It is well known that an athlete desirous of excelling in any special sport or game must be trained only to the extent to suit the requirements of the sport he desires to become an expert in. To train young men in a gymnasium alike for rowing, running or for field work in baseball, cricket or lacrosse, putting them through the same routine of exercises, is simply to unnecessarily overwork them for one particular sport, and to give them insufficient exercise for another. Of course, to a certain extent, all kinds of gymnastic exercises, if moderately engaged in, tend to develop a healthful physique, if gone through with under the rules of an intelligent system; but the indiscriminate way in which baseball players enter a gymnasium and go through with what they call their training is ofttimes worse than useless work in preparing them to sustain the fatigue incident to their game. What is necessary for a baseball player in gymnastic exercise is to take only that exercise which makes him agile and quick of movement, and which trains the eye to judge the ball, or the arms and chest to wield the bat, or the legs to run the bases. Lifting heavy weights or exercise which is calculated to develop strength for such purposes is useless. Swinging clubs, if carried to excess; jumping is unnecessary; work on the parallel bars, the trapeze, etc., is needless. In fact, a ball player can find far better training for quick movements, gaining keen sightedness and endurance in a handball or racket court than is possible in a gymnasium. Exercise in short-distance running is good, and all exercises which tend to strengthen the muscles of the ankles—such as skating, for instance—help to train a ball player. But what is particularly required in the system of training for professional ball players is that very activity which handball yields. This game strengthens the hands, trains the sight, and especially gives a player endurance in the very fatigue he has to undergo on the ballfield. A skillful handball player, when he be comes accustomed to baseball field work, will always excel in picking up hard-hit ground balls.