Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-17
BALL THAT LOST
ITSELF IN A HOLE
Amusing Happening That Won
a Game for Chicago-0ther
Baseball Stories.
By Hugh s. Fullerton.


New York. Anson's men were playing the
Giants and the victory hung in the balance
until, in the ninth inning, with the score
even, Bill Lange faced Jouet Meekin and
rampsed a certain double to center. There
were two out and the crowd rose with q
yell Of delight when Lange smote the ball.
which rolled past Van Haltren.
That ball rolled on and finally disappeared.
Van Haltren was on top Of 1t. but instead
of picking it up, he suddenly threw himself
fiat on the ground. rammed his right arm
into the earth and commenced reaching
Lange, meantime. kept on. He turned sec
ond, raced on to third, gave a look outward,
and then sprinted for home, scoring the
winning run.
The ball had rolled into hole in the
ground from which a post had been .pul'ad
that morning and Van Haltren 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 Pennant.
Upon what small things the results OF
base ball depend can be guessed when 1t Is
known that Ascent sbucket 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 winning
than anything elsc.' - -, >
The facts are these: The Orioles were not
hitting. They could not find out why until
one day Willie Keller 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 lack of
relief in the color scheme of the grounds.
The bat boy was sent in a hurry for pot
of white paint and a patch of the fence in
center field exactly on line with the
pitchers box and the plate. was daubed
white. The paint made a difference of near
ly forty points per man in their 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 -sQme color that would assist
the team in its hitting.
Shadows Of the Polo Grounds
The color scheme in base ball Is more i'm
portant than the casual observer would
suppose. For instance. the Polo grounds is
one of the hardest grounds in the world for
an outfe1der. 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 after
noon. and the outfelders have great diff
Guilty. 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 hard time judg-
ing 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 relief against it. while to miti=
gate the effects of the shadow. sections of
the front Of the stand and even the bowl
ders on the hillside have been painted s"-9'
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 neces-
sary for the ball to rise against the relief
background, but 1t is necessary for the
players eye to be filled with the color. so
that when he looks at the ball 1t stands
out in relief against the color which still Is
imprinted on the retfna Of his eye.
Experimenting With Colors.
Experimenting one time with Bill Hutch
ison, the old Yale star and later one of
Anson's best pitchers, tried to see what
effect color had on the eye of the bat
ter. I tookonly three coiors-green, red
and white, and secured pieces of cardboard
of those colors. My theory was that the
player, if he looked steadily at the cards
before batting, would retain that color
scheme on the retina and either lose the
ball entirely or see 1t more WILDLY. Hutch
ison agreed to try the experiment in prac-
tice, and we went to work.
Bill would sit and gaze steadfastly at the
white card and then go to bat. Then he
would try the green. then the red. After
green was the only thing to use. Bill, who
naturally was a bad hitter, would look at
the green card for a minute and then swat
the ball all over the lot. Red improved his
l. L~sI
at white for time he could not see the
bali at all.
Everybody knows that green is restful to
the eyes and white is not. but the result OF
the test was surprising for all that.
We urged the theory on the other play
ers but alas for science. they scoffed at
us.
Later we tried painting the ball different
colors and using the colored cards. and dis
covered beyond a doubt that green is the
color to make men bat. The scientific prin-
ciple involved may not be understood by
the players, but in half Of the grounds in
the country there is big panel of fence
painted green. on line with the home
plate and the pitchers box
1 would like to experim mt now with
photo brown, shutting plsyer9 up In
room of that color and tn n sc lding them
out to bat. I'll wager II would improve
their hitting 20 per cent. :
Walter Thornton's Plan.
OH6 OF TIE DeSl HttfiS pItsheFS tudl ever
lived, Walter Thornton. WAC was driven
out of base ball because of the personal
dislike Of an official of the National League
to him. had a scheme which worked we'll
and which he claimed aided him in batting.
He simply sat and held his fingers tight
against his eyes for several minutes be-
fore going 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 every
treatment possible for his eyes to keep
them clear. Smoking a cigarette on the
bench was one of his ideas. and he carried
an eye wash with him which he poured
into his eyes just before going to bat.
Most of the chemes of players to keep
their "eyes in us they say, are ridiculous.
but there is no reason why lot of play
ers should not follow literally the advice
of the b.eacherites and "see an oculst."
Any good oculist can devise color scheme