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Show PRIVATE LIFE OF GIANT PLAYERS (By John "Chief" Meyers.) After tho last ball of the game is fielded and tho crowd begins to pour out of tho park and the players disappear dis-appear Into the clubhouse what than? The fans read In their papers next morning: "New York at Pittsburgh," or "New York at Boston," or something some-thing like that. And until the bulletin bulle-tin boards begin to put up tho score, inning by inning, in tho afternoon, they know little or nothing about the .men they have, been watching and cheering. What have the ball players been doing in tho meantime? Hot.' havo they got to Pittsburgh, or Boston, or wherever they are? How do they travel-7 How, when abroad, do they spend their mornings before the game, their evenlug6 afterward? I remembered the other day a little lit-tle song from a comic opera T once saw. It was something about "When the enterprising burglar isn't burgling," burg-ling," and went on to toll of hie nonprofessional non-professional life In very Interesting fashion. And though there Isn't auy connection between ball players and burglars except in the matter of etealing bases it occurred to me that the fans might like to know n littlo something about tho cnter-nrisinr cnter-nrisinr player when he Isn't playing. How They Travel. Well, suppose we've Just finished a game on the Polo grounds. Our schedule calls for a battle with the PlrateB in their home park. Of course, the first thing is to get there, and we get thero in easier and better bet-ter fashion than any other sort of a traveler. Wo have two private Pullman cars of our own, always, and they are our traveling home. We asseinblo at the railroad station somotimes forty strong and just pile aboard and mako ourselves comfortable. In the first place, I might mention the make-up of our party. We carry twenty-five players, as many as the rules will allow; John McGraw, tho managor; Wilbert Robinson, coach and assistant manager- the club secretary sec-retary and his assistant. Dr. Finlev the club physician; Ed Mackall, the club trainer; Dick Hennessy, our kid mascot, and often as many as ton or twelve newspaper writers, especially toward tho end of a close race Nobody has to bother about details like tickets or berths or baggage. The secretary has that all arranged In advance, ad-vance, and all that the plajor has to do is to show up at train time. If "ho is regular ho takes possession of a soat which indicates that his berth, when It Is made up, will be a "lower." That's an absolute rulo. Nothing but tho cream for the first-string players Ah soon as the train pulls out. the boys go to their favorito amusements card vlaving- reading or "fanning." Don't think a player finishes his pnmo when ho shed his spangles. He doesn't. Many a gome io plavod all over again as soon as tho boys get together There's a little quartet or us who arc pinochle fans Crandall, Fletcher Becker and myself a fine lot of Dutchmen wc are. We're the "tisht-wada" "tisht-wada" of tho club, because we don't risk as much as a nickel on our games. No More Gambling. There was a time when there was tall gambling by the players on trains while traveling from one town to another. an-other. I'ce seen as much as $6,000 or $7,000 on tho table in a poker game. But that's past; tho player of todav holdB on to his money, and, beside. he knows that high betting causes 111 j feeling between friends and heavy j losses get a man's mind off his play-ling. play-ling. Tho Giants play a little poker, I of coureo, but it's only a 26-cent llm-pt llm-pt game, where a man In hard luck 'may loso as much as $4 or $5 in a session. Occasionally you'll hoar a littlo singing. Some of tho boys havo really real-ly good voices. Others fancy themselves them-selves as vocalists, anyhow. Larry Doyle, for instance. He has a voice liko "Silk" O'Loughlin, the umpire. But he sings. He has ono pot song about "In the river you may fall and they'll bury you for notbln' it's a good world after all." Leon Ames gots up sometimes and gies us his specialty. lie reeitos Kipling's poem, "On tho Road to Mandalny," in imitation of a hair-lipped hair-lipped roan. That always gots a laugh. The younger, smaller players buzz around Big Jeff Tcsreau like a flock of mosqullos attacking an elephant, giving him a good-naturad kidding until ho sweeps hl6 big arms and chases thorn. It's like one big fnrailv a Ihelj. noisy bunch of pals. Onco in uwhflo Bonic fellow gets a grouch and sits off by himself for a time, but he always al-ways conies out of It soon I never saw a group of men in any business so genuinely attached to each other as the Giants. Occasionally some stranger tries to horn Into our cars, but he quickly finds he isn't wanted. Go to Bed at 11:30. At 11:30 ever night, whether on a 'train or in a hotel, everybody must bo In bod. That'3 ono of McGraw's rulos, and tho boys arc on their honor to obey it. When wo arrive in another city there's always a string of taxis or a fleet of busses to lako us to tho hotel. ho-tel. And It's always a first-class hotel. There's nothing tight about us when we travel. We're an attraction and wo know it. and that helps box office receipts. People always want to seo this club that's got a Matty and a real Indian, and sometimes a Charley Faust or a "Bugs" Raymond as an ndded attraction. So wo don't keep our light under any bushel. We're always pretty well sized up in our hotel In a strange city. Wc can hear people say, "So they are the Giants, cb7" The'native can always spot mo, because of my Indian appearance, ap-pearance, so I'm usually the one they mnke for. "Say, Chief, which-is Matty?" they ask. "Which one is Johnny McGraw?" "Who's going to pitch today. Chief?" Tho other boyB give me the laugh bocause I'm the goat for all the questioners ques-tioners The fans can't recognize the other players in their street make-up. Somo of these make-ups, 1 might remark, are pretty smart We have some very nifty dressers on the Now York