The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-10

distance that you have to raise that bat
from the shoulder until it reaches point
from which il moves forward is 80 much
wasted. It is a loss of time and OF
strength. Time 10 a most important ele-
ment in the swing OF the bat. The longer
You can defer starting the movement OF
your bat, the more time you viii have IN
which to gauge the ball, and TO tell
whether it is an Gin" or an 'out," an
'supn or "down."
The best position have ever seen at the
bat was taught me by the captain of my
class nine at Princeton. He taught the
same position TO Lewis Walker, who
played center on the Varsity. and won the
crossword bat for the best batting average
in the college association. / see that
Brokaw, the present Princeton catcher,
uses position which is substantially the
same; and Brokaw is one of the strongest
and surest amateur batsmen in the coun-
try. Stand firmly upon the right leg, the
foot az right angles to an imaginary line
between pitcher and catcher. Let the
body lean back toward the catcher, and ex
tend the left foot so that the toe just touches
the ground. Hold the bat above the right
shoulder, and as far away from II as the
iengt OF the left arm stretched across the
chest will allow. The end OF the bat
should point upward and outward Coward
the catcher) at an angle of about 10 TO %
degrees. The right hand Is used to push
the bat forward, at the same time govern
ing It's direction. In striking at bail
from this position, grip the bat firmly In
both hands, and at the moment OF swing
ing 1t forward, throw the whole weight of
the body forward, coming down squarely
on the left foot, which has been extended.
Endeavor to meet the ball squarely, strik-
ing forward and trife downward, but
never upward. The whole object of this
position is to meet the ball ike q solid
wall, and drive it for liner or hot
grounder.
Once you have acquired the position at
the bat which / have described, you will
find that placing the ball comes easier
than IL did before. The old fashioned di-
rections for placing a ball are useless in
these days of shoots and curves. They
used TO tell Us to turn slightly toward that
part of the field to which we wished to hit.
That answered very we'll in the days of
straight pitching. But if you were to
turn toward right right field in these days
the pitcher would give you out-eurves,
and upset your calculations. No; the bet
ter way Is 10 hit the ball at different parts
OF its fight past you. Let me
by an instance. In
game last summer there were two
when | went to the bat and made two
strikes. We needed the run badly, and
was anxious to bring in one of those men.
The very next ball pitched to me was a
fine in-shoot. 1t swung in over the base
after had decided that il was going out
side. As quickly as a flash of lightning
the thought went through my mind that
the umpire would call three strikes on me.
So when that ball was three feet behind
the home plate, and almost in the catch
er's hands, hit it. and knocked an easy
foul forty feet outside the first base line
Ii had met that ball squarely when il
was Immediately over the plate, it would
have gone to third or outside of third.
What you want to practice is meeting
the ball little in front of the plate, which
will enable you to hit to lett just over the
plate, which means a center hit, or lust
behind the plate, which means q hit to
right. This is not an easy art 10 acquire,
but it is not impossible. You NAV saw
that it seems as if it would be impossible
with swift curved pitching. OF course you
will not be successful aiways. and you will
get out often; but do you think you would
get out less frequently by banging away
to luck? Make no such mistake. Ask any
experienced ball-player whether he
thinks trusting to luck "and go-
ing it blind" are good things. and
you will find that he agrees with me. Be-
gin practiclng at batting the way 1 have
described, with slow balls pitched short
distance. Then gradually work up in the
speed and distance till you have a good
nan in the regulation box. You may take
my word for it that you will be greatly
surprised at the results. Don't give up be-
cause you don't succeed at first. In a
game last summer | tried three times to
place the ball in short right field, and the
frst two attempts resulted in my hitting
squarely into the first baseman's hands.
The third time tried it there were three
men on bases, and dropped the ball ex-
actly in the right place. bringing home
two of the runners, and landing myself
safely on first. That fully repaid me for
The two outs.