New Britain Herald Newspaper, February 2, 1916, Page 14

'NEW, BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 2, 1016, Photo by American Press Association. BASEBALL ON ICE AT LAKE PLACID, heir Favor ©00000000000000006000003600 HE recent cold weather has given the winter sportsman |an opportunity to enjoy his fa- vorite pastime. Ice hockey, skat- ing, tobogganing, skiing and ice | yachting are now occupying the ilimelight in the sporting world. |At Lake Placid, N. Y., they have ice. Recently a full nine inning |game was played at Lake Placid when it registered 10 below zero. ite Pastime a baseball game every day on| s Now Occupying Limelight Photo by American Press Association. A SPIRITED PLAY IN AN OUTDOOR HOCKEY GAME IN MONTREAL, CANADA. First Ball Hitting PING BODIE, turned back by the Chicago White Sox after four years’ hard trying, complaing that he failed to hit heavily in the American league beécause Cdllahan made him stop hitting the first ball. “I was always a first ball hitter,” says Ping, “and I al- ways thought I had the advantage be- cause the pitcher would send up the first one mighty careful in attempting to make sure of the range and the groove. Callahan made me stop hit- ting the first one, and that gave the pitchers the percentage on me, besides breaking up my natural style.” Ping’s complaint has elicited yelps of derision all round the land, with caus- tic comments to the effect that only boneheads and slow thinkers make a practice of hitting at the first ball. And why s0? If a man has developed a batting style of his own and has made his attack effective by cracking the first one, why try to make him change? Furthermore, what possible disadvan- tage is there if a keen eyed hitter makes a habit cf stinging the first hurl? There Cost Bodie His Job big show who can be waited out, espe- clally if they get the percentage of the first strike. Then where on earth is the sense of standing statue-like and letting the first pitch cut through? If a man is known to possess a keen lamp and a sharp swing and is also famed as a first ball hitter the burden, the weight of trouble, all shift upon the pitcher. If he puts it over the bat- ter will lean upon it. And even if he misses the swing does it count any more in the way of strikes than if he had stood like a hitching post for a called one? If the ball goes wide it will be called a ball, anyway. What’s more, there will be a bigger chance for a call- ed ball than if the man were known to lay off all first pitches. The worried hurler will try to sneak it over a cor- ner, not over the center, and will be mighty lucky to get any kind of a strike out of the delivery. More first ball hitting would mate- rially improve the chances of many a club, and the team that could show a couple of them, judiciously alternated with “good .waiters,’’ ought to harass JACK MOAKLEY and O.rnell, one and inseparable! It looks that way, doesn’t it? Whenever one thinks of Cornell he thinks of Jack Moakley, and whenever one thinks of Jack Moakley he imme- diately thinks of Cormell. John Fran- cis Moakley, in fact, is one of Cornell's most sacred institutions. Any Cornell man will tell you that. And it's worth a little bet that when ol' Jack breasts the tape in the race of life Cornell university will erect a monument to his memory. Hang it all, he deserves one, anyway! But, after all, the innumerable tro- phies the red and white have won on track and fleld and over hill and dale perhaps are the best monument to his memory. They can’t erase from the college records the athletic feats per- formed by the athletes of the red and white under the Moakley regime. Those records forever will keep Jack Moak- ley’s name in Cornell’s hall of fame. Some time ago John Francis Moak- wen't many pitchers nowadays in the the pitchers to distraction. ley celebrated his fifty-second birth- One Must Stick to Grind to Succeed In Long Distance Running, Says Gianakopulos By NICK GIANAKOPULOS. INCE time immemorial men have trained for various kinds of | sports. The ancient Greeks carried training to a very high degree of perfection, and some of the! performances attributed to their Olym- pic winners can hardly be believed. Their methods of training were very good, for physical beauty was carried with them almost to perfection, but in| modern times—it has only beén within the last thirty years—the regular train- ing of athletes for athletic events has| been studied and carefully considered. Now almost every college, school, church and athletic club has a trainer or coach who teaches the young men ashletics. Distance Running. may desire to train for he should get himself in good physical condition. An athlete who desires to take up distance running should be twenty