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Show Ij MARQUARD GIVES ADVICE TO YOUNG (By RUBE MARQUARD.) i r received a letter the other day from a bunch of youngsters half a dozen of 'cm signed It asking me bow I put in my time during the baseball base-ball season when I am not actually pitching that Is. they want to know j how I train; what I eat; when I sleep, and so ou. They evidently havo an 1 Idea that my method of living has gome bearing upon my pitching and, ' I presume It has, In a way. I am only too glad to answer them, although 1 don't imagine that my dally ) existence varies greatly from that of any other ball player pitcher, or otherwise. oth-erwise. You will find that ther all I live by rule and note during the play-1 play-1 Ing season early hours, careful eat-! eat-! in, and the simple life generally. ; First and foremost I want to say ( that dissipation is rapidly becoming clmost unknown among baseball players, play-ers, especially during the season. Personally, I never drink at ali, and 1 know but very few players who ever drink to excess, r know of no member mem-ber of the Giants who docs that; they are the cleanest living crowd of young follows ever banded together. The idea that a man cannot dissipate dissi-pate and continue in the big league la pretty firmly planted In the minds of all who enter past company nowadays. now-adays. A manager no longer wants that kind of players. He figures life 1b too short to bother with Ihem. No De3lre to Drink. Supposing, for Instouce, during my early struggles to get a foothold in the league, I had been a drinking man, In addition to being a disappointment as a pitcher? Do you suppose McGraw . would havo been Justified In maln- B tainlng faith in mc? I don't think f so. Still, I don't take so much credit H for not drinking, because I simply El never had any desire to do it, and I We don't believe that a fellow who gg doesnt' want to drink anyway, Is en- Sj titled to a .great of credit, It's the fel- H ' low who had the strong desire, and m fights it off. g I use tobacco to a greater or less m extent both smoking and chewing H hut, I wouldn't advise any youngster H. to follow my example, because he H can just as well do without it. Cer- H talnly it dosen't help him. Whilo most S ball players do smoko or chew, you ( H can lay it down as a general proposl- m tlon that there is less drinking among them than any other single class of young fellows , During the baseball season, I have h no set course of training, because my , j ordinary work keeps me in form. I . lj try to maintain a system of exercise i j in winter, and, of course, I go through . the usual form of hard training In j spring, but during the summer few, , of any ball players, has to do more than the daily games to keep in condition. I get up about S.30 o'clock every morning, and take a walk before breakfast. I walk fifteen or twenty minutes, at an ordinary gait, and then return to my hotel. For breakfast break-fast I eat plenty of fruit, eggs and toast, I have it a rule never to eat meat during the hoi weather although i I am not so particular in the winter, i Never Drink Coffee f Another thing I never drink cof fee at any time, not even for break-(1 break-(1 fast My morning drink is a peculiar I one iced tea, I report at the Polo ;' grounds at 10 o'clock. This. Is Mc-G Mc-G raw's iron-clad rule, and it must be followed by nil the players. 1 don't have to do any morning practice, as a rule, and 1 only stay at the park i a few minutes in too morning; but t I have to be there. , McGraw has no favorites on the club, and no player veteran or recruit Is permitted to break the rules. The manager of the Giants sees absolutely I no difference in hia men, so far as r discipline is concerned. He treats them all alike, and the oldest man on the team will be reprimanded if ! he has II coming as quickly as a newcomer. Sometimes I loaf around the clubhouse club-house for an hour or so, and then I go right back to the hotel. I sit around I half an hour or so resting, but I eat i no lunch aud haven't for a long time. This is the general rule among all ball players. 1 guess. Some may have i bowl of soup and crackers at noon, but for the most part they eat nothing noth-ing between breakfast and supper. I have to be back at the park by 2 o'clock and dressed on the field at ' 2 30. Then, unless I am to work, I spend ihe time Just as the fans see me every day batting the ball around. In fact, even when I know I am to work I limber up gently gent-ly by tossing the ball and hitting fungoes. After the game T have my shower 3 or plunge, and then I again return to i the hotel this time for my evening I meal. I first sit around for thirty i minutes to glvo my stomach a rest, j and then I oat whatever I feel like having excepting meat, I am In bed between 10:30 and 11 o'clock every nlghL Although there is no hard and fast rule on the sub- jeet, McGraw expects every man to be ' In bed by midnight, and that's where 12 o'clock will probably find every membor of the Giants during the sea- ; son. When the team, Is on the road, and under McGraw's eyes all the time, and whether It Is in town, the manager expects the men to take, proper care 9 f of themselves and early-to-bod , comes under that head. Naturally, he doesn't have them followed around to ' $eo that thp mlc Is obeyed he just takes it for granted that wo have sense enough to do it for our own good. I Ball players are not treated like gl children, but like men, and the man- Sj ager expects us to conduct ourselveu 'j in tho same manner. a When I was having my long run 8 of nineteen victories 1 had a hard 9 time sleeping As I have said before. ; ' 1 felt the mental strain more than 1 fi did the physical effort, and 1 was glad