Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 281, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1910 — HOW JOHN KLING GOT START [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW JOHN KLING GOT START

Catcher of Chicago Cubs Says It Was Partly His Own Fault and Partly Bad Luck. BY JOHN KLING. (Copyright, IMO, by Joseph B. Bowles.) How did I get my start? Well, if the young fellows who want to become professional players have as much trouble getting started as I did the crop will be short I think it' was partly my own fault and partly bad luck that I had so much trouble, and the greater part of my fault wae jthat I neither knew my position nor knew the game well enough. Perhaps I had been spoiled by too much success as a seml-profesional player before I tried to get into professional baseball. Also 1 had learned wrong in many things and wanted to play my way instead of playing the way the managers and the experienced players did. ft took me a long time to discover that perhaps they knew more about it in the organized leagues than we did in the amateur ranks. I don't remember the time I did not play ball. I began about the time I started to school. I discovered when I went to work that baseball helped me a lot. I got a job, and was advanced faster and given better chances than the fellows who did not play, so I realized baseball was valuable as a side line. After a time my friends began telling me I was too good for' the semipro game and advised me to go out as a pitcher. I was scared sick, being very young, but I got a job at Rockford, 111., and they fired me before I had my shoes broken in. That sent me back to the semi-pro field. We happened to need a catcher, and being the captain I made myself catcher, because we needed one, not because I was good. It wasn’t long until they told me I was too good a catcher to stay around Kansas City. I took their word for it and went to the Texas league. The only reason I quit there was because the team refused to pay me. I ’ returned to the Schmeltzers again, and after a time signed with St. Joseph as a catcher. I had learned a lot, and the biggest thing I had learned was to keep cool and never lose my temper. I believe a catcher who can keep cool can outthink anyone who lets either temper or excitement get away with him. The catcher need not be brainier, but if he keeps thinking all the' time he will out-think the fellow who loses his head part of the time. I

noticed also that even the appearance of coolness and steadiness on the part of the catcher helps the pitcher and helps the infield. So even when I lost my head I tried to appear perfectly cool. After a time it became habit and part of the job. When I learned that I think I really was getting my start. I was at St Joe only a short time when Chicago got me and brought me to the West Side team. There, with Chance and with smart pitchers, I got started right

John Kling.