Evening star., 1906-02-11
BASE BALL MAGNATES
TO GET TOGETHER
important Gatherings in New
York This Week.
BY II. n. aURNANE.

By T. II. MURNANE.
The coming week will find both ma ior and
| minor base bali interests centered In New
York, the two former to work out a COM
binasion schedule and fix up the playing
rules. and the minors to clear up all unset
tied business through their national board
| As the dove of peace will be on hand for
an outing. the newspaper boys will havo
| no sensational stories to send to their re-
| spectlve journals, and the fans will be apt
| to hear more about the players than usual
| at like gatherings in New York
| IL seems rather unfortunate that both OF
| the major leagues could not fiud II con-
venient to open the regular season on tho
same date In April Both are opening alto
gether too early, the lst OF May being plenty
| of time TO have the first blowout.
Last year the rules of the game went un-
| touched and the public were satisfied. and [
am inclined to think that very few changes
can be looked for this year About th,
only practical change is the one suggested
by Chariey Comiskey. which should have
oeen made long ago. Wig, make the balls
and strikes even at three each. thereby
forcing the pitcher TO pay more attention
| TO getting the ball over the plate.
The rules are quite satisfa ctory when ex-
perts are playing the game as was eXem-
phfied last faii when two great teams met
for the worlds championship. Even the
foul strike rule was no handicap to the
beauty OF the game.
One of the peculiar features of base bali
is the fact that the pitcher is continually
the target for the rule makers
In the early stages of the game the box
man was forced to keep his two feet firm
on the ground and deliver the ball with "a
straight arm, bringing the hand below the
Knee Ihen IL was a clear case of working
.he oatsnan with change OF pace and
paHs Just out OF reach or the slow twister
ior the purpose of forcing the batsnan 4,
raise the ball for fly catches This stvIe or
pitching intelligently performed was effect
I've Tor the time, for IN those days the
batsman gripped his long willow hat M
the extreme end of the handle and spread
ms legs apart like saw buck. often strok-
| Ing his whiskers before declaring tbat bo
was ready for the ball
AS the batsmen improved and leather
chas1ng grew too strenuous for the ouf-
iieiders, the pitchers were allowed to raise
! their arms until the hand passed under tbe
shoulder. This brought about curve pitch
| ing.
The pitchers were allowed to walk about
the box and then step as far as they could
over the frcnt line. with the distance from
the plate only forty-nve feet. This was iu
the early eighties and half the side must
De tanned TO make q showing for the
pitcher
The distance for pitchinr has bea,
changed at least half n dozen times In
Forcing the pitchers to keen both feet on
the ground for the second time the rule
makers got in hot water as the boy men
ciubbed together and demanded that tho
rule be changed after less than a months
trlal. The present rule of forcing the rear
foot to remain on the rubber until after the
nali was under way was a wise move but
last season this rule was not strictly en-
forced. The Philadelphia Athletic pitchers
We're open violators OF this rule and were
benefited by the ieniency of the umpIres
| The greatest pitchers the game has pro-
duced were never accused OF violating the
rules In the box. In fact they were stieklers
tor their strict enforcement Among them
nave been Rusie, Radbourn, BuHinton
Mathewson. Calvin. Bond. Clarllson. Hutch
ihsof, 1y 1oGng, Dineen. TaniiehIll, -Ches-
bro. Powell, Orth. McGinnity, Noodles
hahn, PhiIlippi and many others
The cross fire should never be allowed. a.
1t amounts to stepping about the box befor.
delivering the ball. The batsman IS ham
dicapped enough without having TO keep
his eye on the gymnastic performances a.
the box man going through his long wind
ed preliminary motion.
1t would help the batting II the nItcbers
We're cut down to one swing before deliy-
ering the ball to the bat. Every season tho
pitcher is taking more time with each bats
man, slowing UP the game thereby l'hosa
who can recall the lightning battery work
OF John Clapp and George Washington
Bradley for st. Louis in 10, will have Ia
worry along, for their Ike will hardly an
pear again in base ball.
Queer that both should become police Of
ficers after retiring from the ball field
Catcher John Clapp died only a short time
ago at his old home in Ithaca, N Y. but
Bradley Is 9ourlshirg a black walnut in
the Quaker city and never misses a BAN
game at the Connie Mack preserve.
y was regular sleight-of-hand perform
ance when Clapp and Bradley were after
the batsman, neither man holding the ball
for second, and both returning Il with
the reverse swing after taking II on the
receiving end. Bradleys control was phe-
nomenal and the way that batsmeR were
mystiied was often laughable to the play
ers who took part in the games.
There seems to be difference Of opinion
between Ed Hanlon and other major league
players about the proper pitching distance.
HenlOn suggests driving the boxman closer
TO second base, but clever players claim
that by bringing the pitcher closer you
/ will lessen the effect OF TIE shoots and
I curves as the ball will not break properly
| at a shorter distance. The fact OF the
matter is that the pitchers win find a way
| to get the proper effect on the ball, no mat
| ter where you place them in a position 10
| work the plate.
1 think 1t would be an excellent idea 10
allow a substitute batsman for the pitcher.
1t certainly would put more life into the
g9me for the boxman is seldom in the
hrmor for stick work after pitching at
top speed on a hot day. with the army OF
extra players sitting on the bench II would
please the fans TO see the pitcher relieved
IL he so wished and il would surely be
fair for all
Manager Collins says that four-fifths OF
thu batsmen hit to right field nowadays.