years old and | should weigh 135 pounds. When I started I weighed 193 pounds and was nineteen years old. I did my first run- ning when I was a schoolboy. I com- peted in races of about three and four miles in Sparta, Greece. When I came to this country I was eighteen years old, and after I was here about a year I took up athletics again. I did not know many of the athletes, |and on account of my size (weighing | nearly 200 pounds) I was ashamed to | run with the other fellows, thinking they would be kidding me. 1 did my training in Van Cortlandt park, New York city, and my only companion was No matter for what event an athlete a little dog that used to run over the NICK GIANAKOPULOS WINNING CROSS COUNTRY RUN. ‘| was at Madison Square Garden. hills with me. I was training for about a month and ran in practice about three times a week. I ran flve miles on one day, four miles on the next and on a day later ran a fast mile to work up my speed. On Sundays I would take a long walk of ten or fifteen miles along the country roads. I wore wool- en socks, heavy shoes and heavy un- derwear., When I got back I would take a good bath and rub myself down with liniment. My friend, the dog, would always be my companion. ® After awhile I joined a club to get more experience., I joined the Mer- cury A. C. of Yonkers, N. Y. When I competed in open competition in a five mile race held in Yonkers, which was scratch, I thought I was still running with my dog and went into the lead at the start before I had gone a mile. I was over 100 yards in the lead, and, not knowing anything about pace, I ran myself into the ground, and at two miles I quit. I did this for quite awhile, and nobody every told me to change my style or run differently. While un- able to read English, all the books on how to train were of no use to me, and as I possessed very little knowledge of English I never asked questions. I just Kept plugging along and watched the other fellows train. I left the Yon- kers club to go to New York city to work and join a club. I went to work in a big store in 1913, and after I got acquainted with the boys, whom I found to be very friendly, I joined the Millrose club, After I was training with the boys a short time I began to find out how to run. I ran my first race against Han- nes Kolehmainen in the ten mile A. A. U. National championship 1913. I fin- ished fourth about three-quarters mile \behind. The following year I finished third about one-quarter mile behind. I made the mistake this time of setting the pace and running the first two miles in the fast time of 9 minutes 50 seconds. This took all the speed out of my legs, and Kyronen beat me out for second place, Kolehmainen winning again. Here's the Dope. The following year, 1915, the race was held in New Brunswick, N. J., and I made up my mind to run a different race and not to go into the lead and set the pace. I stayed in about third place until the last lap and sprinted the last quarter mile with Koly, The last 220 yards I was about fifteen yards ahead. Fifty yards from the tape we were even. He beat me three yards at the finish. By making up my mind not to get discouraged and quit, I have improved {over 100 per cent, and anybody who has any ambition to be an athlete must stick to it and not get discouraged when he is beaten. I have often been beaten by athletes and came right back and beat them the next time. I have | seen a good many young fellows who would be good runners if they would only stick to it and train hard. When 1 lose I don't worry about it and get | angry. The only time I ever got angry 1 got | third in a race that I wanted to win." day. And with his thousands of Cor- nell friends we unite in wishing him as many more of them. May his shadow never grow less! Still at Old Stand. Out of the thirty-five years spent in the realm of the track and field, first as a runner—and none of the old timers are ever going to forget that old Massachusetts hose company team that Jack, together with Mike Murphy, Keane Fitzpatrick, Johnny Mack and Micky Finn, if our memory serves us right, were members of—and later as a coach, seventeen years have been spent in the capacity which he now fills as dean of Cornell athletics. Seventeen years at the same old stand! And it’s hard to tell which is the richer for it, Cornell or Moakley! They certainly have appreciated Jack in Ithaca, and Jack certainly has ap- preciated Cornell. Appreciated, per- haps, is too mild a word. Loved would be a better one. Jack boasts no sheep- skin and never won an academic de- gree, but Cornell is his alma mater, all the same, and no graduate ever loved his college with a greater love than Jack Moakley loves Cornell. No coach in the annals of athletics ever has established