Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-03
LUCK 4 BIG FACTOR
IN BASE BALL
Pitcher Joss Tells Many Inter
esting Incidents of Games
Won by Spectacular
Plays.


| the game Is to a team that wins games
| and pennants, says Pitcher Joss in the
| Toledo Times-Bee.
| AS prominent base ball man as Jim
McAleer. manager Of the st. Louis Browns,
| Is authority for the statement that 60 per
cent Of the game Is luck.
While McAfeer's estimate may be q trtfie
| far fetched. it is safe to say that at least
one-third OF the games won or lost by q
team during seasons play are determined
by some prank Of Dame Fortune.
i Many great player has discovered his
calling as pitcher, infielder or outfelder
! through a lucky beginning
For instance, Bob Wallace, the great
shortstop. who has been doing such won
derful work for the Browns, was originally
| q pitcher in Cleveland in the days Of Pat
Tebeau. Cupid" Childs. Ed Mexican, Jesse
Burkett and the rest OF that wonderful
team.
How Wallace Found Himself.
Chip McGarr. who was the teams regu-
lar third baseman. was injured one day
and Tebeau sent Bob in to play the bag,
| with the result that he never was asked
to pitch again and is now considered one
of the greatest infielders the game has
ever produced.
Anothtr case is that Of Weldon Henley
who piicEed such great bali for Connie
Mack's Athletics a few seasons ago.
Weldon Is a native of Georgia and was q
student ct the Georgia School OF Technol-
oSy, wIcle he received his base ball train
ing as the clubs first baseman
1t was during a practice game that he
was pressed into service as pitcher and
WIKI remarkable success, striking out six.
teen Of the opposing team
The varsity had scheduled game with
~ 1T,
SOUTH that spring, and when the day for
the Zig game arrived 1t was discovered
Techs regular pitcher could not take part
In the contest and that the only man who
coufa was Henley. Cornell was shut
out to D and Henley's mark as a pitcher
was made. 1t was not long before Weldon
was doing great work in the American
League.
When Luck Played a Hand.
A remarkable instance showing how luck
Will break on the field was experienced by
Cleveland at Philadelphia one day in 1904
Moore and Waddell were the opposing
twlriers At the beginning of the twelfth
inning the score was l to 1. In this inning
we mad men on second and third, with one
man out. Bay, who was the next batter
hit an easy grounder to Murphy, who gath
cred the ball clean and made the throw
| home to catch the runner scoring from
third. AAo-'
AS Bay dashed for first he dropped his
bat In front of the plate. Murphys throw.
although low, appeared to have the ba Sc
runner beaten easily
Just as Schreck reached to catch the ball
1t struck Bays bat and bounded Off to one
side so far that by the time Scnreck recov-
cred it both runners had crossed the plate
and Bay was on second.
AS "Rube" struck out the next two men
1t can be seen how important a part luck
played in winning that game.
Things Which Change Games.
Many times such small things as pebbles.
sticks or small holes will cause an inf1elder
or outfelder to miss play that will lose a
game for his club.
In series the Cleveland club was play-
ing at Baltimore in 1902 an instance of this
sort occurred. 1t was the ninth inning of
one of the games and we had the Orioles
beaten by one run, apparently. They had
man on second and two out when the
batter hit one right at Gochnaur, our short
stop.
''Goch'' played the ball all right. but Just
as he was about to pick it up and retire
the runner at first it struck some small
object presumably a pebble. and took an
awkward. high bound out of his reach
OF course, the man on second scored and
eventually they beat us.
Gochnaur was the victim Of another cir
cumstance that robbed us Of a game one
day the following season. 1t was when
Hickman was playing first base for Cleve-
land
Hit the Bag.
Charley had been complaining for a long
| time about the bag at first being worn
| out and so small that whenever he had a
close play to make 1t was hard to find it.
so Manager Armour had the ground keeper
! put on a set of new bases. When the bags
are new they are about three or four inches
| thick, hard and solid.
Along about the seventh or eighth in
ming we were one run to the bad and had
! men second and third, with two out and
| "Goch'' at bat. About the second or third
ball pitched he hit with an awful jolt and
sent it down the right field foul line 1t
| looked like sure two-base hit and we had
those two runs counted.
Of course. the minute "Goch" hit the ball
Harry Davis. who was playing first for
| the visitors, started toward the foul line,
| bat with no expectation of getting the ball
Well what do you suppose happened?
! The ball hit that new bag at first and
bounded straight into the hands Of Davis,
who stepped the bag and put out the
runner.
AS the score remained the same this play
finally lost us the game.
Luck in Tight Places.
Another remarkable instance showing the
important part luck plays in close games