when It was over Of course. If I ever get another chanco to try ror t tQo record I'll do It, but I am not i keen about going through what 1 did I this season again very soon. . The fan Is a curious creature In f many ways. I love him, of course, I becauso he is responsible for base- I ball, and, consequently, responsible L for me, but I havo had many a laugh f studying hi3 moods. The "roasts" I need to get were a serious matter lo t nc whon I v.'as trying lo break in. F but I've- since come to have a better Umierslanding of human uature as I applied to baseball and I've got a dif- i. ferent perspective of things. I When I was on my big run I used J I to get rafts of letters from the fans, 3 1 Most of them were big boosts. They i "W-'ere all "with me." as thoy said, and 14 tJ?ey Save me advice as lo ,how to 1 si Pilch and what to pitch. Then whon 1 lost my first game after making a run of nineteen straight, I got barrels of letters from tho isanio people "bawling me out." They Bhowed me where I had made mistakes in that game and otherwise panned me for losing. Some of the letters came from women fans, and they were along the same linos as thoso from the men. I couldn't toll from reading whether these particular women understand baseball or not, but some of them do. I think their increasing interest In the game Is largely responsible for its prosperity. The players on the opposing teams particularly the Philadelphia club used to try hard to "get my goats" during my record run. They'd say some rough things from the coaching Hues, and they were only using what is rocognized as a legitimate method of trying to win for their club by upsetting me. After the run was broken up they let me alone, but while It was on thoy had a great time with mo. And I had quite a time with them, too. Naturally, all the members of the Giants were hoping to get the pennant pen-nant sewed up as soon as possible this season, In order that they may get a rest before the world's series. We went into the series last fall a little stale and drawn from the fierce campaign In the National league, while the Athletics had the advantage of freshness. A lot of the boys could stand a good deal or rest right now If we are not to meet the Athletics Ath-letics again and that is the team we'd all prefer I suppose our boys would rather meet tho Boston Red Sox more than any other club in the American league although any talk about world's series Is a little premature prema-ture at this time. H we should again win the National Na-tional league pennant and meet the Sox. I may have the pleasure of hooking up with an old friend of my minor league days "Smoky" Joe Wood, the Boston star right-hander. When I was with Indianapolis, In the American association, Joe was with the Kansas City Blues in the same league, and many a time we had a battle Joe always had a wonderful won-derful lot of speed, and I had a bit of the same thing then. We just out loose with plain smoke and would wind up every game wo fought with ten and twelve strike-outs apiece. I don't believe Joe ever beat me. If the Giants should run against Washington and I Bhould happen to hook up with Walte- Johnson, it will not be my first fuss with him, f met him this last spring in an exhibition game at Washington We each pitched six innings, and the Giants took Waller. Of course, he wasn't in as good form then as he is now, but I could see why he has such . i great reputation as a pitcher. He : Is entitled to It. Meyers and I see just two signs when we are working together one for a fast ball, and the other for a curve We switch these signs frequently fre-quently during a game, but we never ue more than two. and that's true of the othor pitchers Very frequently fre-quently McGraw takes the question of what to pitch a certain batter out of our hands, by signing us from the bench, and his judgment in that respect re-spect is as amazing as his judgment in about every other respect. In following his Instructions I havo often got rid of a dangerous hitter in a pinch. Tho hardest fighting crew In the National league is the Chicago team, I have never seen anything like that buncb. I haven't seen any of the American league teams plav, but if they have any better fighting club In that circle than the Cubs, it must be a wonder. On the3c five pitchers the Hub fans are basing hopes aye. strong confidence that Boston will win the American leaue pennant. "It's up to Ihem," said Melancholy James Mc-Aleer Mc-Aleer head of the olub, referring to the twirling quintet Like many nnotber James has been made sorrowful sor-rowful by victory. Having the bunting bunt-ing (vernacular for pennant) falrlv within his grasp, what if he should lose it? Horrible! Much better to be so far down in life that you can't go any farther In that direction. Then you can be cheerful, for not by any quick flop of the fates can you lose. Happy tho man who can't lo3e. Wherefore the optimistic tramp It is these pitchers who will see the Red Sox through the battle, if anybody does. If they,ke9p on pitching pitch-ing six-hit and seven-hit games and holding the opposition to five or six runs in a series, nobody need fret about the hitting. And It looks like the pitchers will keep right on that way. Jake Stahl Is blessed with five of them O'Brien, Wood, Hall Bedicnt and Collins. They are named in that order because that is tho way Stahl likes to use them. Once In a while he has to movo them up, because once in a while someone falls by tho wayside. Usually each one pitches a game a week," then two games a week, And as long as tber can divide their work that way they'll hold out. Joe Wood has made a wonderful record this year. He leads tho league Charley Hall stands third, next to Eddie Plank, of the Athletics. |