Evening star., 1908-12-20
UMPIRE EVANS
ON SUPERSTITION
Billy Gives Away the Little
FoibIes of Ball Players.
By Umpire Billy Evans.

By Umpire Billy EVANS.
or all professidns. that of the base ball
player is the most superstitious.
The superstition is not confined to major
or minor leagues alone, but can be traced
from the highest class to the lowiy ANA
teur.
OF course there are many superstitlons
in common, yet most of the players nave
net ideas OF their own on which tney
place much reliance. The date or origin
of many Of the superstitions is deep
dark mystery, but most OF them oate
back 10 the debut OF Jake Bechley as a
PLAYER, and they do say Jake invented
the game.
There is certainly nothing out or the
ordinary to be seen in load OF nay, YET
most players welcome the sisnt OF one
during the playing season In the oic-
tionary of base ball a load or nay Sig
mites TWO hits that afternoon for the dis-
coverer, and history tells us there Is noth-
ing dearer to a players heart than Dase
hts, while a brace OF bingies is JOY su-
preme. 49,.
mown hay was producer .! paae s ~ n..s -
a more difficult problem than the age OF
Ann. While it's supposed strange magic
often fairs, still the players retain 1a!eh
in II. On the other hand, the sisnt or
load Of empty barrels is always dreaded,
for to some IL means smut out' ~ oIAAoiS
merely defeat.
These are but very few OF the many
s;persttions In common. The ODD OeIleIs
of many OF the star players are OF even
greater interest.
\
Perhaps no one is greater believer
in shaking up the bats when a rally IS
on than Pitcher Heinie Berger OF the
Maps. Ordinarily q team keeps its bats
lined up in front of the bench in fairy
tidy manner. According to Heinie's code
that is all we'll and good when everything
is moving along smoothly, but when
rally appears to be in the air the proper
way to encourage it, according to Berger.
is TO scatter the bats in every direction.
One day last summer during an impor-
tant game at Philadelphia the Athletics
first two innings. When they added an
other in the third it certainly looked as II
things were all off as far as Cleveland
was concerned. Until the seventh inning
the Maps bench was not unlike funeraIi
Two runs In the seventh stirred up a HI
tie hope and caused Heinie to heave few
big sticks in different directions. His
actions caused Umpire Jack Sheridan 10
offer a mild rebuke and incidentally warn
Heinie that he wanted nothing but silence
very small portion OF that.
In the eighth. after the Maps had made
two runs, had two men on bases ana
needed only two runs to tie. Heinie pro-
ceeded to scatter the two dozen or more
bats IN all directions. That was too
much for the veteran, Sheridan, and after
he had made Berger replace all the bats
back in a straight line he tied can on
the Teuton and chased him from the lot
Berger viewed the remainder OF the
%ni IN
out completely the edict of the umpire.
When the Maps scored the two men on the
sacks and tied up the game, he was hap
ny. Heine was confident that the bat
superstition had aided in the victory that
he was sure would result. now that the
score had been tied. When the Athletics
scored run In the eighth that proved to
he the winner his confidence in the theory
was not shaken In the least. He blamed
the defeat on Jack Sheridan, claiming
that just as soon as the umpire elected
him from the game the spell was broken.
KS
Few pitchers have anything on Bill
Donovan of Detroit. yet so great a
twirler as "wild Bill has his favorite
hobby. After his first game Bill is con-
tent to win by any old score, but the
Tiger star would really prefer defeat on
shut out route.
It all seems rather foolish. yet I have
worked back OF Donovan on two such
occasions and have every reason to be-
opponents to score. In one Of the games
Detroit had the affair cinched to in
the eighth With one down and man
I. on second Charley Hickman stepped to the
plate. A straight fast one IS the most
delicious kind Of dessert for Charley, al
though he likes almost any old thing in
the shape Of curves or slants.
There is no more strategic pitcher in
the league than Donovan. yet he started
off the reel to hand them up to Hicks
liking. After fouling off three. Hick met
a fast one on the nose and was blowing
hard at third by the time the ball was
relayed back to the infeld. He scored
a moment later. but Detroit took the
much despised shut out. BY the way
that year was the most successful Of
Donovan's career. and of course merely
served to strengthen his belief
X
Few players compare with the southern
wonder Ty Cobb. as believer in things
superstitious. Ty has at least three pet
theories in which he INDUCES in every
game. Often he gets his roastings for SO
performing. but 1t doesn't appear to both
or the dashing Georgian in the least. He
was a believer in them when he entered
TIE big league and evidently he has no
Intention OF passing them up simply be-
cause they do not meet with the favor Of
some of the fans. No doubt there are
plenty of players who would be willing to
cultivate dozen superstitions like Ty's
If they could but meet with his success.
When Cobb walks from the bench to
the plate he swings at least three bats,
and often as many as four. Many play
els swing two bats. so as to make the
;cgular stick feel lighter when they face
he pitcher. but Cobb always goes them
one or two better. Ty says he has a
different reason from any other PLAYER,
hut refuses to divulge 1t. 1t is not un-
COMMON after he has struck out or popped
up an easy fly for some fan to tell him
tnat ne might have made better showing
II lie had used all three sticks. but Ty
cares not.
Another pet theory of Cobb's is the
position of the broom used by the um-
pire to dust of the plate. Because II
Is much more convenient most umpires
keep the dust broom to the left of the
plate. ! happened to be umpiring, the
nrst major league game Cobb ever played.
When he came to bat noticed he kicked
the broom over to the right Of the plate.
lie fouled of the first ball to left field,