The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-06-05

Was Made Powerless by the Crafty
5altimores Fears Aso--DlHerent In.
flelders Want Their Territory Either
Hard or Soft According to Their
Particular style.
That the baseball parks OF the couB
try are today much more conducive
to fast baseball than the green's whers
! our foreiathers swatted and sweateA
and swore is admitted by all. Ground
! keeper Tom Murphy said the other
day that when he was the keeper of
| Union Park ball yard In Baltlmors in
1894, the Oriole manager used to re.
gard the art of regulating the grounds
to suit the players as one of the most
| important features of the national
| sport.
! When the New York club was fight.
| Ing the Orioles for the National league
! pennant and every game counted dear,
the Baltimore bunch learned that the
Giants were going to pitch Rusie,
fast twirler, who always wanted a
high hurting hill. Murphy cut down
the mound and scooped out the pitch.
er's box before the game, Hanlon put
In slabman with slow ball, which
was generally batted to one of the
felders, and Rusie was powerless to
field the bunts which the Orioles laid
down. On another occasion the first
and third base foul lines were slightly
raised and the paths graded in such an
angle that 1t was impossible for a
bunt to roll out and become foul.
The Orioles had q promising lot of
buntsmen. but the Louisville club
was weak in this line, and that was
why It was done. Needless to say,
Willie Keeler and Johnny McGraw,
later known as Muggsy, were candy
kids with the short stick, and the
Louisville third baseman was called
to the bench by his manager. Jimmy
Collins being brought In from right
field to take the sack and try 70 field
some OF those awful lobs which the
runners had been beating out. This
was Collins first work in the infield,
and he never left II afterwards.
Some parts Of diamond are kept
hard and some are literally supplied
with sand and are soft. IL all depends
on the nature of the batters Of the
team that is to Tie up with the home
boys, and the big league groundsmen
have a complete tab on every man in
their league as to hitting and particu.
lar style of fielding. Many infielders
delight for the ball to come to them on
| the briskest sort OF u bound, while
| others enjoy scooping them out of the
sand, and hate the risk of mlsjndg-
ment in catching up bounder. The
man with the hoe" knows this and
finds out the innermost longings of
players soul. II he is like creased
| lightning In his movements the intield-
er will tell the groundsman to give
him a macadam finish for his terri.
tory. but If his think tank works slow
ly he will want 1t softly, please.
II any one of the contrasts in the
ring is to be especially commented
upon at present, 1t is the difference
in financial status prevailing among
| some OF the men who are on the cen
ter OF the stage just at present and
that existing few years ago. Take
Abe Attell, for instance. When he won
from George Dixon in the fan OF 1901
ne had just been brought from the
west by Jack McKenna. Attell had
made quite reputation, in a mild
way, by fighting a couple of draws
with Dixon, but no manager had come
forward to claim him. McKenna picked
He had found Abe hanging around
! Young Corbetts training quarters in
, Denver. Abe fought Harry Forbes
! once and Broad couple of times in
st. Louis, and then went on with Ben
| ny Yanger. This was the biggest
house he had battled before in his
| career, the receipts being more than
| $4,000. Yanger got the verdict, the
! police stopping the fight in the nine
| teenth. Out OF the amount won At
tell received exactly SIS. To-day Abe
is able TO draw down $500 for six
round go in Philadelphia, and is credit
ed with making money rapidly. Mike
Schreck, who can now command a
fair-sized sum In any battle, fought
one of the hardest scraps OF his career
In January, 1902, at st. Louis, with
Hugo Kelly. The fight went i5 rounds
and there was total Of $1,000 in the
house The fighters divided $4O0
In their next go they drew $4,000 To-
day the same fight would draw more
than that many thousands on the
coast The same evening that Jack
Sullivan was knocked out his brother
Mike, now mentioned as candidate
for the welterweight championship,
won preliminary. He received the
magnificent sum OF $50 for his share.