Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-02-05
y q y
:: M :. Il II u u ). 5, :. ): . :. :, :. .:
SOME ODDS AND ENDS u
. OF BASEBALL GOSSIP /.
, II (. u (. II 81 81 q :, - II II u 81 II u

There was time not 80 long ago,
before the present style of scientific
baseball was developed, when the
first bascman was considered the
least important player in fielding
sense on a team. All that was ex-
pected of him was to cover first base,
catch thrown balls and slug opposing
pitchers. The catcher, too, was not
rated so very high in those days. SO
long as he was a stone wall backstop,
could nail base stealers and slug the
ball he was secure in his position.
Whether he had the brains to play
inside ball did not bother managers
much so long as he possessed the me-
chanical skill of backstopping,
throwing and hitting. How times
have changed! Now the catcher and
first baseman, barring, of course, the
pitcher, have nearly all the work to
do in the field; they play the game
and must do most of the thinking
and scheming for their side. The
catcher in particular must play the
thinking part nowadays; brainy
catcher makes team play winning
hall, or rather, no team is winner
in modern baseball that doesn't have
Il heady ccatcher. Then, next to
him, the first baseman has the most
mechanical work and the most think
Inc TN 1n NJ, Inn 10 Eru hngn N
easiest position to play; 1t is now
next to catching and pitching the
hardest to fill As Bob Unglaub, the
Boston American League first sack
err, was gusted as saying a short time
ago;-"Time was when an old catch.
er with his wing gone could play first
base and get away with the Job, but
that's not so now. 1t takes real ball
player who has everything that any
other member of the club has, and
then some, to make good in the big
league. Jiggs Donohue, Harry Davis,
Hal Chase, and so on. They are all
high-class ball players. tell you
that the old style of first baseman,
slow on his feet, unable to throw to
third on anything like a line, and a
miserable fielder of hunts and fast
grounders, couldn't hold a job in base
| ball today. Rossman is a good first
baseman too. He Is only young fel
ence and years, but so far as | know,
the only weakness he had was on
| slow-hit grounders. He can hit, and
his work in the Worlds Series showed
his class and courage. II takes a LOT
| of quick thinking by n first sacker
when the ball is coming to him from
an infelder like a shot and. a fellow
all covered with spikes is tearing
down to the bag. If the ball Is thrown
in toward the runner fellow has got
to get busy. If he has time he can
go across the bag and take 1t on fou
ground with his right foot on the bag
but II he hasn't time, then there's
| trouble. He's got to reach out right
against the runners body and hook
the ball with his mitt in one hand and
then tin can out of the way. II he
leans over toward the runner for q
low one, with the intention of getting
1t with both hands, then look out for
trouble. The chances are that the
runners knees will give him a dead
ening jolt in the head. In one of the
Chicago games | had that kind Of a
play on CULLEN. His knee hit me full
in the mouth and knocked me cold
For week the muscles of my neck
hurt me as though | had tonsilitis
It's a wonder he didn't break my neck
One Of the hardest balls to catch com
ing from a fielder is one that comes
just waist high. If fellow tries ia
reach down for it, the ball lands on
the heel of his glove and bounds out