The Portland daily press., 1893-08-30
BosToN's SCIENTIFIC PLAY.
The First Ball Club to Introduce Team
Work at the Bat.

ers are no more effective than those of
other teams, the Hub nine continue TO
win games from every club in the league.
aaThe Bostons have played consistently
from the start.
They have not won by spurts, but they
have resorted to the same successful
methods away from home that have
made them almost invincible on their
own stamping ground. The players OF
the Boston. team are probably the most
scientific in the land. They not only use
their bats and hands cleverly, but they
use their brains, too. They have always
been expert in what is known as tenn
play in the field" but.they are the first
base ball nine in this country to employ
successfully what is known to them rs
team play at the bat and on the bases
governed by signals" In fact the Boa
tons must receive credit for introducing
a new style of play that bids fair to revo-
lutionize base ball all over the land
Manager John M. Ward, OF the New
Yorks, is the first player to discover the
Boston's new system, and has made
careful study of it, until he has become
familiar with the various tricks and
schemes which alone are winning games
for the champions. He says the work
of the Bostons at the bat and on bases
claims that no team has ever dared to
try such methods since the game was
first born. Ward says that the Bostons'
work will soon put sacrifice hitting on
the shelf, and that every team in the
league will sooner or later fall in line
II have never in my twelve years ex-
perience on the diamond" said Ward
the other day, "seen such skillful play
ing. The Boston players use more head
work and signals than any other team IN
the country, and that alone is the reason
why they can win the championship with
chief schemer He is the man who has
introduced his new style of playing into
the team, and he has been ably assisted
by Nash, Duffy, Long, Lowe and Car
roll. These men have the utmost cOnn-
dence in one another's ability to carry
out instructions, and they work together
as one man.
prime factor in pennant winning team,
but now team work at the bat is the
latest wrinkle, and the Bostons have it
down fine. One thing that has facilitate
ed their innovation is an ability to bat
scientifically and run bases more swiftly
than players of other teams but Ito
this ability must be added headwork,
a complete system Of signals and conf
dence in themselves and one another. /
have made study of the play of the
team, and / find that they have won
many games by scoring nearly twice as
many runs as they made hits. l also
learned that if they got man on first
base, with no one out, the chances were
10 to that the man would score. But
they do not get him around to the
plate by sacrificing. No. | have OBJ
served that sthey do this by team work
at the bat that will amaze close observes
of the game when they see it done.
Nov I'll be explicit. Say, for instance,
that they have a man on first and no
body out. Under the old style of play a
sacrifice would be the proper thing.
Then the man on first would reach second
while the batsman was put out The
Bostons, however, work this scheme.
The man on first makes bluff attempt
to steal second, but runs back to first
By this it becomes known whether the
second baseman or the shotstop is going
to cover second for the throw from the
catcher Then the ibatsman gets a signal
from the man on first that he is going to
steal on certain pitched ball. The mo-
ment he starts for second the batsman
just pushes the ball for the place occu-
pied only a moment before by the infield-
er who has gone to cover second base.
That is, if the second baseman covers
the bag, the latter pushes the ball slowly
to right field; if it is the short stop, the
ball is pushed to left field. OF course
it takes skillful batter to do this, but
they have such hitters on the Boston
the outfeld the man who has already
started to steal second just keeps right
on to third, while the batsman is safe
at first Then the trick it tried over
again, and in most GASES successfully.
the man on first makes another bluff
to steal, and when the batsman learns
who is to cover second base he pushes
rho baI ont AGAIN tha man on third
scoring the mansson first reaching third,
and the batsman gaining first. They
keep this thing up until there is slip,
but the opposing teams, strange so say,
do not seem to tumble.
s"Then there is another play, with man
on first another on third, with two out.
If it happens. to be Long on third and
Duffy on first, Duffy takes ground, while
Long, watching The signals, moves away
from third. Suddenly Duffy plays away
from first, and the pitcher throws the
ball to the first basenan. But Long,
having received the signal before Duffy
is purposely caught, off first, makes. a
dash for the plate and gets there in nine
cases out of ten before the first baseinan
sees him or can put Duffy out. That is
one way, Another scheme with we'll
say Long on third and Duffy on first,
with two out, is this: Duffy gives a sig
nal to Long and then makes a dash for
ScCOuSi WAllO plAO PluSA1Ot AeS Uho ba2l IL
his hand. The pitcher is taken so una
wares that, of course, he throws the ball
to the second baseman Duffy then
stops short and runs back toward first,
but before the opposing delders can get
the bail to the plate, Long, who started
the instsnt Duffy made break for sec
,ond, has scored. Then Duffy allows
himself to be put out, as the run has
been made. Then they work another
trick under the same circumstances.
Duffy takes great deal of ground, at the
same time giving signal to Long to
watch the catcher. Suddenly the catch
er. who has been waiting for Duffy to get
off first base little further, throws
the ball to the first baseman. Long
PUSHES for the plate and Duffy goes right
on for second, The first baseman, as
rule, not expecting such .play, is be-
wildered just long enough to let Long
cross the plate.
aThere's an old play, too, that they
work most successfully. With men on
first and second bases is the time for it.
Let's pun Mccarthy on second and Nash
on first. Nash signals to Mccarthy that
he is going to draw throw to first from
the catcher. The moment the catcher's
arm, is drawn hack tn throw McGarthy