The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-08


Gently, II used to go up to the bat
with the sole object in view of hitting
the ball from the shoulder as hard as
! l could, without any idea of what part
of the field it would go, or on the
ground or in the air. All / thought of
was to knock 1t out of the lot as the
boys say. But l soon found that there
was something more in batting than
that. l think I got my first idea of
what batting should be from defending
my wicket in cricket, when we went to
England on that baseball tour in 1874:
at any rate, / got into the habit of try
ing to place the ball. instead of hitting
at random, and from that time / real
lied that to try and tap the ball to
right field, over the heads of the in
felders, was about the right caper. The
new method of handling the bat, l re-
member. came to me all of a sudden. l
had been for some months batting very
poorly while hitting from the shoulder,
a base hit being the result of about
eight or 10 times at bat, and even less.
One day / thought / would try some
thing different, and getting some one to
pitch swift balls to me, l went in for
tapping them to right field so that they
would fall safe, and after few trials,
up went my batting average of base
hits at jump, and especially did my
hitting prove useful when runners were
on bases; the boys beginning to want
me to follow them at bat, because l hit
so as to bat them around toward home.
Then it was that first practically real
lied that a swiftly pitched ball to the
bat, which was just tapped by the bat,
that is, hit lightly, but not like a
'bunt,' would go to the field, sharp
from the bat, with surprising speed
beside which, l could govern its direc-
ton better than it was possible in hit
ting it from the shoulder. as before.
Il afterwards practically realized
that there was another good point to
be taken advantage of in place of hit
ting at the bat, and that is what Faith
er Chadwick calls facing for position.
/ found by experiment that il 1 wanted
to hit the ball to right field for in
stance, I must stand at the bat in such
a position as almost to face right short
instead of the pitcher. By this means
the natural forward sway of the bat
would meet the ball at such an angle
as almost invariably to send it to right
field, and this kind of hitting insured
me a good sacrifice hit even when fall
ed to get base hit.
Talking of swift pitching" contin-
ued Mr.. Spalding, II used to think that
we old-time pitchers could send in a
pretty speedy ball under the rule of the
underhand throw, but none of us ever
ing of the present time. which comes
from the regular overland throw.
Then, too, with all our practice, we
could not command the ball in delivery
as is possible in overland throwing.
There was one feature of the pitching in
the days just before l was an occupant
of the box which was amusing to those
who were fully posted on the subject,
and that was the easy manner in which
the noted slow pitcher of the SOS,
'Farney' Martin, fooled so-called crack
batsmen of that day with his slow
method of pitching The fact was that
there was really nothing in Martin S
slows but skillful, strategic tossing in
of the ball to the bat. Plain, slow pitch
ing to the bat can be easily punished
by mere novices, but when the ball is
in the hands of a shrewd headworl1
pitcher, who not only has thorough
control of the ball on delivery to begin
with, but adds to Ii the ability to send
in dropped curved balls. and especially
is well up in the art of pitching for
catches, such Slows become decidedly
difficult to punish particularly If such
a pitcher is admirably supported In the
outfield.
Il used to try this pitching for catch
. es plan myself to great advantage, es-
pecially when I fooled the heavyweight
smuggling class of batsmen among whom
/ found my easiest victims. Backed up
as was by such headwork outfielders
at left and center as Andy Leonard and
Harry wright-the latter one of the
best judges of fly balls / ever knew
could pitch for catches with telling eff
feet. Harry, Leonard and I-they did
not hit to right field as they do now
when a heavyweight slugger would
come to the bat, / would give Leonard
and Harry the sign to be on the look
out and field deeper, while / would sig
nal my infielders to get well out in
short infield, and then would pitch the
slugger a nice one to hit at, and up IL
would go in the air, apparently over
the outfielders' heads, and off the run
ner would sprint for his 120 yards spin.
only to be brought up with a round
turn by Andy or Harry's grand stand
catch, the ball at times going right in
to their hands. We used to play this
point in lively style with the generality
of batsmen. / never tried IL on Dick
Pearce. He was too old a hand to be
caught And that reminds me that
Dick was one of the best headwork
batsmen I ever faced. In the days
when fair-foul-hits' were part of the
game Dick used to get me time and
again with his half hunted balls. Dick.
by the way, was the ablest general of
a ball field of olden time"
The gowns of Mrs. Mark Lewis. the
queen of the flower festival at Oakland.
Cal, are wonders. The queens first ap-
pearance will be in an elaborate confec-
ton of white satin. brocadce IN yellow
lilies of spun gold, with a rich yellow
satin court train of tremendous length.
adorned with royal ermine. Another gown
is of white point lace. bouffant. over a
white satin underskirt. with white hat
and long white mosquetaire gloves. The
coronation robe is of white silk. with shot
flowers of emerald shading into Nile
green.
AS Queen Victoria was in France the
other day when the French census re-
turns were taken her name viii be in
cluded among the residents OF France. A
London paper points out that many other
royal persons will also be registered IN
the schedules. Among these are the