The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-10
Instructions to Umpires.

President Pulliam's instructions to the National Leagues umpires have directed attention to an important amendment to
 tho balk rule and some writers on the
 game are surmising whether President
 Jo hnson will require the members of the
 American League stan to enforce the
 regulation in accordance with the views
 of Mir. Pulliam. The change in the rule
 does not require special instructions. as
 Section is so plain that its meaning
 can not be mistaken. This section de-
 fires balk as follows, Bays The Sport ing News:
 Making any motion of the arm. shoui- der. hip or body the pitcher habitually skes in his method of delivery without
 immediately delivering the ball to the bat"
 Arm, shoulder, hip or body" are the orly new words added to the old section. They were not really required, as the phrase any motion" Is as comprehensive | as 1t can be made. but as experience has srcwn umpires will not enforce a gem l eraI provision, the rule-makers have spec | lied movements of the pitcher for which the penalty of a balk will be imposed and the officials of the game will be as | of the rules. It will be recalled that the | foul-strtke was the result of the umpires | shirking responsibility in deciding | whether pitched balls were purposely fouied ofr. There should be more batting | and base-running. The runners will not b. blufred into hugging their bases by half-baiks of the pitchers and with more
 activity on the base lines and a conse- qtent increase in the chances for tallies, | tho pitcher will not be able to practically | give all his attention to the batsman. | Careful cultivation of the half-balk-a
 movement of the arm, shoulder, hip or | Dc dy-gave the pitcher control of the | base-runner at first base and kept him | from starting from first until the ball | were on its. way to- the catcher unless | he took the chance of guessing whether | tIn xtt1 fnh l,t al N< pitch. Action is the life of baseball and
 legislation should free 1t from tricks or | practices that, retard runners in progress | ing around the bases. Every attempt to | steal a base affords a chance for action | tEat arouses interest and speculation. The | decrease in base-running has been due to
 the failure of 'umpires to enforce the balk
 rules. The players are faster as whole | than at any time in the history of the
 game and the catchers are not up to the | standard of former years. Captain Pad | deri. of the Browns. on tour of the minor leagues for talent toward the close | Of last season stated that he had seen
 a back-stop whom he considered worth a | tfial by major league company. Kling,
 Of the Chicago National League team,
 and Bemis, of the Cleyelands, are the | tnly first-class catchers recruited from
 the minor leagues in recent years. The | veterans are retained notwithstanding | their loss of speed in throwing and run
 nirg, simply because of the difficulty in | crlacing them. With the handicap i'm posed by the half-balk. fast base-runners
 have been held at first base until dead
 arm catchers could get the ball to second 1 base ahead of them. Pitchers will be | required to strictly observe every clause
 of the balk rule. The magnates have leg
 islated to increase the batting and if the
 umpires do their duty there will be no
 necessity for the adoption of radical | measures such as increasing the pitching
 distance, equa lizing the balls and strikes etc The other alterations in the code
 arc few in number. The fielder who
 muffs a foul fly will be charged with an, error regardless of what, becomes of the batsman, who is given a life Many scorers do not charge the error if the batsman were subsequently, retired before
 reaching first. If a ball is thrown accur-