The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-10-24
SPO r
BALL THAT LOST
ITSELF IN A HOLE


one of the oldest things that ever
happened on a bali nelu took pla,c on
The West Side grounds IN Chicago IN a
game against New N1rK. Auscu's men
were playing the Giants and he VIC
tory hung i'm the balance until. I'm the
ninth inning, with the score even, RHl
LANCE faced Joult Meekn and rampsad
a certain double 20 csut.r. There were
two out and the crowd rose with a yell
of delight when Lauge smots the bali,
which rolled past Van Ha,trcn.
That ball rolled on ana finally disap-
peared. Van Haltren was ON top Of It,.
but instead of picking 1t up. hc sud-
denly threw himsa'f Hat on ,hp ground.
rammed his right arm into the earth
and commenced reaching. Lauge,
meantime kept on. He turned SEQ
ond, raced on to third, gave look out
ward, and then sprinted for home,
scoring the winning run.
The ball had rolled into a hole i'm Tie
ground from which a post has been
pulled that morning and Van Haltrel
had been able only to reach it with
the tips of his fingers. The next day
the hole was filled in.
BUCKET OF PAINT WON THE
REMNANT.
Upon what small things the results
of base ball depend can be guessed
when it is known that a 45-cent bucket
of paint won the National League pen
nant for Baltimore two years in sue
cession. 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 winning
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 it out, and
in the end they figured that the reason
they were not hitting was because
there was a lack of relief i'm the color
scheme of the grounds. The bat boy
was sent in a hurry for a pot of white
paint and a patch of the fence in CEN
ter field exactly on a line with the
pitchers box and the plate, was daub-
ed white. The paint made a difference
Of nearly forty points per man in their
batting averages that season, and they
won the pennant
After that thes pace in center on
most of the big league ball grounds
was kept clear, or painted in some col
or that would assist the team in its hit
| ting.
SHADOWS OF THE POLO GROUNDS
The color scheme, in base ball is more
important than the casual observer
would suppose. For instance, the Polo
grounds is one of the hardest grounds
! in the world for an outfielde,. Back OF
the grand stand rises a 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 af-
ternoon, and the outfielders have great
difficulty in seeing the ball until it
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 a hard time judy
ing line drives.
For years the New York players have
had the advantage because of the
color scheme of their grounds. In CEN
fer field is a panel of color to relieve
Tho batter's eve and show the ball in
relief against it, while to mitigate lhe
effects of the shadow sections OF 'he
front of the stand and even the bowl
ders on the hillside have been painted