Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-03
COLLEGE BASE BALL FAULTS
Weaknesses Exist Chiefly in the Of
tense.
SLOW TO GRASP SITUATIONS
Big hat Twice as well and
Run Bases Three Times as well
-Inexperience the Main
Handicap.

Base ball as played by college students
suffers much in comparison with the same
game as played by professionals. Anybody
who has followed professional and college
base ball closely must have marked the wide
difference in quality between the two
that is. taking the best college base ball
and the best professional base ball as ex-
pounded by the teams of the big leagues.
It isn't that the college players are lacking
In intelligence as applied to the national
game. The reason for the difference is
that base ball is business with one, a
side issue with the other.
Rating the playing of the major league
teams at 100 per cent and the college game
would be IS per cent in fielding, 80 per
cent in batting, 60 per cent in pitching and
1914 per cent in base running. The college
fielding is within a quarter as good as
the big league fielding. but the batting is
only one-hslf as good and the base rum
niEg only one-third as good. In short, the
college game Is weaker in batting and base
running than in fielding and pitching. The
college player knows less of the inside
game, the offence Of base ball, than he
does OF defence as compared to the best
professional.
These figures are the estimation of David
Fultz, than whom nobody is better quail
fled to express an opinion on the subject.
Fultz was a first class college player. a
first class professional player and has had
success as a coach. Therefore he has had
opportunities to acquire knowledge of the
professional and college game from all
angles.
What Fults Says.
with the college man. he says, base
ball is more of a conscious effort. The
professional, on the other hand, does the
same things by intuition, though an in
tuition horn of experience. Long training
along certain lines makes the game second
nature to him."
Does the professional play the game
more intelligently than the college mann"
H does insofar as it is a business
with him. His life is given up to 1t, is
spent with men who are the peers in that
calling. He comes in daily contact with
the most advanced base ball that is played,
ard he becomes capable of doing things
that the college man knows about. but
hasn't the ability to perform; for instance.
the squeeze play and the hit and run play.
But why haven't the college men the
ability to perform these plays?'
Want Of opportunity. The college man
plays base ball about two months and a
half in the year and then meets an oppon-
ent about twice q week. Moreover, the
teams that his team meets are as a rule
OF the same base ball grade as his own.
And when 1t comes to learning the weak
and strong points Of his opponents play
and making the most OF them, you must
remember that that he goes against a
particular pponent not more than three
times in the season at the most. The pro-
fessional has the advantage OF playing
against the same teams for six months at
a stretch"
In answer to a question whether the coll
legian had the natural mental ability Of
the professional, needing only the expert
ence to bring it out, Fultz said:
Yes. his mental callber is such that
with the same experience and the same
physical ability he would make a better
player as soon as he overcame a certain
nervousness In executing the game, grew
accustomed to the excitement and the sur
~roundings.
College Base Running Poor.
college base running is a good way
behind the professional game continued
Fultz, and it is an idea of mine that It Is
further behind than 1t should be. I've
seen college teams that never attempted
to do anything in base running, seen them
stand still on the bases when the opposing
catcher was weak in throwing and the
opposing pitcher didn't know how to hold
them close to the bases. Again, the oppos-
ing basemen didn't know how to touch
touch a man sliding to a base. The chances
consequently were all in favor Of the base
runner, yet he made no effort to take ad-
vantage OF the percentage In his favor.
The college player runs fast enough. but
he is slower than the prof ssional in getting
a lead and doesn't slide as skilfully.
81 know that when I was in college I
never attempted to steal as l should have
done, though I always could run fast and
slide we'll" (Fuitz was one of the best
sliders professional base ball ever had"
81 didn't realizs until later that many a
time in college games l could have tried