as remarkable a record as Jack Moakley has with the Cornell cross country teams. Since Moakley has had charge of the hill and dalers at Ithaca, a period of sev- enteen years, Cornell has lost the in- tercollegiate cross country champion- ship only three times. Think of it, fourteen victories out of seventeen! Some record, fellow athletic fans, some record! Yale won the intercollegiate cross country team championship in 1901, Harvard captured the laurels in 1912 and the stout hearted and strong! lunged hill and dalers from the Uni- versity of Maine won last year's col- legiate chase. But in 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914 Moakley coached harriers from the shores of Lake Cayuga carried the silks of Cor- nell to a glorious victory. Limiting the Golf Field NOT vet has a satistactory solution of the problem of limiting the na- tional amateur golf championship en- try been put to the test. Handicapping the weaklings out of it appears to have drawbacks. It seems almost impossi- ble to accommodate more than 168 en- tries, whereas over 300 would like to have a try at it. It remained for Expert Leighton Calkins to bring out a point that must have occurred to many before, but which has not yet been publicly ex- pressed, namely: To establish a list of players of known ability who shall be exempted from the elimination round. Here’s the Idea. Calkins writes: “Why should players who have com- peted more or less regularly for years and who have qualified for the select thirty-two in match play rounds be required to compete with an unwieldy field in the elimination round? “I suggest that the fleld be limited to 168 players, to compete on Monday, one round stroke play for sixty-four places. Further, that 100 places be re- served for men of tried and proved worth, to be set aside in the order of their application. The program would require all other competitors to play an eighteen hole stroke play round on Saturday before the regular tourney opens, the sixty-eight high to be eligl ble. “The contestants in the Saturday round could comprise all other candl dates not included in the selected 100 In this way a total of 300 golfers could be handled. Monday the tourney could proceed along the usual lines, with ng congestion of the links or hardship oni the officials.” This is by all odds the fairest system, that could be arranged. Certainly mef of tried merit ought not to be come pelled to take issue in elimination matches along with unknowns and others with no records to fall bach upon. Trap Shooting Is Popular. According to the annual records of thy Interstate Trap Shooting association, 333 tournaments were registered dur- ing the 1915 season. In these competi: tions 8,146 shooters participated anf 4,814,260 targets were trapped. Y shouldn’t pinch hitters warm up before going to work just as do relief pitchers? Right at first glance the idea may appear strange; but, when you come to think of it, there seems to be some rea- son to it, after all. Any golfer will tell you that a man who intends to hit a ball ought to have a few practice swings, and a devotee of the Scotch game wouldn’t think of advancing to the tee and taking a wallop at the pill without first loosening up and focusing his eye with a flock of preliminary swipes. Very careful golfers not only take their practice swings before beginning the day’s play, but indulge in them before almost every shot. They firmly believe that it helps to co-ordinate the mus- cles and the eyes and insures greater accuracy in meeting the ball. Even the most slovenly players do a little prac- ticing just after they leave the dress- ing room, and the man who dashed out and swatted the ball without first get- ting his eye on it by lamming imagi- nary objects would be thought erratic to the last degree. ‘ Must Sit on Bench. The pinch hitter, on the other hand, has to sit on the bench all afternoon gazing out across the glare of the field at the game and maybe getting his eves all out of kilter. Then when the critical moment comes he must grab a bat and go up to the plate without any chance to loosen up or adjust his sights. Probably he had his batting practice with the other members of the squad before the game, but that may have been two hours before the time he is called on to dash up and bust one in an emergency. The suggestion to give the “pinch- ers” a chance to adjust themselves comes from Fred Patterson, who is both a Pinch Hitter Should Warm Up ball player and a golfer and therefore is familiar with conditions in both sports. His idea is that the home club could have a batting cage surrounded by net- ting in which the swattist could stand and look over a few pitches handed up by one of the spare twirlers. The cage would not require