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Show What Cpasters Are Gossiping About in Off-Season DALLAS, Tex., Jan. 13. Tile Dallas' club of the Texas league this afternoon was sold to' Doc White, former pitcher of the Chicago American league club, and H. Patterson, last year manager of the Vernon Pacific Coast league club, for a consideration said to he 535,000. White will be business manager and Patterson Patter-son field manager of the club. After the results of last year. Manager Waiter McCredie will extend his training train-ing season to a full month, this year and the Portland athletes will be asked to assemble at the training camp, wherever it may be. on March 1, according to his definite statement today. "We ha e a lot of new fellows coming." com-ing." said Manager Mac this morning, 'and it will probably take a full month to see what they have to offer. It is a pretty hard job to look at a player for two or three weeks and then place an estimate on his work. It is usually the last week that some players begin to show their best, and this is particularly true of the older fellows. '"Last year we used three weeks for training and did not have enough for all the players. Of course, all that some players need is a shine, shave and a i shampoo and they are ready to open the season. Then there are fellows like Johnny Lush who don't get into working shape until June. We have to average it up and we find that a month is about necessary." Last year it was the middle of March before the Beavers opened their training camp at Sacramento, which was about the same time the other clubs opened up. Oakland tried out some young- pitchers : earlier in the month and Manager Rowdy Elliott had a pretty good line on them when the regulars arrived. Portland Telegram. "Baseball is great Training for trench fighting," says Lieutenant Paul Verdier of the 155th regiment of the annv of France, "and Americans, for the reason that nearly all of them day baseball, would make great trench fighters." Lieutenant Verdier is in S'an Francisco on leave of absence. He expects to return re-turn to his colors in about a month. "The supremacy of the baseball plover in the trenches lie3 in his ability to throw hand grenades accurately." explains Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Verdier. "and a good pitcher would be worth his weight in radium on the western front. "A hand grenade weighs about a pound. I It is shaped lik a lemon and is just a. i trifle smaller than a baseball. It is thrown, not at individuals among the enemy, but into the enemy's trenches, a lisiance. say, of thirtv-five yards. "Accuracy, of course, is the most valu-ibie valu-ibie asset of a grenade thrower. The grenades are timed to explode at a certain instant, and the soldier strives to get his bomb. iiiLQ Uiei.ray trxiicto. at precisely that instant. Naturally, (here fore, a pitcher with control would be of great value to his side. "English cricketers sometimes make excellent ex-cellent grenade throwers, though the English method of throwing differs from me French. The French soldier throws with what vou might call a windup. counting count-ing one, two, three, before hurling, but the Englishman throws with a stiff arm, as if he were pitching cricket."' Imagine what could be done over there bv Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander. "Babe" Ruth and even our Coast leaguers. Give . them an unlimited supply of grenades, and then pity the invader. San Francisco Examiner. I I Basel 'all men predict that Swede Ris-berg Ris-berg will have a hard time getting any more money out of the White Sox than stipulated in the, contract sent him. This named a substantial raise over what his contract with Vernon called for last season. sea-son. Yet, on receiving it the Swede emitted a screech to the effect that he I received more money from Vernon than Chicago had offered him. It is said here I that he has nothing in writing to show i that he received additional money, and I for that reason win find it difficult to : prove his contention. Furthermore, the ! increase in his Chicago contract would be j based on his contract which was filed 1 with the Coast league in st year, as It is . specifically stated in big league docu-1 docu-1 ments that '"no other cdntrai-t shall be recognized." Doubtless Comfskey will hear all the testimony that the Swede has to offer, but it is hardly likely that he wiM boost the figures already submitted. Loi Angelas Xam, |