Barrow, the busi-
ness manager of the Yankees,
who took a Toronto club not
South. but TO a little resort even
farther north, in 1902, and won a
pennant.
But the southern trip was
lovely experience and fine adver-
tiSing and even the customers
who remained in the North
while the players eased into
their toll had a sense that
spring could not be long coming
once the dispatches started run
ming under such date lines as
st. Petersburg, Sarasota, Bra
denton and Tampa.
COME OF the magnates had
~ hard time keeping up with
the Joneses in the matter of
board and room and railroad
tickets for their employees.
Clark Griffith of Washington
and big-hearted Charlie Ebbets
of Brooklyn sometimes had 10
borrow money against the
receipts OF the coming season 10
send their people south, but once
the tradition was set, even the
poorest clubs in the most dis
tressful seasons required them
selves 10 conform and the play.
ers and the ink-Stained wretches
of the Fourth Estate enjoyed
themselves oblivious of the wor-
ries of the owners.
In recent years the living
standards of the major league
teams have been very high but
Just after the first World War
when the Florida custom was
beginning some Of the arrange
ments were catch-as-catch-can.
The Brooklyn Clubs early abode
in Florida. when the first of the
boomS was going, and the ho-
tells were fewer was an inn in
Clearwater above a row of little
stores which had only one bath
and that one full of immature
alligators and ill-tempered snap
ping turtles.
Mr.. Ehbets and Uncle Wilbcrt
Robinson, the manager, had
pleasant homes apart and the
athletes were expected 10 use
the showers at the ball yard and
to take their meals at tho
Greasy Spoon on an allowance
OF about So a day.
A LWAYS, in such cases there
"A would be thrifty heroes of
the sport page who would save
a dollar or two and develop in
digestion and be nigh onto col
lapse from malnutrition by the
time they started home. Socially.
the Brooklyn athletes were un-
commonly frisky and the night
l checked into their humble
abode the first time there was a
crash OF glass followed by sew
eral pistol shots.
Mr.. Abe Yeager. the Brooklyn
sport editor. was dealing at the
time and without looking up
from his cards. remarked that
our Shortstop was plastered
again and holding target prac-s
tlce. II seemed that our shortly
stop had a habit of throwing aS
gin bottle out of his window and
trying TO shoot il on the wing.
One spring. John McGraw,
who set the high standard OF
living and travel, took his
Giants TO Sarasota for the first
time and was indignant when
the hotel management, which
had a low and apprehensive
opinion Of ball players, shunted
them into rickety annex.
MIR. McGRAW threatened 10
4'l take his ball club out of
town, and w. o. Mcclellan
wrote so bitingly of the outrage
that the Ku Klux Klan held a
torchlight parade for him and
local newspaper ran an
editorial addressed 10 him under
the title. Keep Your Damn
Mouth Shut
The ku Klux and the local
editor lost the argument but
Sarasota got lot of publicity
which seems not TO have hurt
the town for il has nourished
nicely in the years since. always
with one or more clubs on hand
in spring 10 augment the draw
ing power and publicity value
OF the winter quarters OF the
circus.
In prohibition days, Florida
was a gentle place with an
elastic conscience and a fine
source of supply.
Now they are going back 10
such places as Lakewood, n. j.:
French Lick and West Baden,
Ind; Excelsior Springs. Mo,
and even 10 Yale and Tufts. and
that Hitler has set civilization
back about Is years.
1t is a depressing prospect for
the baseball writer. No golf.