The herald., 1893-07-24
REGARDING AMATEUR BASEBALL
A Crank Lectures the School
Players.
Pointers Given Them for Their I'M
prOvement.
Some Few Things to Be Avoided by
Amateur Players and Lot OF
General Advice About tho
National Game.

DEAR BOYS: 0u Will not take 1t IN q
wrong spirit, I am sure, II an old base
ball crank has a little talk with you
about the games you have been playing
lately at Athletic park. Your efforts
have in many ways been 80 meritorious
and your conduct go earnest that can
not refrain from praising you little
bit, and at the same time pointing out
some few little things that will help you
to excel in what appears to be your
favorite sport.
While have not seen all OF the games
you have played these last three weeks,
have at least seen enough to form
tolerably correct idea Of your abilities.
You made great many nice plays that
elected applause from your friends
(simply because they took personal in
terest in you), and you made a few that
were really meritorious. Many-in fact
most all-of you evince q natural apti-
tude for the game, which should be en-
ceuraged and developed I; and 1t is to aid
you in this respect that this letter is
written. So we will let the rest of the
praises 90 until some other time, and
proceed with the fault-fnding.
Now, boys, you have learned a great
deal about this national game of ours in
your practice games and little matches,
but there is great deal more to be
learned. A great deal of it will Come
with practice, although that is not sll
that is required. You must think lit
tie bit occasionally, and you must do it
rapidly at Times. By and by great
deal Of this head work will become Sec
ond nature to you and you will be able
to at once put your ideas into execution
without stopping even for an instant to
analyEe or ttink about it. When q
fielding chance" is offered to you it is
not alone necessary that you accept it
without error. It is very seldom that a
play ends there. 1t Is only link in the
chain. The ball comes to you and you
catch it properly. So for, SO good; but
what are you guing to do with it next |?
The personal satisfaction at having
caught afy ball or cleanly fielded diff
ficult .bounder is often great enough to
make an amateur want to stop and hug
himself-to stop and listen to the
plaudits of his sdmiring friends, and
even ask OF his own inner consciousness,
"Did sol, see me do that ?''-but all this
only delays the game. Before you have
aroused yourself from this trance your
admirers have ceased to applaud,
and the other fellows friends are
beginning to inquire If you are going TO
hold that ball all day, suggesting that
you may possibly be married to 1t, and
advising that you put it ip your pocket
il You can't think Of anything else to do
with it. OF course you are above even
listening to the advice of this rabble ON
the bleacheries, but this advice would
not be volunteered by them if there
were no apparent call for it. AS soon as
you get the ball in your hands you must
know what you are going to do with it,
and then lose no time in doing 1t. 1t is
just as necessary to Know what to do
with the ball as it is to be able to put
your knowledge into execution,
There is another little fault you have
acquired. and for the life of me I cannot
imagine how you could have picked it
up. 1t Ia this: YOU don't keep your
feet on the ground. Let me illustrate
by a few examples. You are playing
first base, and ball is thrown to you, q
little bit high. Immediately you spring
into the air and pull it down.. and your
confreres applaud the good catch. Now
it is more than likely that you could have
reached up with great deal more GER
tainty than by jumping. Then, too, q
rapid runner would take about two steps
while you were in the air, covering at
least eight feet of ground thereby; and
very often this would give the runner q
decided advantage in close decision.
The same is as true about the other
bases. If You can possibly reach high
enough don't leave the earth. 1t takes
more time, and is apt to throw you off
your balance for the Succeeding move In
getting the ball away from you to COM
plete the play. Light and airy vaulfing
is no doubt very pretty and graceful,
but it is sad waste of energy in ball
game.
There Is another thing about amateur
practice that has always puzzled me.
In view OF modern swift and curve
pitching, why is 1t that so little atten-
tion is paid among amateurs to learning
to bat well? If boy is a natural batter,
all right; If not, well-he either fans
the air or else makes weak tap that
results in a sure put-out, and possibly at
rare intervals may be termed sacrifice.
Instead of paying any attention to
acquiring e batting eye, you all seem to
give your whole time to fielding. Why
don't you learn to bat?
A serious mistake was made in your
late games by using last years pitching
rules. 1t was not modern baseball that
you were playing, but an antiquated
game. In moving the pitcher ap you
deliberately lessened the chance OF your
making runs, and you know no game
can be won without them. An amatuer
pitcher has an immense advantage over
an amatuer batsman. The pitcher
practices all the time, while the bats
man gets almost none. Now it all has a
very depressing effect on the game, as
seen by the spectators. The pitcher has
everybody at his mercy. The few weak
hite that are made give the felders no
really difficult chances the game drags
along listlessly, and is absolutely unre-
lieved except by one feature, and that
not at all an amirable one--the Bwelled
head OF the pitcher on the winning side.
You are not alone in making this nis-
take. Yale and Havard have been do
ing just the same thing this summer.
and with equally unsatisfactory results.
In all this don't want to be under
stood as not appreciating the value of
the pitcher. Nothing could be farther
from my intention. But I do want to
impress upon the amateur twirler that
it is not so much his akill that has given
his side the victory as it 10 the general
lack Of batting ability of his opponents.
This should not be go. All departments