The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-06-19


L i big league game the other
day. an the first batter on
one OF the teams hunted. He dumped
the ball down I'm front of the plate an
tore for first; but the pitcher on the
other team was a lively fellow with n
strong arm. an he took two long hops
an step an bounced on that ball an
sizzled her into first nm nipped the
runner by foot. Whereat the gang
slowly sat down-it had started UP hol-
lerin' when the ball was hit-an' such
talk as this went round:
q" Pretty bunt. that
. Fine attempt
In Front of the Pan.
" That's the way to play the game.
Drop EN- right in front Of the pan.
Hard luck. He ought to been
safe
Tho next minute the second batter
got up on his toes an kctchcd the
la.l on the end Of his bat an II went
out like streak o. light on a dead
line between right and center. The
center fielder got the bail with two
fingers. runnin backward. an the bat
ter walked II, fvop' where he'd been
turnin' second. Aid thcn the gang
around me started:
" oh, you mutt! wy don't you
tunt?'
"'G'wan. you led lobster You'd
ought TO go bck 10 cuTrycombin' car
bosses
A BTainlcss Batsman.
He amt got no brains. lie
wouldn know a real scientific play II
1 woke HIM up
The great American baseball public
is stuck on the hunt hit. It's cryin' fer
IL. I'd rather see man put out tryin
TO hunt than have him soak the ball
Tor "a nice single or a two-baggsi KS
stylish 70 bunt; but It amt new. Why.
we guys Up in the Corndroppers' League
discovered the bunt hit, developed 4
an laid IL on the shelf years before the
Nationals tun.blcG to the rlay. The
original bunter was none other than
Pinch Hobbs; the fat bat wos Josh
Hapgood's creation. An that brings me
70 the tale o Bill rapley's famous Blunt
Nullinc- and Glass Arm AmeHorator.
Next to Hennessy's taxpayer fieldin
E.ove 1t was the greatest appliance ever
used ia baseball
AehC AOuA 4ACNAClue.
Josh Hapgcod's baseball motto was:
Win IL you can; II you can't, take your
medicine. Tim McGinnis of the Hay
villes, he said, Win II you can; II you
can't, start a fight Old Bill Tapiey
never said nuthin' He'd just sit on
the bench an think things. An the
low-down tricks he'd pull OF! Reggie
said he was misconceptions. Maybe he
was IL that's anything low-down, dirt
mean, he was. I've heard him called
worse than that. l won't repeat II here.
It'd only be a lot o. them little straight
lines IL 1 did write IT,
fapley had a pretty good nine al
Maizehurst the year that Pinch Hobbs
discovered the bunt hit, only his crack
third baseman an his heavy hittin'
ketcher were terrible weak on THROWN
from bein' conductors on a trolley line
an ringin' up fares durin' an, winter.
When Tapley heard about that new
buntin scheme an how Pinch Hobbs
was gettin' credited with four an five
hits a day. an was teachin' several
other Alfalfas to do the same Thing. ne
saw he'd have TO do somethln' to bolster
up them gimpy wings.
To Put Out a Bunter.
Bill correctly figured It out that
tsere's only two ways O. putin out a
bunter-git the ball TO first ahead o
him with a quick throw, or chase him
down the baseline an tag him from
behind. The first way takes speed IN
the arms an the second takes speed ir
the legs. Bein' as his ketcher weighed
two hundred an fourteen, an onl,
moved fast when they lined up fol
meals, an none o. his pitchers wer.
sprinters. he dismissed the second va,
% KILN hunts from consideration. an
settled his brains on the hrst-how [,
get the ball 10 the bag ahead of "A fas
runner an that without no arms [,
throw IL. He'd have been dribblin
about IL in some funny house In a weeI
II he hadn't watched two OF his play
ers at d game of bottle pool one night
They l.ere playin' on what was then
new-fangled table. where the ball goe
into the pockets an rolls through pas
sageways back to a box at one end
where you can pick EN- all out at ono
without walkin to each separate pocket
Bill Tapley watched the game a few
IaCments an then all Of a sudden h.
got up with a whoop.
Struck With an Idea.
% L got IL! I got IT.. he yelled pat
tin his hands on the table a pointin a
the pockets.
4" Got WHAT said one Of the players
Tapley's best pitcher.
% Cot tine bunt killer. Got IL all thunl
out. Here's the plate. Here's first IN
was pointin to three or four pockets t
once) an here's where the hunts drop
Wow an he ran out.
The report got around from that tina
Bill Tapley had gone daft thinkin' abou
how 10 beat Pinch Hobbs buntin' tao
tics. But he hadn't. He was hard a
work putin through the scheme tn
pool table had put him on 20. an n
was very sane an cool an calculatin
about Il.
When we struck MaizehUrst abou
a week later for our first series OF IN
season we noted an air OF quiet conf
dence about Bill that didn't seem to &
good with a manager up against
buntin' an base stealth team. an hand
icapped by a fragile winged ketcher ar
third baseman. He jes' chuckled to him
self on the hotel stoop the night befor
the first game. an II reused Josh
curiousness.
Full Of Threats.