The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-17
CHANCE TELLS
HOW TO CATCH

Frank L. Chance, manager of the
champion Cubs, was once catcher
himself, having joined the Chicago
team in 1898 in that capacity. and
therefore knows through personal ex-
perienee the qualities demanded of a
great backstop in championship race.
By Frank Chance.
Young catchers would do well to
study carefully the way the great
baekstops IN the game today handle
themselves, says Chance. ..Catehers
are, | believe, the hardest men to find
when you are going out after a really
great player, and more depends on
them than any single cog in the base
ball machine. 1t is easy enough to find
mechanical catchers. There are plenty
OF them both in and out of the big
leagues; the truly great ones can be
counted on the fingers of one hand.
Too many youngsters getting their
first tryout in the big league display
weaknesses that are almost impossible
to overcome. For instance, if man
is so built that he is afraid of getting
spiked by base runner coming in from
third, who is making a desperate effort
to score, and who is going to jump in
hard, feet first, there is no way to over
come the disposition to back up from
the plate to take the ball and attempt
to tag the runner as he slides by,
rather than block him off the rubber
md hn lNnn 1. i
many a game has been won and lost
on exactly this kind of a play, the
base-runner succeeding in eluding the
catcher, though the latter may have
had the ball in plenty of time to put
/ it on him. The demand, which is be-
coming more and more insistent, that
| the catcher stand directly in the path
of the base-runner and block him off
from the plate, is what has led to the
| use of shin guards to protect the back
stop from injury resulting from the
| spikes of the runner.
"There are many eatchers in the
| business with great throwing arms and
still they are not regarded as particu-
larly dangerous; certainly not as great
backstops. The chief reason is that
| they do not use the proper Judgment
in the use of this ability. Base runners
soon come to know how well any
catcher throws and what liberties can
| be taken with him, how big a lead can
| be taken off any base and whether the
catcher is likely to take chance on
| nipping him off second at critical mo-
ments. Great eatchers seldom throw
| to bases promiseuously. They go after
| base-runner only when he becomes too
bold and gets too far off the bag, max
i ing the play practically sure of sue
| cess. Base-runners soon come to fear
!, such man more than the one who is
continually heaving to the infelders.
| The catcher who is constantly throw
| ing to get base-rnnners stands Just that
much more chance of making bad and
costly throws than the one who is con-
sentative.
/ stThe greatest illustration of the
j value of the conservative throwing
catcher was in the fourth game of the
worlds series played in Detroit last
i fall between the Cubs and Tigers. The
fourth inning of that game was one of
/ the greatest, if not the greatest, ever
played on any ball field. We had lead
of two runs, the Tigers not having
l ScOTeu. 1Hdt inning " LedIy leu oi
| with a base hit over Tinker, and Craw-
ford shot another between short and
third. Cobb was up and the situation
was dangerous. Every one remembers
how Brown forced Cobb to bunt toward
third, forcing O'Leary out at that bag
Then came Kings great throw to Tin
ker at second, catching Crawford of
that bag and removing the possibility
of run for the American leaguers
should Claude Roussman hit safely
Those two plays-Cobb' hunt to Brown
and Kings throw catching Crawford
insured the second world IS cham
ship for the Cubs.
/ Outguessing a batter and knowing
in which direction foul ball is goine
are two things no catcher can ever bt
taught. There are certain general rules
about how to mix up curves, speed anc
slow balls to batter, but they are not
absolute, and it is up to the catcher K
figure out what it is the man with the
stick is looking for, and then cross him
There is where headwork counts, if /
J doesn't anywhere else. A catcher car
be taught the weakness of the bats
men, but he must possess this quality
as well or he is merely a mechanical
player The ability to know which wa,
to turn to go after a foul ball is In
1 nj ha4 M