The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-19
WHY PITCHERS
CAN'T HIT BALI
Addie loss Gives Reasons FOL
Poor Batting Done by
Average TWirIer.

One of the oft-repeated question:
that arise in all baseball discussion
is: why can't pitchers hit?"
This problem is one THAI the sbt
dents of the game have been wrestling
with for a good many years, am
while there have been many reason.
given. still no one has even been abl
to make il exactly clear Addie joss
the Cleveland pitcher, has made an eff
fort to explain. He says.
of course. the rule doesn't hols
good in all cases. as there are nun
Der of twirlers who can pound m
leather about as hard as the nen who
are in the game every day. but thesi
cases are few and far between. After
seeing such men as Kiilan, Orth. Tan
nehill and Muliin of the American
league, who are rafting good stiekers
at the bat, one wonders why il is TIA
the other men who make pitching al
art don't hit harder thaa they do
nevertheless. ,he fact remains the
same that. as rue, the pitcher
doesn't break up many games with the
stick
ITO one who has never been cor.
nected with the game, from the stand
point of the player, it would seen
that he Of all the rest of the players
should be able to hit Being a twirl-
er himself, il is contended that h
should be able to know about whai
the opposing pitcher was going tc
pitch, and being aware of this, should
be able TO hit it a mile. But there is
where the fallacy in the reasoning be
gins. All pitchers don't think alike
By that l mean that what may be ona
batter's weakness with d certain lwiri-
er might be just what the batter can't
hit when served by anothek twirler-
Has Two Good Reasons.
The best two reasons that L lEow
from actual experience, as the official
batting averages will show at the close
Of each season. are these.
a pitcher when working on an
average Of about two games a week.
don't get TO bat often enough to make
himself familiar with the art of meet
ing the ball. which is the secret of
good hitting.
"A pitcher who is i'm the game about
twice d week will, in the course Of
that time 90 to bat about seven times.
while the player who is in the game
every day viii face the barrier about
twenty-five times. This fact alone
means quite a little TO the man who
expects TO hit with any degree of con-
sistency.
Another good theory advanced. and
one that seems reasonable, is the one
that, while the twirler is on the slab
serving up the Blenders 10 the Opposi-
ton, he is watching the ball as it goes
from him, but when at the bat the
conditions are reversed and he has TO
look at the ball as it is coming to-
ward him.
Any trapshOoter will tell you that
the hardest way to break d clay pigeon
is when it is coming directly toward
you, and the same theory holds good
as regards batting.
pitchers, as a rule. next to winning
a game, would rather make a base hit
than anything else. and their lack Of
hitting ability is not caused by the
fact thaC they don't practice
TO show how much they like To hit
] only have to say that I overheard
one major league pitcher make the re-
mark that there were only two pleas
ures in the game for him-7ne was hit
ting in practice and the game. ana the
other pay day"