Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1906-11-28
BALL FIELD STORIES
ODD INCIDENT THAT ONCE WON A
GAME IN CHICAGO.

4 Bucket of Paint HELPED the Orioles
to Capture the National League
Pennant-The Importance Of . "Col-
or schemer In Batting.
One of the oldest things that ever
happened on a ball field took place on
the west side grounds, In Chicago, In a
game against New York. Anson's men
were playing the Giants, and the vic
tory hung In the balance until In the
ninth inning, with the score even, Bill
Lange faced Jouet Meekin and rampsed
q certain double to center. There were
two out and the crowd rose with yell
of delight when Lange smote the ball,
which rolled past Van Haltren.
That ball rolled on and finally disap-
peared. Van Haltren was on top of 1t.
but instead of picking 1t up he sudden
ly threw himself fat cn the ground,
rammed his right arm into the earth
and commenced reaching. Lange
meantime kept on. He turned second,
raced on to third, gave a look outward
winning run.
The ball had rolled into hole In the
ground from which q post had been
pulled that morning, and Van Haltren
had been able only to reach 1t with the
tips of his fingers. The next day the
hole was filed in.
Upon what small things the results
of baseball depend can be guessed
when it Is known that a forty-five cent
bucket of paint won the National
league pennant for Baltimore two years
in succession. The men who composed
the three times champion Orioles all
admit the fact that the bucket of paint
had more to do with their pennant win
ming than anything else.
The facts are these: The Orioles
were not hitting. They could not find
out why until one day Willie Keeler
remarked that the ball when pitched
from the pitchers box was the same
color as the center field fence and that
the ball was lost to them against the
dark background. The players set
themselves down to figure 1t out, and
in the end they figured that the reason
they were not hitting was because
ii
scheme of the grounds. The bat boy
was sent in hurry for pot Of white
paint and patch of the fence In cen
ter field exactly on line with the
pitchers box. and the plate was daub-
ed white. The paint made difference
of nearly forty points per man In theii
batting averages that season, and they
won the pennant
After that the space in center on
most of the big league ball grounds
was kept clear or painted In some
color that would assist the team in its
hitting.
The color scheme in baseball Is more
important than the casual observer
would suppose. For instance, the Polo
grounds are one of the hardest grounds
in the world for an outfelder. Back of
the grand stand rises q huge bluff
"Coogan's bluff = and the stand is
built partly on the side of the hill.
Naturally the shadow of the stand and
the bluff lies heavy over the field as
far out as second base in the late after
noon, and the outfielders have great
difficulty In seeing the ball until 1t rises
out of the shadow and above the sky
line. The players learn to Judge balls
by the way they sound against the
bat, but visiting players at the Polo
grounds have hard time judging line
drives.
For years the New York players have
had the advantage because of the color
scheme of their grounds. In center
field is panel of color to relieve the
batter's eye and show the ball In re-
lief against 1t, while to mitigate the
effects of the shadow sections Of the
front of the stand and even the bowl
ders on the hillside have been painted.
Those mechanical aids for batting are
great things. Almost every home team
has its grounds arranged for relief In
color, so that they can by looking at a
certain spot be certain to see the ball.
1t is not necessary for the ball to rise
against the relief background, but it is
necessary for the players eye to be
filed with the color, so that when he
looks at the ball it stands out in relief
against the color which still is imprint
ed ON the retina of his eye.
One of the best hitting pitchers that
ever lived, Walter Thornton, who was
driven out of baseball because of the
personal dislike of an official of the
National league to him, had a scheme
which worked well and which he claim
ed aided him in batting He simply
sat and held his fingers tight against
his eyes for several minutes before go
ing to bat Shutting out all light, he
claimed, rested his eyes after pitching
a hard inning, and he went in to bat
with eyes fresh and steady.
And how he did hit them! How he
did hit them!
Pietro Gladiator Browning tried ev-
cry treatment possible for his eyes to
kao,, tham elaar Sinking n cigarette