MOUTH-TRAPPED
"Casey Stengel relates how the late Bill Essick, who managed the Vernon club in the Pacific Coast League in the early '20s and later became a Yankee scout, had an infallible method of determining whether or not his pitchers were in shape. He'd stir up nickel and dime wagers among them to promote sprints. When they had finished their dashes, Essick would question them about the race and want explanations. If they gasped for breath and couldn't complete a sentence, he knew they were out of shape and he'd run them- and run them- and run them."
-Sid Gray, New York Herald Tribune (Baseball Digest, August 1957)
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