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Show I BENCH LEADER HAS ADVANTAGE OVER PLAYING MANAGER i I m 'w. - S&'?& Ikl lEik'terr- iJIIlw Lwf.. iffL. . ' --- - frffP''-d LfH V ' Photos by American Prosa Association. 2 By TOMMY CLARK. WHICH 1b the more capable, the bench or playing- manager man-ager in the major leagues? k This discussion as to the Bt relative morlts of the two different B; kinds of baseball leaders is again un- K tier way. As would be expected, opln- e Ions are divided, and the question will V always be a source of argument as J long as the game exists. Bf It is the opinion of the writer lhat RK the bench manager has an Advantage H over the playing manager in that -ho B has a better chance to watch the play- Bff lng astern of the opposing team than j-, the manager who ia in the game. lie B Is In a better position to Judge what lV Is best to do at a critical moment than w the man who Is occupied with two Jobs B ' at once his own playing and the ob- K serration of conditions, ft Tho.man on the bench sees every play k tho two teams make.- He can shift his B team to thwort the efforts of the op- IIk position, which ho Is In a better posl- tlon to anticipate than the manager on III the Held. Then, too, there are few ! pmjuiB iviiu unii iuuiiuqU una piay up iIlU to their standard. The strain which jHB tho position brings with It affects their illS playing, and. what Is more, errors made aflK by a playing manager and they all jjjBK make them are always held up before H the public gaze much more than those 7npj made by tho rank and fllo. .3 - & v - WfN NINE OF THE LEADING MANAGERS OF TEAMS IN THE BIG LEAGUES It requires a very exceptional man to succeed as a playing manager Ho must be a superior player to stat with, as good or belter tJian any other man In his position, In order to command the respect of his men. There are usually usu-ally only two or throe men on any one team who are enough In advance of their fellow players to come up to .this condition. Then, when a man has satisfied tho playing conditions, he must have a lot of other qualities, which are usually absent In a young fellow who is In his prime as a player. Managers arc born. not made. It Is no easy matter to handle han-dle twenty or more active young athletes ath-letes and get the best work out of every ev-ery man. It requires certain qualities which most players do not possess, and lhat Is the reason lhat the majority of the leading managers work from the bench. Tlero are Just six real playing managers man-agers In the big leagues today, not Including In-cluding thoFu who don uniforms to go on the coaching lines. In the N'atlonpl Charley Dooln of Philadelphia, Roger Brcsnahan of St. Louis and Johnny Kllng of Hoston are the only on-s that W W cHaMgI idef-im ifigsi m . .'''.. &S9 play. Kred Clarke of Pittsburgh and Frank Chance of Chicago wtr.t playing managers last year, but Qi-lr uctlvu playing days on ihu duunomi- are over. Johnny McGraw of New York and BUI Dalilen retired years ago. while Hank O'Day of Cincinnati came from the ranks of umpires In the American there are only three playing leaders Jake Stahl of Boston, George Slovall of SL Louis and Jimmy Callahan of Chicago. The bench man- . ngcra are Connie Muck of Philadelphia. Clark Grinilli or Washington. Harry Davis of Cleveland and Harry Wolver-ton Wolver-ton of New York go in ocraslnnally as pinch hitlers, but they come under the classification of bench managers. Hughey Jennings of Detroit Is always; on the coaching lines. and( he comes under the head of nonplayfnE' manaser. Ten years from now It Is more than likely that there will be no playing managers In talking about bench managers recently re-cently Hugh McBrucn. formerly treasurer treas-urer of tho Boston Americans and ono of the best posted men In baseball. f'i'w'l said: r-'l "I believe that before long all big cHcu 1 league leaders of teams will be bench &!- managers. ti ' "I think the game .Is coming to that. f J : Baseball has gone ahead so much and r :'(l come to bo so fast before long ths b manager will haw all he can do to jU rjf'il on the bench and direct the play with- E' -j out attempting to get upon tho coach- fy jM Ing lines. Managers must plan ahead. kt'-'I must ae figuring out the next. play, and Ki?-ljH upon tho lines they are upt to lose F f slghl of moves ahead tbey havo In F ijJH their minds In the Immediate duties of 1 iH coaching. CtJI "You seo n manager coaching at first Pj base cne minute and then a situation lH a rises that takes him over to third ifll bae. and it doesn't seem to me that Hl he can mnko theso moves and at tho jH same time plan as clearly as If he wcro fl on the bench without anything' to both- 'll or him except planning. Then, again. jH by sitting on the bench all tho time '-H with his players around him he In con- h H stantly getting their Ideas and finding j H out Just what they think of what ought M to be done." 'jl |