The Washington times., 1902-03-02
ARTHUR IRWIN ON
TIE ART OF BATTING
Says Any Ball Player Can
Learn to Bat.
Poor Ones Can Be Coached and Faults
of Good Ones Can Be Cured
Gives Living Examples.

Scientific batters are rare. but batting
| can be taught, and any player who will
| conscientiously apply himself can learn
| just as he can learn anything else. said
| an old-time baseball player recently in
| the Boston Herald.
Good batters, as a rule. are naturally
gated that way. but the poorer ones can
| be coached, and their bad faults can be
eradicated if they have been acquired. but
some fine baseball players are miserable
batters. and particularly is this true of
feet in the country, Tom Brown, who
played with the Boston. team OF the Ma
tional League. Players League and Amer
lean Association, lost his grip entirely on
account of his bad form in hitting"
Show Him His Weak Points.
Amy man can be improved in batting
If shown his weak point in proper
way" says the well-known ex-player, Ar
thur Irwin. Look at men like Kelley,
Keller, McGraw and Jennings all former
members Of the great Baltimore team.
They are all students OF the game They
perfection. They studied the game and
the art of batting They saw the neces-
sity of doing away with all superfiuous
motions when at the bat. They practiced
morning after morning, and actually
worked harder in the morning than they
did in the afternoon. They knew that
by doing so they were making themselves
more valuable. These men coached each
other. They felt free to call attention
to anything in a ccmrade that looked like
bad form"
The Secret of Batting.
The most difficult thing in the world is
for the managers to develop the minor
Lacquer into the proper style of batsman.
good batsman must learn to hit all
kinds of pitched balls That is the secret
of batting. The great thing in baseball
nowadays is team batting. The men must
work together a unit. and anyone who
fails to do his part in this sort of thing
initiates against the discipline and sue
cess OF his club Generally the minor
Lacquer has had no coaching at all. The
veteran has got where he is simply on
what he has picked up by himself and
through observation. Nowadays the
youngster can profit by this sort of thing,
ana can Hnu out tHt weak points Oh WnlCn
he is perfectly oblivious, and improve
upon them. You have no idea" says
Arthur Irwin, how difficult it is to coach
some men. You can't get them to believe
that there is anything wrong with their
form. Why | had to take one man be-
fore a photographer and illustrate to
him through the prints wherein he was
lacking before | could get him to believe
that everything he was doing was not all
right.
Few First-Class Pitchers.
1T is a wonderful thing" continued
Irwin, with the immense population of
this country. with players developing from
cities. towns, and colleges, with the in
telligence of the professional ball player !
on the increase. how few become first |
class ball tossers. Yet | believe that there |
are as many first class players outside |
the ranks as are in the same today. The |
man who has the best chance TO develop |
is the man with speed. The public al |
ways looks approvingly upon speed. 1t
was speed that took Patsy Donovan off |
an express wagon and put him into the
game"
McGraw was for two seasons substi-
tute on the Baltimore team before he was
taken on regularly. When he left Daven-
port. Ia. to go to baltimore, he said:
Il think | will be the best player in the
bae I Will