Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-09-17
JACOB Stencil.

til after the season closes. Each club has
an official scorer. That scorer sends the
individual record of each player who par
ticipates in game played in his city to
President Young. Thus all games played
in Boston are scored officially by the Bos-
ton scorer. But when the Bostons go to
Chicago the Chicago scorer is the sole Off
cial judge Of their individual plays in that
city. Therefore it is easily seen how diff
cult it becomes, how impossible to OBJ
tain complete official data during q season
on which to figure out averages or even to
approximate guess.
So long as the rules of scoring permit
such a wide latitude in distinguishing be-
tween hits and errors, just so long scorers
are apt to be far apart in the results Of
their scores. The rule says, whenever
the ball is hit SO hard to an infieldor that
he partially or wholly stops It, but cannot
recover (steady) himself in time to field
out the batsman, score hit and excuse
the fielder from an error" The general
amateur scorer usually wholly overlooks
this rule and works upon the old time
theory that if the ball touches players
hands it is an error, though in many such
cases the fielder has no more chance to
put out his man or handle the play than
IL the ball bad missed him by 10 feet. l
have even seen scorers excuse fielder for
muffing foul fly, provided the batsman
didn't afterward reach first base. That is
the most faulty kind of scoring Any
muff of fly gives the batsman another
chance, and If he does reach first base he
has to be put out twice, as the bleacherites
express it. 1T hit his hands and is an
error is often heard when q fielder makes
long run after q fly and barely gets his
fingers against the ball. Yet so long as
he has no chance to close his hands on the
ball he might rs well have been 30 feet
away for all the good 1t does him.
1t may be useful information to the great
army of baseball readers who score games
for themselves and watch for printed ia
bles of averages during season to know
these facts about the unreliability of IN
official scores. 1 have known men to lose
money by betting on such information
and afterward discovering, when official
statistics are made public that they have
been very widely misled.
One indication of the unusual prosperi-
ty of the baseball season Of 1894 is the fact
that the Eastern league magnates have
been quietly discussing the ACCESSIBILITY of
extending their season beyond the 18th of
September, the time originally fixed upon
for the ending of the pennant race. Pres
ident Powers told me recently that the
season in that league had been one of un-
usual success from a financial standpoint.
The Buffalo teams run of go straight
victories, which was ended by their defeat
at the hands of the Providence leaders on
the 18th of August, is, I believe, the
straight winning record Of the year.
Manager Chapman's team accomplished
this feat with two pitchers-Vickery and
Hofford
The sensational developments In the
transfer of Kelly's Allentown club to the
Eastern league served as good advertise
ment for the kings men, 1t would
not be Kelly II he didn't bob up now and
then with a sensation. When Mike and
his partner, Albert L. johnson, disbanded
the Allentown club, written notification
of the release of all the players was dra- n
up and put in Kelly's hands to mail o
Secretary Young of the national board.
Kel, in his characteristic way, put the
document into his pocket and forgot all
about its existence. This little blunder
under the laws of the national agreement
left all the Allenown layers, including
AoIly nillisei., SUBJECT to the disposal Of
the Pennsylvania State league, and the
clubs of that organization took advantage
of the situation to parcel out the goods.