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CLAfPK G,fPIFFITH ®
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j^ PICKEV MILL.EI? MUGGINS
More than ever the futility of
spending thousands of dollars in
training camps where the weather al
ways is more or less problematical
has been brought home to major
league managers and owners since
the announcement by Charles Co
miskey that be will abandon the an
nual tour of the White Sox to Cali
fornia next season.
Indeed, some of the managers now
are asseverating that they can train
their teams at home and benefit, ful
ly as much as they do in some sea
sons in the south.
This refers to the seasons that are
called "unseasonable" by the native
southerners but to their sorrow
some managers have found that the
"unseasonable" spring in some parts
of the south is the rule rather than
the exception.
Incidentally it has been brought
home to the owners during the past
few seasons that there is not as
much money in these southern train
ing trips as there was once when
major league baseball was more or
less of a novelty to the southern fans
who during a regular Beason of play
never saw anything better than the
Southern league brand of baseball.
The common statement now is
that major league teams can't draw
flies in the south.
Even the glamour of the New
York Giants has palled upon the
southern public and McGraw with
possibly the best drawing card in the
major leagues has not made a mon
ey-maker of hts last several trips to
the south.
JfOT ENOUGH
WORK.
But while the money side of the
equation carries its weight with the
owners particularly the thing that
has soured some managers upon the
southern trip is the fact that their
teams do not get enough genuine
work in the south to condition any
kind of an athlete.
We have in mind one team that
went to one of the flourishing cities
of eastern Texas last year and in 30
days had precisely two days that
were suited to real baseball practice.
There are some authorities who
claim that a team could not condi
tion itself indoors, but Branch
Rickey, the manager of the St. Louis
Browns has been credited' with the
statement that with just enough
cross country work to get his ball
players used to the feel of the earth
he could put a team in condition
north of the Mason and Dixon line
as well as he could south of it
As a matter of fact, the veteran
players hardly ever do get into con
dition until the team comes south
and the sun begins to boil them out.
They may be said not to hit the top
of their stride until early in May
anyway and hence the spring train
ing is regarded as a somewhat cost
ly diversion by the owners insofar
as theirr veterans are concerned.
>0 GOOD FOR
YOUNGSTERS.
Youngsters with more supple
« muscles and less stiff bones
could condition themselves for a pea
son's play in a now-storm and the
trip to the south is superfluous for
them also.
The cost of the southern trainfng
trip to the owner is large. While he
does not pay salaries to his players
until the curtain is raised upon the
season he does pay railway fare for
his men and in addition he must
board them at some first-class hotel.
Railway fare and hotel hills for
some 30 or 40 athletes makes consid
erable of an item, and if it in real
ity is not accomplishing what it
purposes to do the southern trip
certainly may be regarded as an un
necessary institution.
Heretofore the owners have been
able to pay some part of their bills
through the gate _ receipts which
they drew in the south, but with the
baseball interest in Dixieland on the
wane the "gate" in no wise approx
imates "the nut"—"nut" meaning
the total expense of the trip.
It would not be surprising there
fore.if iu another year or two most
of the major league clubs took a
chance upon. conditioning them
selves at home —both because they
can get into actually better condi
tion" than in the south and be
cause the expense of training at
Jiorne is greatly leBB than in the
south where enormous railway fares
must be paid.
TO TttAIN
AT HOME.
If the teams do not train at home
there will be an effort on the part
of major league managers to estab
lish permanent camps in the south
and perhaps build club-houscs to
house their own men in during tte
training season. The difficult part
of this is to secure a town in which
the climate may be definitely relied
upon and this is a hard thing to do.
The west coast of Florida seems to
be one of the best spots in the south
from the standpoint of the number
of days that work may be done or
in which the weather is suitable to
the "sweating out process."
St. Petersburg and Tampa are so
highly thought of by the Philadel
phia Nationals and the Chicago Cubs,
respectively that they have taken
what is tantamount to perpetual
leases upon the training grounds in
these two cities.
It is a nice commentary upon St.
Petersburg that the Philadlphia Na
tionals jumped into the lead of the
National league after returning from
there —It was their first season in
Florida—and never were headed for
the National league honors.
With the greater cost of running a
team with each recurring season;
the greater salaries and the higher
cost of other necessary incidentals,
the owners are glad to seize upon
any chance«to lessen the gross cost
of promoting baseball.
One of the first slices is to come in
the southern training trip. It will
be the abandonment of the southern
training trip.
Kites Aid Germans,
Most people are under the impres
sion that the only aerial machines
being used today by the armies that
are at war are aeroplanes and air
ships. As a matter of fact, ordinary
balloons and kites are much to the
fore, and it is recognized by all the
great powers that their uses are in
valuable.
During the last few years the Ger
mans have recognized the advant
ages gained by the use of man-lift
ing kites, and a certain number of
their soldiers have been trained to
fly them both by day and by night.
It is said that the passenger of a
German war kite is supplied with a
camera capable of taking photo
graphs under almost any conditions.
It is declared that the Germans
are photographing some of the posi
tions of the allies with the assist
ance of pigeons. Herr Neubronner,
a German chemist, some time back
invented a mechanical camera
capable of taking instantaneous pho
tographs which can be fitted to the
breast of a pigeon by means of an
elastic strap, leaving the wings en
tirely free. The camera weighs less
than three ounces and is capable of
reproducing objects when the bird is
traveling at a velocity of twenty
yards a second. At regular intervals
a clock work arrangement opens the
shutter of the camera.
Bnt It Was True!
Former President Mellen of the
New Haven likes railroad stories and
was immensely pleased with one of
the lesser officials *the other day
when he told him this one as being
not only true, but as an occurrence
in the New Haven station.
A nervous lady stopped a baggage
master and demanded to know why
her train was arriving so late.
"Well," said he, "it's just like this:
The train ahead is behind and this
train was behind before besides."
The lady could not figure it and
neither for a moment could Presi
dent Mellen.
He Got $.">,000 Order.
"A cyclone is not such a bad thing
after all," remarked the portly sales
man as he settled himself comfort
ably in his chair. "One saved $5 for
me once."
"How did it happen?" asked a
lounger.
"I was in a little town out in Kan
sas about two years ago and wanted
to get to another small town 15 miles
distant. There was no railroad be
tween the two points, and I was
standing in front of the livery sta
ble arguing with the liveryman, who
wanted $5 to take me and my sam
ple cases over, when a cyclone came
along and, picking me up, landed me
right in the little town to which I
wanted to go."
"Eh—how about your sample
cases?" faltered an awed listener.
"Oh," suavely replied the sales
man, "the cyclono landed them just
ahead of me and had my goods all
spread out on display when I got
there."
Ought to Have Life.
A lot of old-timers of the army
and Navy Club In Washington were
swapping stories.
"One 3i Hankins," says a retired
brigadier-general, "decided to enlist.
He burned with a desire to serve his
country. So he applied at a recruit
ino nffim and wan dulv nunched and
lng office ana was amy puuuueu «uu
prodded, trotted up and down, jump
ed over chairs and tables and so
forth.
"Then came the questions. All
manner of them were fired at him;/
and he answered most of them satis
factorily. Then came the stern in
quiry:
" 'Have you ever served a jail
sentence?"
'"No, sir,' stammered SI, 'but,' he
added hastily, 'l'd be willing to
serve a short time If it'i
sary.'"
A bunch of keys and 50 cents in
small change will rattle louder than
a hundred dollars in bills, but the
trouble is, if you don't rattle some
thing others will think you ar#
broke. 1