much space, proba- bly a width of thirty feet and a length of seventy, just a little over the regu- lation pitching distance. The twirler would of course have to be fairly agile in dodging the line drives slammed back at him, but the collegians manage to get in some good indoor practice un- der these conditions, and fatalities are few. Even half a dozen pitched balls would be a help to the man who had been nominated for relief duty. The mana- ger would have ample warning that some pinch hitting was going to be| necessary and could send out several swattists to get ready as soon as he realized that his regular personnel would not be equal to the task of get- ting the necessary number of runs. Could Stimulate Adversary. The pitcher to hand them up for practice could be selected for his abil- ity to throw somewhat the same sort of ball as the man doing duty for the enemy. Thus, if a spitter were on the mound, the pinch hitter would get a chance to look over some moist ones. If a curver happened to be the man whom the psychologist would face he could inspect nothing but curves. In some parks it would be imprac- ticable to use the suggested batting cage because of lack of space, but in most of the yards a place could be found for it. In any event, it is a cinch that the pinch hitter would be better off looking over some pitching than sit- ting on the bench peeking out at a sun bathed diamond. HERE are only two sports on the face of thls fair, green earth, ac- | cording to Johnny Evers, second base- man extraordinary. These are base- ball and golf. But the tribute to golf is significant, coming, as it does, from such a base- ball enthusiast. Not long ago the cap- tain of the Boston Braves was confined to a hospital with “charley horse” in the foot—or was it merely a sore foot made sorer through his indulgence in the royal and ancient game? In any event, the glowing tribute to golf came in the course of an interview in which he declared that if more pitchers would play the links game they would rarely be in trouble with glass arms and the like. Good For Pitchers. “I believe that it is a good thing for pitchers to play golf, except of course the day after they have worked on the diamond,” Evers is quoted as saying. “You know, Mathewson is a fiend for golf, and I have heard that he arises as early as 65:30 a. m. to get out on the links, even on the days when he is scheduled to pitch. He will play eight- Putts by Evers Take Place of Base Swat But why the statement that there are only two games on earth? Evers, pin- | ned down to the question by his inter- viewer, said: “The baseball player typifies the na- tional game. He is out there working | for the entertainment and enjoyment | of thousands of people. If his heart | and his head are on the game he is| getting a lot of enjoyment out of him- self, but primarily he is getting a liv- ing out of it. It is his work, the day of labor which, if he is wise, will make him comfortable in days to come. | Player Needs Diversion. “There are scores of ways that a base- ball player finds diversion when he is| off the ball fleld. You see that, al- though he gets pleasure out of his work, he requires play aside from that, just as any worker in any field of en- deavor. | “About 25 per cent of the major league ball players today turn to golf | for a diversion. The number is grow- ing every season. I used to look upon golf as an old woman’s game, but I get more satisfaction sending away a good een holes and be back in the city in time for luncheon.” tee shot than hitting the horsehide Hawaii May Send Polo Team AWAIL unless present plans mis- carry, will send. a polo team to the eastern section of the United States to compete in the big polo tournament, John B. Miller of Los Angeles, chalr- man of the Pacific coast polo commit- tee, and the Hawailans plan an inva- sion of the eastern circuit. According to the present schedule, the islanders will play in the annual tournament at Lakewood, N. J., next April and then swing through the cir- cuit up to and inclusive of the cham- plonship tournament of the Polo Asso- ciation at Narregansett Pler in July and August. It will be recalled that an All Ha- walian team took part in the southern California polo tournament in 1913 and, among other successes, won the Pacific coast junior championship cup. This was the only prior visit ever made by the Hawalilans, and the outfit received many favorable comments for skill and the excellence of mounts. It is expects ed the team will arrive in Californis in February. Wrestling Champion “Never Frank Gotch, world’s champion wrestler, states he where ‘they ain’t.’ " mat game forever. Frank Gotch Says Again” is through with the He adds that nothing could induce him to return.