The Twice-a week guard., March 06, 1911, Image 7

FRED
E BASEBALL CAPITALIST
N Cl DENI ALLY Explaining Why Chewing Tooth­
picks Is the Favorite Diversion of the Pirates
____ Manager, Who Has Made a Million
d 1 r
i~^TF
FRED CLARKE
Photo by Horn«
“That was the splash in my life,” continued Clarke,
"and I have been feeling the ripple from ft ever
since. My whole scheme of things, all my ideas of
that one day.
life and baseball, was changed
I went back to
After Mr. Dreyfuss had talked to
hands for hours
iny hotel and sat with my head lu
last I made up
thinking over what he had said,
my mind. I had been nil wrong,
right. Tho glare and glitter of
fascinating, but It led nowhere, and the end was a
dead end. The straight and narrow path, I decided,
was the only one to follow.
Slowly 1 cut off my old companions. I gave up
that life, and here I am at thirty-nine years still play­
ing ball In the big league. Whatever success 1 have
had has been due to the sensible talk from my em­
ployer. I have tried since I have been a manager
myself to inculcate the same Ideas Into the minds of
my players. On account of my own experience I
know that the temptations are strong, and I watch
the habits of the young men on the team closely. If
I find one of them drinking I first warn him, auj
then if It continues and his playing Is affected I
hand him his release. It is the only way. One bad
actor can do a lot to disrupt a club.
“There was Clarence Beaumont. In many circles
ho has tho reputation of being stingy because he does
not strive to please the thirsty. Many players of a
certain class laugh nt ‘Beau’ because’ he saves his
money, and say that he would rather part with his
right nrm than purchase a drink. That is not so. If
a ball player who is really down and out comes to
Beaumont no one Is more ready to give assistance.
And ho docs not advertise his charity cither. Beau­
mont. now that he Is slowing up and going back, is
independent of the game because he took care of Ills
earnings. He has a fine stock farm and dairy. He
will never have to serve again In the minors, the hor­
ror and graveyard of old ball players and the cradle
of young ones.
“I buy things for my Own family now when I want
to spend money, lint I do not consider It generous to
try to purchase nil the movable properties of every
saloon and cafe encountered. I count that year worse
then lost In which I do not lay aside something for a
rain cheek. The day of the laggard in baseball is
past. The class of players Is continually improving,
rns uncomfortable. I hesitated. Then 1
and In the course of time all plensure seeking men
>ut:—
will be pushed aside for the more Industrious athletes.
“'I really have never thought about the mutter. There Is no room in tho big leagues for the drinking
Ir. DreyfuM.*
man today or for the player who dissipates lu any
mere way. In the past. In the early days of the game, the
‘“Have you ever thought of basebnll ns
tuslness proposition?’ he asked.
man who did not drink was laughed at by the other
" No.'
players,
Mr. Dreyfugs’ Good Advice.
“Tbs college men In baseball have done musfc to
fc,Basi*bab,’ said air. : reyfuss, ’¡o me Is a business, Improve It. They come Into the game to make money,
nre and simple. Of cot.rao there Is a lot of glamour because for a few years they can command larger
nd glory attached to It, but the haloes would soon salaries as ball players thau they enn ns professional
lip away from the players and the receipts from the men. They know what it means to train. They have
a clean
ox office if the incu did not put up their best game, had to do It In college. As a rnle they i
a large
low, of course, on account of the life that you nre lived lot of young fellows, and they are
men in
‘adlng yon are not playing fair with mo. Bnt put measure responsible for the better class
11 that aside. Leave me out of It. Are you fnir with the game.
“Now you will find most of the men
ourself?
longue
clubs In their rooms at eleven o’clock at night.
“ 'You can be a top notcher or yon can remain what
lou are—a very ordinary player. You will live In the They are not out carousing around, as In the early
•ajor league a few years only if you continue to dim days of baseball. This all sounds like a temperance
our batting eye and weaken your physical self by lecture In behalf of the W. C. T. V. movement, doesn't
arousing around.
Then you will K'> back to tha It?" concluded Clarke with a smile. "But ft Isn’t. It's
liners nnd be swallowed un «<wt re«
win
Silently He Watches a Game While Astride a Bat, in Front of His Headquarters.
fuss. Besides that, he has been a wonderful manage^
displaying a cowpreheualva knowledge of the game,
and as baseball lias beoiue more scientific so have
his methods, it Is practically admitted that with two
players and himself be won the National l eague pen-
mint In Itaw, nml wltli three besides himself he de­
feated Detroit for the ebauiplonsblp of the wo^d.
Wagner, I.eacli and Clarke were tlie backbone,
spinal column of the i'lttsburg club during tne Na­
tional League campaign. Had one of these men
gone bad the team would have fallen apart.
