New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 29, 1916, Page 13

b Geers Hold S Record For ware at Shreveport, and the Cleveland ! : 9 | Indians at New Orleans. | Georgia only got one big league team | this spring, the Yanks at Macon, while Virginia, as usual, has the Washington Senators, who have been training at Charlottesvills, Va, for a number of vears despite the fact that everybody in Washington, with the exception of Clark Griffith, is against Charlottes- ville as a training camp. Kentucky just about got into the training camp map, as the Pirates went to Dawson | Springs, Ky., for a week before going to Hot Springs. The spring training is one of the big prerequisites of the ball player. In the days gone by the players got in trim | the best way they could on their home grounds. Some had to shovel snow in order to get a clear field. Imagine do- | ing that now. The importance of | training is appreciated by the present | ay magnates, and the heavy expense is more than willingly paid, because all realize the helpfulness and necessity of the trip. Many fans are of the opinion that the cost is defrayed by exhibition games, but such is not the case. A manager who has championship aspi- rations will not, as a rule, play his stars, and for this very reason south- | ern fans refuse to see an exhibition game. But a manager nearly always considers exhibition games a good me- dium in getting a line on the recruits and for that reason is usually indif- ferent as to whether or not he has a ge crowd. Now, reader, don't have the idea that the players o south to have a hilari- ous time, for they don't. Once they hit the camp action immediately com- mences. They are compelled to keep good hours and are closely watched by their manager. They have hours for work and recreation just the same as the average citizen. The players have numerous ways in enjoying their spare hours. Some like fishing, some golfing, some checkers and others at times go back to their school days and play leapfrog and oth- er such games. Each club in the major leagues is permitted to carry twenty-five players on the roster, but some managers will cut it down this season, perhaps two men, and maybe three, because they belleve it is a mistake to keep too many players on the bench day after day. This arrangement means that many players who are now at their training, quarters must be turned adrift by the time the championship season is one month old. In many cases the players will be turned back under optional agreements, as club owners have paid fancy prices for a number of the young players now battling for positions. It is too early to make any forecast on the probable makeup of any club, but there are many players who may be classed outside the pale of worry about release before May 15. However, each one must show “class” in order to march up the hill after the pennant If confidence is of any help the raw recruit will surely be O. K.d. But, you know, the hard hearted manager will shatter many an ambition. An-|that when his long career is ended the | other thing that must be thoroughly | verdict of horsemen will be that, take welghed is that peace once again relgns! yim for all in all, we shall not lock in the baseball camp. which means the | ypon nis like again players can’t fall back on the Federals Hiram Woodruff and Budd Doble and receive a nice sum of change, but | are the only men of the past who have will have to go to the minors for a|riyaled Geers in ‘popular estoem and smaller salar. professional reputation. He has won Well, while the boys are priming|more races than either of them—per- themselves under the southern skies|haps more than both of them—and | most of us must be content reading|among drivers of his own time he what is going on. Study their move- | stands alone for combined achievement | ments and also good excuses for being and character. As “Gamey” Brennan | late for supper behind a pipe or what- | would say of a good race horse, “He | ever you are accustomed to smoking, | has the clase.” ? and when the season starts you'll hav Tle resorts to no shady tricks nor | a pretty good idea of how things will| connives at secret advantages in enter- 80. Well, let her go with hopes for a|ing his horses. He goes into no jobs close finish. or combinations. He has no helpers the Athletics in Jacksonville, the Braves in Miami and the Cubs in Tampa. Texas' big five are distributed as follows: The Giants in Marlin, the Detroit Tigers in Waxahachie, the RBrowns at Palestine, the Cardinals at San Antonio and the White Sox at Mineral Wells. Arkansas received two teams and a part of a third. The Red Sox and Pi- Photes by American Press Association. By JOHNNY MEADE. OW, fans, you won't hear any more chat from the winter baseball circuit. Irom now until the 1916 season opens the wires will be burning with stories of how players are getting into shape under the balmy sun of the south. Bquads of young, ambitious rookies are showing their wares to the “chief” and are trying their level best to make a showing so as to break into the big show and, if possivle, put their town on the map. Although a little late in their training this year, the players are not losing any time in limbering up their muscles and getting rid of “kinks.” Scenes Pictured at the Major League Baseball Camps Photos by American Press Asso driving. That was nearly forty and Geers still maintains # not offending reinsm was at Americus, Ga where driving the chestnut mare Liz man named Bradley, who had with the judges, carried him out fence and held him there wi tried to go past on the back # After warning him repeatedly over,” Geers braced himself, ¢l to his steady going mare and e unfair opponent high in the air, IL. going over the wreck and wil the heat without making a breaks “That is the only time I eves or higher up. He does no | into another man intentionally nst those who | famous reinsman said in speakif AZ0, was the 16 DI - THREE VIEWS OF THE VETERAN ED GEERS. in the sulky dirty” driving even a are sometimes permitted to practice all | the incident, “and the only time manner of unfair methods to heat him. | ever penalized for. alleged foul In a word, Geers wants no more than | ing.” the square deal he always gives to| It others. He one of the rare men, ! “‘up amateur or professional, who measure | bia, Tenn., with up to the definition of the much abused | West, by Almont trotter Geers ever drove in 2:30 @ ter. This he did at Hartford, old track at Charter Oak park, he has since driven so many memory races. The first meeting of the Nai al Association of Trotting Hi Breeders was held there in Septem] and Geers drove Alice West in stake race for four-year-olds, winy the third heat in 2:29%. She also the fifth heat and finished first in fourt), but was set back for breakl ECENTLY compiled statistics show that d Geers has won more than $1,000,000 in purses and stakes since he drove h first race in the grand circuit. No oth- er driver of trotting horses has equal- led this record, says Expert G. Chap-| lin. Now thing some was in north" 1877 from that Geers first his home at Co the black mare She was the that it is not syndicate stables are the unlikely that some day one will win more money than, Geers has won, but each succeeding season makes it seem more certain term sportsman He is likewise of the rare men born with the gift of getting out-of dumb animals the maximum amount of effort with the minimum of urging. No one ever saw him with his arms spread out high his and his body rocking forward and back in a hys- terical finish such two latter day celebrities of the sulky put up with a pair of appropriately hoppled pacers at | Empire City park last summer. As the late Monroe Salishury once said of | The first two heats of this race him, “Geers sits as still as 2 ue and | trotted faster than any previous B seldom uses a whip, yet a horse will | formance by a four-year-old, Gal do more for him than for any winning the first in 2:25%, and H driver in a close finish.” garth the second in 2:26. Thirty= Tt has been said that Geers was never | years afterward Geers drove The Hi disciplined or even accused of un-|vester, then a four-year-old, over sportsmanlike conduct on the track, [same track in 2:07% in winning but that is not quite true, He himself [ $10,000 race, and in 1914 he drove & has told the story of a race in which | wah. another four-year-old, three Wi he was once sent to the barn for foul [ ning heats in 2:03 0315, 2:03%. Brains Are Essential to Soccer TLE soccer football has made, of fact, especially on the show his superiority wonderful progress in this coun- | halves may and should be ‘beating” every one in front of hil | try in the last few years, the game | aids to goal scoring. thus sacrificing the general welfare here is still & long way behind that| A fag forward who gets away | his side to his desire to shine persol in England, where soccer is the chief| with the ball may. if he dlevar | ally sport. back to deal with, make a mess of | Combination the essence of gof Of the thousands of soccer players|things if he tries to keep the ball to|football, and selfishness is, therefor one 0 above head as P at other Center—Out for a morning jaunt. Lower.—Recruit practicing the gues shows players in handball game. art of base sliding. Upper photo | rates prepared in Hot Springs, and the Brooklyn battery boys will put in some time there. Louisiana has two near major league teams. The Reds close second. camps were Dodgers in bur | da. while Texas runs a The Florida training pitched by the Brooklyn | Daytona, the Phillics in St. Peters The major league's ball is being toss- ed about in seven states. Georgia, a former mecca for big league clubs in the spring, has been eclipsed by Flori- " STALLINGS ON PENNANT WINNERS SOMEBODY asked George Stallings 5 the other day whether he was or more for Zwilling, alarmed at the prospect of the re- |outfielder. organized Cubs pushing their way into T]*:j“s surely mm\din:! every