Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-01-25
Baseball

that department IS D|aS6.TunnlDR
Pitching has been worked MP to the
daiatiest and most battling of sciences
fielding has become clock like III its
precision and unerring accuracy, and
batting, even though hamepred by the
toul strike rule, is now full OF head.
work and quick. witted skill. Base
-uuning, however, has fallen away
ill it can be classified as almost q lost
.rt, and the official averages are all
hat is needed to show the extent Of
he deterioration.
In 1888 Harry Stovey, who was at
that time probably the fastest and
most successful of cushion thieves,
'tole 1856 bases, and perhaps o dozen
men in the two big leagues had 100
,r more sacks to their credit. A eaue
IS played in those days was full Of
'parkle and red feathers. Every club
.srried two or three men who, once
eaching first, proceeded to make life
Interesting for the opposin & outfit
Ind the admiring fans. Men like
Stovey. WEIGH, Ewing Latham,
Ward, Fogarty, and Kelly never knew
what it was to stand anchored on the
initial bag and wait for a hunt or a
nit-apd.run sign. For them there was
, moments jockeying along the line,
, sharp skirmish OF wis and quick
uess Nth tie pitcher and first base
nan, and then a streak Of light going
down to seconi, q slide, a cloud Of
lust, and n frantic yell from the
delighted crowd.
You don't see that sort of perform
,nce nowadays-not so that you could
notice it Once in Il while, a hasa is
hon silly stolen, but 30 seldom that
the man who steals thirty sacks in 154
games is rarer than the boy who got
away with q hundred steals in the old
schedule OF 40 battles. The modern
game is pretty, scientific, full Of gen
eralship and brilliant plays, but there
is just one feature ZACH ing the dash
ing b~ase-running Of the by gono time.
What are the causes which have al
most obliteratod one of the prettiess
parts OF aggressive baseball play?
Most Of the reasons assigned by the
critics are more or less wide OF the
target. Many good authorities con.
dend that tho modern catcher throws
better thani he catcher Of the past. and
cats uown his runners with unerring
,ccuracy. Others maintain that the
tncessant baking tolerated on the part
If thu pitchers has made men timiG
ma spoiled their daring on the lines
Still Others Charge the decrease Of
)a%se.running TO the sacrifice hit, and
great number IF critics think the
prevalence Of the hit and game
has changed tho stvle Of base running
must materially. Last OF all come the
1essimists who maintain that there
ne no players like the old PLAYERS,
and that the reason that there is no
oase.runniDg nov is because there are
10 successors to Ewing, Kelly, .Stovey,
Ward and LnnRe.
All Of these reasons Can be d~issected
nd then laid aside, although each, no
ioubt, has had some slight bearing on
he next result. Tho ~catchers of today
arc not only superior in no way TO
those Of tie past, bat, with a few OK.
captions, as King, Sullivan and Orig
err, are inferior. Outside of the three
Just named, what modern backstops
can claim class with Ewing, Flint,
Bushong, Bennett, Boyle and Kelly:
These men were past masters Of the
oackstop's art, and knew more about
basc-runners than most CT the
machine-like catohers OF today will
hear.
The pitchers batk some at the pres.
eat time-yes-but where are the
pitchers nowadays who can balk and
get away with it as Calvin, KilrCy
other ancien,s used TO dc?
The sacrifice hit cuts q much larger
in imagination than in plain
Guilty. How many sacrifice hits are
brought off to the game? Not os many
IS 2 per cent. on the seasons averages.
The hit.aSd.lun game hes Of course,
esutled in the balls receiving sundry
lifts just as runners started fcom first,
rat mas cut no very heavy amount or {
ce in straight away base-stealing. l
Modern players may not be as fast t
s the old.timers, according to sons s
but it is a cinch that there are t
fifty of the younger players Of either !
Jig league VINO could have beaten 1
Ward or Kelly in a hundred- (
ard dash when those veterans were in i
heir prime. Those old boys got away d
nth their steals on nerve, Judgment |
nd headwork as much ms on sheer
peed, but the youngsters now playing t
all, despite all their agility, don't II
or tho ouchione n