When the fight was nearly over nml the pennon*
won Wagner was disabled for a short time and th»
Pirates lost consistently. But such a master was
Clarke of Ids materials, so artfully did he distribute
bis good men through his batting order, so cunningly
did he direct the plays, that, with n team built on
this triumvirate, he won. Silently he watches a game
while astride a bnt In front of bls headquarters, the
Pittsburg bench, and, by the most trivial sign, sig­
nifies that a man is to bit and run, or sacrifice, or
work the “squeeze.’’ There is no ostentation, no
noise. His are master methods.
clarke wanted to retire from baseball In a burst of
llory after lie had won the world’s championship in
lfiflf), but Dreyfus* refused to let him go. He fs get­
ting old. Judged by the baseball standards of age. II»
may play for another year. He may be a bench man-
n-'r for years to come. But this coming season be
will have to start to build anew. Wagner has seen
his best baseball days. Leach Is slowing up. But
f larke contends that he has a lot of young blood out
of which lie will build another pennant winning team.
He needs pitchers. His staff Is all shot to pieces.
I.cevor nnd Pblllippe are old. It Is doubtful If Cam-
nltz, the brilliant and temperamental twirler. ever ap­
pears with the dub again after his trouble with Drey­
fuss last season. But whenever Clarke feds like quit­
ting he can retire to his ranch In Kansas with no war
ries for the future. He has done his best by baseball
and In return he has taken much more than a living
out of the game.
An amusing sto y Is told of Clarke. After th*
world s championship bad gone to 1'itLsburg In Bki)
Mr. Dreyfuss gave an elaborate banquet at the WaU
dorf. of course Clarke, the victorious manager, was
caded upon to make the oration of the evening. 11»
arose, dug in ids spikes, rubbed his hands together as
if lie was going to bat, and then said:—
“Gentlemen, If I was as poor a manager ns I am an
orator the Cubs would be wearing the world’s pennant
in their park now.”
Then he sat down. He afterward admitted that It
was the longest speech lie had ever made in public
and that he was scared to death all through the pre­
liminary practice on the menu for fear he would fan
<ut. But iie didn't. lie made a hit. After him came
irators who soared on the wings of rhetoric to dizzy
mights, but, oddly enough. Clarke’s talk is the only
me that remained in my mind.
< h.irles Ebbets, president of the Brooklyn club, for
□stance, mounted the ladder of his vocabulary until
ae attained such a height that when he looked down
he was dizzy, nnd the strength of his vocabulary
would not permit him to ascend higher on It, so he
simply took his finger, made a spiral movement with
It upward, said “Whlsh!" tn indicate what he would
do if he only had the materials, and sat down.
Yet al! these silver tongued bursts left no impres­
sion. Clarke's talk alone stuck. It is characteristic
of the man. And they say that he consumed a bale
of toothpicks trying to chew away his anxiety before
be made bls speech.
In spite of his proclivity for silence he has a strange
faculty for hitting ui>on happy aphorisms. When be
opens his mouth to say something he usually talks,
and it is generally worth while. He was calling a
young player down once for making a bedfellow of
Bacchus. The youth was ignorant of bls man.
“But I hear that Wagner attributes his greatness
and strength to the amount of beer that he drinks,”
replied the youngster.
“If ev^ry one drank as much as Wagner.” replied
Clarke, “the breweries would be going into bank­
ruptcy so fast that the courts couldn't accommodate
them.”
Clarke’s praise for Wagner is unstinted. He con-
«filers him to be the greatest butter that «ver played
the game. He attributes much of the success ot th«
Pittsburg club to the prowess of the "Dutchman.”
Clarke was married to Miss Grey, of New York, and
he has two daughters, one nine years old and the other
twelve. His wife and the two girls are accomplished
equestriennes and spend much of their time in the sad­
dle. The little girl rides to school each day on a donkey
named Jack. He absolutely refuses to work on Satur­
days. and he gets away with it, too. Clarke himself is
one of the best horsemen In Kansas. He has a reputa­
tion for staying with b.qd horses.
The family is one of the best known In the district
around Winfield. Mrs. Clarke, who has some of the In­
ventive genius of her husband, owned one of the first
phonographs in Kansas, an expensive machine with a
golden tone. The telephones in the section are all on
the same line, so one night each week she used to give
long distance concerts by placing the horn against tb»
mouthpiece. Then at« call the audience would remove
their receivers from the hooks and the entertainment
would be on.
Clarke held a sale on hl« ranch of all bls farming Im­
plements last fall, thinking that he would give up the
rural game, but he bought new ones in the spring nnd
went back after the soil as hard us ever. That is where
Clarke Safe on Third,