The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-24
IF 1T HAPPENS IT'S HERE.
CIT tn ON
O1ALN PUGILISM
Some Long Hits of Long AGO.
sY HUGH S. FULLERTON.

Baseball fans whose memories go
back three or four generations Of ball
players. always are wondering why il
IS that so few great batters are being
developed. They cannot understand it,.
and neither can the managers or the
players themselves. The fact remains
that hitting is becoming a lost art.
Most students of the game declare
that the falling of IN hitting is due to
restrictive rules and 10 better pitching
that is. more scientific pitching-but
as a matter Of fact, that is only true
in part. The batters howl and some
fans howl. too. for more hitting, and
overlook the fact that for fifteen years
every move except the foul strike rule
has been To handicap the pitchers. And
Yet they cannot hit.
Change Of pace, spit balls, slow
twisters. better command, and ali the
skill aud cunning Of pitchers. however,
does not account for the weak HIT ing.
The fact Is that the real weakness lies
In the men themselves. They would
have hit some better in the Olden times
but not much--and The old-time slug
gers would outh,t them if they We're
IA the game now. The proof OF this is
that the old-thners who carried over
from one generation TO another kept
some even better under every change
of rules and every improvement in
pitching.
Those who argue that the improve
ment I'm pitching has caused the bat
ting stumn and that the b tiers Of to-
day are Just as good as those of years
gone by. should study the situation
from this standpoint: Why does not
the improved pitching stop Lajuie.
wagner. Chance, Seymour and that
class of batters and, are these any bet
ter than the Old-time siuggers? Would
present-day pitching stop Sam Thomp-
son. I'd Delehauty. En- Gross, Dave
Orr. Arson or O'ROurke?
pelehanty held over from one gener-
alton to another-and kept right on
hitting. tie fell of a few points, but
not much. Arson held Overland he hit
right along. He. too. fell OF slightly,
and the falling off in these two cases
probably marks pretty nearly all the
difference in hitting that the new rules
and the scientific pitching represent.
. y
As a matter of fact, the old-time
hItters were up against a harder game
IMAM The present-day ones. ] wonder
what some of the youngsters would do
now against a Rusie. fifty feet away,
run and jump Probably they would
not hit half as hard as they do row,
and il is a fair guess that they would
not do as wei as the Old time sluggers
would do against the change OF pace
and the spit bah.
- -
What hitters some Of those old fell
lows WeTe' And what hits they madei
Perhaps the most historic hit ever
made was the swat that Big Dave Orr
gave The BAH at Columbus when, with
one blow. he Knocked st. Louls-the
three times champions-out of their
fourth pennant ana gave Brooklyn the
flag.
Brooklyn was playing nj home that
day and ST. Louis was playing n CO.
lumbus. 1t was the last day of the
season II both teams won st. Louis
had the pennant if both lOst ST. Louis
would be- tile victor. brooklyn could
set the flag only by winning Us game
and having Columbus beat the Browns
II was the tenth inning The news
had come that Brooklyn was victor in
the east. The score was tied Two
men We're out in the last half OF the
inning. Dave orr was at bat-with
Tour balls and two strikes called.