cff}::‘;: AR, Auat, 0 yixion and Roes Dl ‘,en.l“'u}‘ly R ?fe"lifaf "It the mant harbor. Stallings gave an inter-| qijnis and Yanks fall again this sea- esting answer. Said he: son, surely the owners cannot be Cullop and are ready to expend $10.000 a flashy young wings, the,deavors to invaluable W wing has a is the most fatal error. The man wi “The more I see of baseball the more 1 am convinced that organization of | material is the vital factor. Organi-| zation, system and the ‘old percentage’ | —those are the big things in the mod- ern game. | “Grab stars from here, there and everywhere and put them together without that system, organization and , the old percentage and they won't be- | gin to do as well as the team of non- | circuit; blamed—not after having gambled to the extent of $100,000. There are many persons who think Bill Rariden, lately acquired by the Giants, is ancient. Rariden is only twenty-five years old, and last year was his first real season of experience. He caught 142 games for Newark, proving the iron man of the outlaw batted .278 and fielded .978. Rariden was the property of the Bos- in this country not more than one in a hundred brings his brains to bear upon the game, Soccer, befors any other game, per- haps, demands brain work at all time, for every individual player on a side s brought into constant and direct | competition with his opponents and from the moment the ball is kicked off | a battle of wits is on. It is the man with ideas and obser- | a opposing outside or to the center and then himself or to center too soon. In the | former case the back may beat him or force him to take the ball into touch or behind or else he centers too soon | and simply kicks the ball forward into the midst of opponents who are rally- | ing to protect their goal But if he word o o and his halfback have had | L beforehand g d the | hack either he can to the aw |t extreme heel | a is immediately all should, unless rcumstances, never in danger of losing it, but shoul pass cither to the insic r the outside. If these men are “uil narked” or should heel the ball ba o the half or fullback they then hai clear kick to the forward, who ha he best chance of getting through It perhaps well to gl few hints about shooting, one of t in exception keep it when I may he as ve organization, system, stars who have org the ball out to his half, who, on the run, finds a clear opening takes it on to center if at the moment, or even to get a shot at which should be done at precisely right moment. vation who makes a good soocer play taking it er. Mere skill, while it will make a man stand out prominently among| players whose idea of the game is that | it should be a competition in pace and | dexterity, will count for nothing when opposed by brain work. In most cases the halfbacks do not combine with their forwards nearly enough. They seem to forget that a halfback should play a most impor- tant part in the attack and are usually content to watch the opposing team's|sonal distinction leads to a most dis- | get the ball in position for a right fool forwards and leave their own to get |astrous selfishness. The man with the [ shot. The position of the goalkeepe along as best they can. As a matter | ball tries to keep it to himself and en- I also must be carefully studied ton Braves, but had been farmed out i ol penceriagel [to the Indianapolis American associa- “The Cubs this year may have all| ;o4 1yh when he hurdled in 1914. He these, but it's up to Tinker to demon- | .q peen highly indorsed by every Fed- strate. There are easier jobs than or-\ . . jeague manager and was consid- ganizing and systematizing materfal | o oq by the railbirds as the wisest such as he has. Baseball is yearly be- | ,¢cher in the Gilmore circuit. ¥ coming more scientific. The days of | “fRi€r B e CUTONE CEREE wever, heedles#, slambang baseball are gone, | 11 PTSEnce of (e e s o e The team that plays the percentage| ., swinging a deal with McGraw for every minute will beat out the club Wingo have fled. Wingo may yet re- that doesn't, regardless of the star ma- | 1 11&0 have fod. WINES Tay vet T ; terial on the team that doesn't play | yor® SRek 1o TIUEE TS Ant 0 et the system.” g Stallings. The Braves are sorely in All of which reminds us that Fielder | \o g o 5 catcher of Wingo's stripe, but Jones will manage the Browns this| . .o .vent a great deal of trading season. Fielder is the original “per- [ 1ne¥ DAVen ' & STESl Cot O Mages centage” kid on the diamond. If the | oy s "ootting on in years, they have Browns were playing the “Merchant of | yoy ' rmon to offer. Wingo is a springer. Venice” instead of baseball he’d be a knockout as Shylock. He's always Jooking for that pound of flesh once & * ball game begins. Off the fleld he's charitably inclined, but on the dia- mond—oi, yoi, what a tightwad! He believes, too, in system and or- ganization. He figures out his system, governed by the capabilities of his men, builds his organization according ito the temperament