June 3, 1905 - The Evening World, NYC, NY - Elberfeld's Charley Horse Cure
BAKING THE HIGHLANDERS TO GET THEM BACK TO FORM
BY BOZEMAN BULGER
Did you ever see a man's baked? Or, rather, imagine a nice sirloin trimmed off a man's leg and the man still alive!
Just at this time "Kid" Elberfeld is undergoing the most heroic treatment a baseball player could face, and if the public will bear with him long enough he expects to be able to show them the goods they have looked for long and often,
Some persons halve an idea that ball players have a life of ease and earn their money with little effort, but if some of them could spend one hour in the the dressing room of the American League Ball Club early in the morning their thoughts would undergo a wonderful change. Sitting in a corner they would observe Elberfeld in a painful posture, with one leg free and the other in a patent gas-heating stove stove with a temperature close to scorching. Expressions of keen pain chase one another over the little shortstop's face, but he bears it with wonderful nerve and fortitude, knowing that it Is the only thing that will restore him to the game.
Any baseball player will tell you that the last resort to cure a "charley horse" in the leg is the baking machine, and though severe, it will finally do the work.
Heldrich, one of the star outfielders of the American League, was put on his feet by having his leg baked, and Davy Fultz says it is the only thing that finally got him in shape to sprint around the bases.
To the ordinary observer the idea of a baked leg seems exaggerated and repulsive, but that is exactly what is done to the ball player whose legs are weak. The leg-baker in shaped very much like a United States mail box, with the two narrow sides made of hard cloth instead of metal. Through this the leg is laid and so bound that It is an alr-tight compartment. The leg is also bound in thick towels, so as to prevent a burn or blister on any particular spot. Underneath this apparatus is a gas burner very similar to those used In the ordinary gas-cooking stoves. The heat is
turned on as strong as the ball player can stand it and if the thermometer shows there is actual danger of burning
or roasting the gas is cut down and then turned on strong again. This is an awful strain on the ball player, but he has to stand it. This baking has to be done once every day.
"A perculiar thing about this rather severe treatment," said Elberfeld, while being baked, "is that the first place that begins to smart is the injured muscle. It feels just as if somebody had caught the sore place and was twisting it in a vise. Afterward it feels easier. In five days I think the baking method will have entirely removed the trouble. Pretty tough, though, old boy; but you know we have to go against it."
BY BOZEMAN BULGER
Did you ever see a man's baked? Or, rather, imagine a nice sirloin trimmed off a man's leg and the man still alive!
Just at this time "Kid" Elberfeld is undergoing the most heroic treatment a baseball player could face, and if the public will bear with him long enough he expects to be able to show them the goods they have looked for long and often,
Some persons halve an idea that ball players have a life of ease and earn their money with little effort, but if some of them could spend one hour in the the dressing room of the American League Ball Club early in the morning their thoughts would undergo a wonderful change. Sitting in a corner they would observe Elberfeld in a painful posture, with one leg free and the other in a patent gas-heating stove stove with a temperature close to scorching. Expressions of keen pain chase one another over the little shortstop's face, but he bears it with wonderful nerve and fortitude, knowing that it Is the only thing that will restore him to the game.
Any baseball player will tell you that the last resort to cure a "charley horse" in the leg is the baking machine, and though severe, it will finally do the work.
Heldrich, one of the star outfielders of the American League, was put on his feet by having his leg baked, and Davy Fultz says it is the only thing that finally got him in shape to sprint around the bases.
To the ordinary observer the idea of a baked leg seems exaggerated and repulsive, but that is exactly what is done to the ball player whose legs are weak. The leg-baker in shaped very much like a United States mail box, with the two narrow sides made of hard cloth instead of metal. Through this the leg is laid and so bound that It is an alr-tight compartment. The leg is also bound in thick towels, so as to prevent a burn or blister on any particular spot. Underneath this apparatus is a gas burner very similar to those used In the ordinary gas-cooking stoves. The heat is
turned on as strong as the ball player can stand it and if the thermometer shows there is actual danger of burning
or roasting the gas is cut down and then turned on strong again. This is an awful strain on the ball player, but he has to stand it. This baking has to be done once every day.
"A perculiar thing about this rather severe treatment," said Elberfeld, while being baked, "is that the first place that begins to smart is the injured muscle. It feels just as if somebody had caught the sore place and was twisting it in a vise. Afterward it feels easier. In five days I think the baking method will have entirely removed the trouble. Pretty tough, though, old boy; but you know we have to go against it."
