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Show MANAGER'S PLACE j IS ON THE BENCH! (By Fred Clarke, Manager Pittsburg Baseball Team.) 1 have been requested to state why T believe a baseball club can be man-1 aged more advantageously frbm thej bench than from the field. Before deeding to givo up my playing position in left field and direct he game from back of the scenes I gave the matter long and serious consideration. After looking at the situation from every possible "angle 1 became more than ever determined that the opportunities for bringing out tho best results wero far greater for tho bench manager than for the field manager. When you come to sift it rlghl down to common sense the reasons are easily comprehended. Take the player who Is ongaged in the game. He has about all he can do to think from tho player's standpoint, stand-point, and there is a great deal of quick thinking to be done by ocry man on the diamond during every minute the game Is in progress. Hiu eyes must bo constantly open and his mind must be ready to graop instantly instant-ly any situation that may develoi. It is necessary for him to bo prepared to do his particular part from the Instunt the ball leaves the hand of tho pitcher. Thinking Is Important. Thinking Is one of tho most important im-portant factors in baseball, and no matter how perfectly a man can handle han-dle tho ball he will never make a success at the game unless he is a good thinker. Now when a ranu who Is engaged in the game must think for himself, and in addition to that must do the planning for all the rest of tho players play-ers ho is burdened with a handicap that Is certain to prevent him nt many times from obtaining the best results. The fellow who directs operations from the bench is free from this obstacle ob-stacle He is able to concentrate his mind on one thing. Ho 'has a far better opportunity to detect the weaknesses weak-nesses ol the other team and at tho same time to discern the stronges. points of his own players. When he 13 not engaged in the game he Is also enabled to figuie out tha varlouB plays to tho greater advantage. Liko Tvo Armies. Two ball teams in a game are liko two armies on the field of b?.ttle. Each side has adopted a certain line of. dc-fenso. dc-fenso. It Is neceseary to form an attack at-tack that will break that defense, nn 1 at the same time you must be oropa- ed to put up a defense that will prevent pre-vent the opposing club from brenkine, your own method of attack. Each manager, liko the commanding officer in a battlo, uses a different system to provide the ways n.nd means of getting get-ting lcsults. No two bull players are alike Some are obedient and will execute every order exactly as it is given to them Others require a cot tain amount of coaxing. Not a few of thorn must be fairly pushed along and now and then one must actually be driven Each man has a different temperament and the manager cannot hope to meet with ultimate success unless he Is able fully to understand all these matters He must kno7 exactly hew to handlo every player under I1I3 direction These are the most important things that are to be worked out by the man who is placed at the head of a baso-ball baso-ball team, and when a manager Is required re-quired to keep all these details in his mind and at the same timo to play the game ho certainly is lessening the chances of his club. At Disadvantage. It stands to reason that the person who must think of two things at once j at one time Sh bound to be at a dls-' advantage with the man who lb free I to place his thoughts upon the one I subject. That is the whole matter ii. j a nutshell, and that is why I am thor-: oughly convince ! that a "bench man. ager has far more opportunity than I tho player manager. " I Many games have been l'jst b teams that wero led through the fray! by a player that would have boon won if he had been ablo to eco what . was going on without the necessity of concentrating bis whole thought on a single play This has often been pointed out and it is true. A baseball leaguo is an interesting institution. It is mado up of munj players formed Into groups called clubs. Each club is like a happy family fam-ily It Is necessary to see that tho players observe certain rules and thus live in harmony during an entile season. sea-son. Such .-uatfers must be looked after by the manager Ho couducts the playing end of the game, tho same as the president of tho club runs the buG-Inoss buG-Inoss part of the undertaking Encn president has his own system of taking tak-ing care of the vast amount of work that falls upon his shoulders, the same as each manager has a different method meth-od of directing his men. Both, however, how-ever, have the same aim to get results. re-sults. It Is the greatest ambition of both tho owner and tho manager to produce pro-duce a winning club and, If possible to land the highest title In professional profes-sional sport the world's baseball championship. |