of his talent and then starts a still hunt for the “old percentage.” And any time he doesn’t get it he's going to quit. most essen s needed in player. Good shooting r | quires just as much brain work as ani other department of the gams, for th ation of when and to sho js a most important matter. In th ather, to try | first place, the ambitious player should late, is the | practice shooting with either foof} | Shooting “on the run” is the most com in | mon and deadly method of scori | goals, and it is often impossible, with out losing a valuable opportunity, td ial quali and good soccer the | ooy 9 To pass or center, or, try to pass or center most common fault age run of players. Fspecially scratchy teams, whose members vary from week to week, the desire for per- too among the aver- SLOMAN SENSATIONAL ATHLETE. T is rather daring to venture pre- dictions as to what is likely to hap- pen five months hence. Many think that Irank Sloman of the Polytechnic high school and Olympic club of San ancisco will be the sensation of the amateur athletic union national track and field championships which, in all | probability, will be held in Newark, N. J.,, some time in August. Sloman is only nineteen years but he has already startled the with his remarkable running. His build | is somewhat similar to that of Ted | Meredith, the world's champion middle | distance runner, but he is a little taller than Meredith. At the semiannual | meet of the San Francisco Athletic league, held at the exposition track, Sloman ran one of the fastest quarter a schioolboy. 18 sec- world's in- econds, ‘éil;r;orz Pred?cts Pfosperous Year For Baseball Interests ]IM GILMORE, president of the late,the American league. The amalgama- &> Tederal le of the opinion |tion of the Cubs and the Whales will that the coming season will establish a | Put Chi »'s National league repre= scntative in the sun The Federal league talent available, if wisely ured, should add a greater balance than ever to the two big leagues. SPRING TRAINING CAMPS MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS, VWHERE:the big league teams pitched their training tents: New York Giants at Marlin, Tex. New York Yankees at Macon, Ga. Brooklyn Nationals at Daytona, Fla., and Hot Springs, Ark. i . * Boston Red Sox at Hot Springs, Ark. i o L } p B i Boston Braves at Miami. Fla. &t e Athletics OF have gue, is in once more new mark in popular esteem for base- ball, in the two leagues. I disagree,” the opinion of those who maintain that it will require to get the general public back to the sport. I b my personal calculations on several po- tent points “Kirst of all tion—no conflict cities, The the moral contractual righ will prevail, so that managerial ability will count full measure once more. The especially major west “with says he, But most advantageous of all,” Gil- more continued, “will the interest awakened through the possibilities of comparisons in the Federal league re- cruits with the old men of the Ameri- |can and National leagues. The play- ing strength of the independent league was more potent than the general pub- lic has ever admitted. Many of the Federal league's best players were voungsters developed by us. These are new to patrons of the major leagues, The Kauffs, Flacks, Zwillings, Rousches amalgamation of the Browns and Ied- (and Coopers will furnish an interesting I erals of St Louis, under the crafty |line of comparisons with such estabe is believed to have made better time | Fielder Jones; will make of a habitual | lished stars as the Cobbs, Speakersy 4 MATHEWSGN RUUNE'NG UUT IN HNE SHAPE AT GAMP ith&n was recorded. tailender as strong a club as any in Jacksons, Fourniers and Collinsegy™ NS NL A Dl s s s s O] Y ] A AN A e g e Philadelphia at Jackson- ville, Fla. Philadelphia Nationals at St. Peters- burg, Fla. Washington at Charlotte: Chicago Cubs at Tampa, Louis Browns at Pale: Louis Cardinals at San be a year or two There's a very good reason why the ¢ fans of New York should have confi- dence in the owners of the respective ball clubs—Giants and Yanks. These teams are the only ones, barring Cin- cinnati, which paid $5,000 for Pitcher | Mosely, that have taken advantage of the opportunity to strengthen their forces by buying Federal league stars. Between them the Giants and Yan- kees have already or soon will have spent $100.000 for new talent. McGraw | paid aronnd $55.000 for Kanff r son and Rariden. The Yankees counted 9ut £22.509 for Magee and a big sum for there will be no oppo- in any of the big players will have to re- obligations of their id discipline ine, Tex. St. Antonio Tex. Pittsburgh miles ever covered by The time as announced, | onds, which displaces the terscholastic record of 48 4 | made hy Ted Meredith while tudent Mercersburg academy in 1912, He Pirates at Dawson spect Springs, Ky, and Hot Springs, Ark. Cincinnati Reds at Shreveport, La. Detroit Tigers at Waxahachie, Tex. Cleveland Indians at New Orleans, | La. Chicago White Sox at Min: Tox i v al Wells,