Query: 1913 "trained to the minute"

[Gerald Cohen]

         I came across "trained to the minute" (= fully trained,
expert) in a 1913 baseball article. But why "to the minute" here?
Would anyone have any ideas on this?

    The article appears in the newspaper _San Francisco Bulletin_
(April 2, 1913, p.17/6-7; title:  'Though Beaten the Seals Put Up
Game Fight....'; col. 7): "So much for the Seals and their hopes.
Turning to Portland, a real baseball team is encountered.  The men
who toed the scratch at Recreation Park yesterday were trained to the
minute.  There was a degree of confidence, something which the Seals
are lacking, and a spirit of aggressiveness in the playing of the
blue-clad men.  Rodgers at second kept his men on edge throughout the
contest, ever urging them on to attack."

--Gerald Cohen