club. Take "Rube" Marquard. for Instance. Ho travels with a steamer trunk, and sometimes has sis or eight suits with him. Josh Drvore and Arthur ,W!lson are among the othor Berry Walls of the outfiL But most of us are content with two changes of costume. All Sport a Diamond. Everybody, though, sports a diamond. dia-mond. That seems to be tho badge of blg-lcague class. As soon as a ball player gets out of the "bushes" and into tho big show the first thing ho does Is to buy a spark. Some of tho boys have half a dozen. There's an individual named "Old Diamond Joe," who makes a very comfortable living doing nothing but selling diamonds dia-monds to tho players of both tho leagues. Ono thlntr we bear from strangers most frequently is "Havo a drink, old man Letc'a drink one for good luck In today's game " That Invitation Is? invariably refused. Few of tho boys drink anything at all, and those who do lako a glass of beer occasionally do It among themselves nlways. The :)rescnt-da player differs greatly from the old-timer, who mixed with everyone. Pleasant strangers, with 3ensiblo questions, we don't mind, but they are in thb minority to the butters-in who simply want to tell thoir friends that they are tho associates of ball players. Meet Many Mutes. Hero is a curious thing: In overy city where we play we are bound to met a lot of deaf mutes Thoy woe friends of our old pitcher. "Dummy" Taj lor, who could noithcr hear nor speeak himself. When ho was v. Uh the club they .used tp come and sec him and have a fan-fe3t with their flinders flind-ers They got acquainted with some of the other boys that way, and now tiiey'ro friends of all of us Most of the Giants learned the finger talk from Tayjoro luit. Dojlo and Snod-gvass Snod-gvass arc especially expert, and arc iho idols of tho mutes all over ..th.e circuit. Ther's one good tiling aiioul mutes. Having lo talk with their handB they don't waste words. There's nomorning ptartiee on the road, so we're fre1 Each man goes, to his favorite pastime . A good many piny pool or billiards in the hotol. Matty chaHCH off and plays chess or checkers with some local export. Of courto, oVery ono knows the big fellow's fel-low's skill at nil thoBo heavy-thlnklng games. For my part, I'm an ait bug; so 1 dig up some collection that Is on exhibition ex-hibition or find a museum whore there are good paintings and statuary, and spend all my time there The Chicago Chi-cago Museum and the Cnrnogle Institute In-stitute in Pittsburg are favorite morning morn-ing hnunts of mine. Have Frlendc Everywhere. Then, too, overvono has friends In each of the cities, and those of ub who were college men have their clubs to go to. I spend a good deal of time in tho Dartmouth club in Chicago. In the evenings on tho road theatergoing theater-going is tho favorite occupation of roost of the boyB. Mr. Brush, the owner of the Giants, is a member of the Lambs' club of New York, and ex-toad ex-toad the courtesies of the ball park to the actors. In return the Giants aro invited to the theaters whorover any of the Lambs are playing. We go in a body, just as we go about everything. If there are no shows, or wo'vo seen tho shows before, wo go to the "movies," for wo're all picture fans. No matter what the entertainment 1b, though, it's "back to the hotel'' by 11 o'clock, and "lights out" thirty minutes min-utes afterward. McGraw dosen't hang around to seo that this is done. Ho dosen't havo to. There isn't a fellow on tho club who would croas him In any rule he made I don't suppose the avorage fan over hoars much about another subject sub-ject I'm goln to touch upon tho let-tors let-tors that ball players get. These come much moro frcquontlj' to the clubhouse club-house at homo, but wo get thom on the road, too. Women Write Letters. A good many are from womon. You wouldn't think that a ball playor would havo the same experience as a matlneo Idol, but he does. Some of tho lettors are mighty funny. I got one the other day from a girl who merely signed an initial, In which she told me whore sho was goinc: to sit that afternoon in the grand stand, described de-scribed her costume and then added "When you turn around and run back toward the stand for a foul fly, as you often do, I wish that you would see me and givo me some sign of recognition." recog-nition." Imagine a ball player in a tight pinch of a game looking after a high fly and at the same time handing a woman the Chatauqua salute! Thcro's a littlo lady at home to whom I turn over all of thrse lottors. I showed her this, and Bho sat near the place described by the writer. Sure enongh, she told me aftenvnrd, as I ran back for a fonl, young girl In blue Jumped up and waited for my signal. She didn't got it but I got tho fowl. Many Are Married. Matty, Marquard. Tesrcau, Wilson In face, all tho boys get theso lot-tors. lot-tors. Those who aro married turn them over to their wives. And for tho sake of the wTitors I might say most of tho boys arc married. Tho single fellows tack the missives upon the clubhouse walls so that nil hands may enjoy them. Then thero are "bug" letters, too. They tell McGraw how to run tho club, whom to release and whom to take on. They suggest wondorful complicated plays and roport alleged weaknesses of opporents. One follow wrote Marquard when he was having his long run of victories: "You're making a fool of yourself. Nobody will thank you for winning. Why don't you take it easy like the other pitchers do?" Kids by tho scor write to mo to tell them how to becomo a catcher. When I have time I answer some of these letters, for they're genuine and sincere, so I've accumulated qnite a squad of kid friends. I The ball player off tho field, yon I boo, is not much different from any ( other Individual. He's a littlo more ' J clannish than most, his life is a little more regulated, but that's for hlB own - good. I think most overy one will I agrco that his profession makes him a i ; trltlo better off, both physically and f morally, than the average young man. i |