The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-07
IOHN ANDERSON a st

guy with Il heavy bat, who plays
on the New York Americans, came
out with d story the other day that he
had discovered "a way to put an eng
lish onto a ball that he batted. Just
like the billiard player puts it on
billiard ball with his cue. The des-
patch said that by giving the bat
certain twist as he hit the ball Ander-
son would be able 10 make 1t jump out
Of its course when il struck the ground
and battle all attempts of the held=rs
70 field it clearly.
Now there's very few tricks i'm the
batting line that any of the big league
sIuggers can put me wise to- I've tried
'em all, and of course I've tried the
batter's english. Before I tell the story
of why I cast il aside and gave up try
Ing to perfect II ] want to say a. Nv
words regarding the general subject of
batting
You see IL is often said by the base
bali ShaTpS in the papers that the ad-
vantage Is all with the pitcher i'm a
ball game and that the poor Teller that
gifts up To the plate with a club iu his
hands hasn't any show That's MAIN
" CUFF. The reason there amt more
long hits made Is that the batterS try
To do things too scientific. Instead or
doping it that batting is the easiest
thing in the world. which 10 IS. and
more natural than any other Il part-
ment of ball playing. they seem TO have
II down that its something hard ana
has got to be studied out. That's the
reason there are So many failures at
it. for i'm most ball mines there ain
brains enough to engineer Il double
play. and when YOU go studym' bat
ting you only make Il worse And the
wiSenhcimerS that play for hunts and
bases ON balls-and try 10 worry the
pitCheT-arc IN y the guys that get in
the pinch hit when il s needed to break
Up the game 7 should say not. The
fellow that does that Is the one that
ReveT had no idea Of being cagey at
all and just walks Uu with q do or
die look ON his face and ketchcs Il
straight one Cuod aud solid aud puts
IL out Of the lot. Then the apeTS
puff him for being d "saeacious hit
ter and a brainy batter. and like as
not he's spoiled for the rest of his days
I tell YOU a man don't need nothin
when he gets up to the plate but good
pair of eyes. EOOd heavy bat. and a
little common sense. Nature in her in
finite wisdom has done all the rest She
has put strength into his shoulders for
q strong swing, and Injy rubber in the
middle of the ball to make it lively
and a fence around the grounds 50 that
the feldeTS can { run out too far on you
and nail your drive And that's all YOU
got to do-juSJ hit that bail hard
enough with the bat-uOt too hard for
there's no use breaking the ball or los
lnE It-lust hard enough to put it over
the fence 1t don't make any difference
which fence, but I generally select the
one farthest from the plate. unless I
amt feeling well, when I make it as
easy for myself as 7 can.
some say that placing hits is science.
but blamed If I can se- it that way.
Its nothing but ordinary common
sense Nobody going to he fool enough
To plant a ball right where q fielder
can pick IL up and throw YOU out.
Keeping them out of the fieIders' reach
Is the cardinal principle of the game.
and not nothing to be developed by
science.
Look at il this way. You're uu to
hat. an the pitcher is paving the
ground i'm the box and figEprinC how
L. get you out. And right there YOU
got IT OF him. for YOU amt got To
do any figgerinE. All YOU got To do is
nat It, But he's got 10 guard against
ElVm YOU four bad Ones or hitting YOU.
which are the same To him a if YOU Il
hit the ball Then if there's men on
the bases he's got to guard against a
wild pitch OF a bdik. It's his wits
against yours, and YOU got il on him.
Tor all you We got To do is hit the ball
and while you're doing that soak it
hard enough To get safe
Under the present rules there's mo-
reason why ordinary strong man
shouldn't nut the bali out a. the lot
every time he comes up. When the
AifalfaS played the Bru1uyEag giants
they had a diamond as big around as
hdit mile running track. and 10 was
something of a SWipe for even m- TO
get a hit safe but with diamonds only
ninety feet square it's 20 wonder To M.
there amt more balls lost and fences
battered down than there are
cS- there's such a thing as being
too Sc1eatIffC with Il ball bat and TIL
tell YOU why 7 say SEQ. once. Pete
Brown and me were on our vav IN r
ball grounds and We passed "a couple of
guys IN wife flannel layOutS that were
piayin' tennis. While We were IooL,ir-
on one of en- runs up ON d ball gives
II kind of cutting swine with mis-
racket and the blame ball. when # bfr
the ground. bounded away OUT of the
other guys reach and the fellow that
hit the bali says forty love and starts
batting again.
Pete. saws T. don't that convey
anything 10 your Intelligent brain2"
Don't WOt convey Wot@- saws Pere
wouldn't let any guy call me love
at no game
-Shucks. YOU mutt" saws T. He
wasn't calling him that-that-s ONLY
their way of keepiH' tally I mean the
way he hit that ball Don't Won think
we could get that cut iu basebaTI-fb.r
ugly bound d get a Tot ~ hits SAFE
L wish they'd use bats like them i'm
a ball game. says Pete And then ne
didn't think any thing more about if
beng OF a very practical turn of mind.
but a crackin' good first baseman for
all that.
But 1 couldn't get il out O. my mind
You've often seen a batted bali take n
sharp curve 10 the right or left i'm the
air which is all accidental and is
caused by some twist of the wrist as
the bat hits the ball Nv r1IrDosa US
to find out now TO put the curve On.
english on TO the ball whenever ,-o-7
wanted TO puzzle an uUuOSiu- fielder 7
explained ii to Josh Haugood and he
told me TO go away back and set down
'Gittin 10 bat scientific. ehe- ss,-e
he Think playu' home runs am,
hTee-bagEers amt good enough IA
win ball games do you2 Luo,,e5
this here business O. Iearuin' Won hot
tie pool wouldn't do no good YouTr
be pldyln draws an masSays and
jump shots with a baseball Vet -Tbe
ADVICE o the manager a. the AIfaIfzs
your humble servant is To stick ia
drivin' them over that left field
fence"
But YOU see was bent ON holm.
scientific. I wanted To make my ioh
Tho rr-ax- I E--~-..--.7