Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-07-04
PLAYERS SHINE X
AS I'ARO('WlEt.RS'
MAJORITY OF PRESENT DAY DlA-
MoND STARS SHOOT BALL
WITH UNERRlNG AIM.
Is PULLING TO FOREIGNERS.
Instances Which Show What Some Of
the Big Leaguers Can Do in This
Line-RemaH<abIe Feat Of Herman
Long-Low Throws Faster Than
High Ground House" Ones.

One thing about baseball that as
tonishes foreigners more than any
| thing else is the remarkable accuracy
of the throwing. This is especially
true of those who have played cricket.
The batting and the catching and
stopping of balls is not nearly so I'M
pressive to them as the way the play
ers shoot the ball around the diamond
with the unerring aim of rifle shot.
The reason for this is probably be-
cause the foreigners can not get the
knack of throwing down as the Ameri-
cans do. An incident at Philadelphia
park few years ago will illustrate
what baseball player can do in the
throwing line.
One afternoon the Phillies were
playing the Boston Team. BILLY"
Hamilton was in center field for Bos-
ton and Herman Long was at short
stop. During the game there came a
cry from Hamilton, who was seen ex-
citedly pointing to an object which
was dashing across the ground to-
ward the flagpole in deep center field.
The scooting object was a rat. Long
was standing in his position at short
stop with the ball in his hand. Her
man heard Hamilton's cry, wheeled
around, took one glance at the rat
running across the field, gagged the
direction of its flight without the loss
of second and let the ball 60. The
ball hit the rat and there was one less
rodent in the world
Longs throw was fully 200 feet, but
he hit the flying animal as If it was a
stationary object. No sportsman ever
wing than Long did that afternoon.
When it is considered that shortstops
usually throw at a man standing on
base, Longs judgment in gauging
just how far ahead of the animal he
was to throw in order to make the
kill was really wonderful.
Throwing at an object in the air is
one of the hardest feats, for looking
up at the sky when taking aim is
much harder than when a player has
the grandstand or the bleachers for a
background. Last spring Jim Della
hanty gave an exhibition of clever
throwing at Columbia park, in Phila-
delphia.
A foul ball wedged into the screen
on top of the grandstand over the
visiting players bench. Delahanty
picked up an old ball and threw it
against the screen, missing the object
aimed at by yard. This one test,
though, was enough for him to get
the gauge. On the second attemDt
Delahanty let the ball 60 with all his
might, and it not only struck the i'm
prisoned 'horsehide," but also landed
with such force that the latter was
driven clean through the screen. =. ::
=, One thing about the throwing in
baseball that foreigners can't under
stand is why the players, In getting
the ball to the plate from the outfleld,
almost invariably throw it low and
make it strike the ground yard or
20 in front of the plate. The baseball
players claim that ball thrown on
the line and made to Shoot on the
ground will reach the catcher quicker
that ball thrown to him on the fly.
!, Some years ago there was dispo-
sition to dispute this theory, but the
general practice of the strong-arm
players in making the bali Shoot" of
the ground proves that they believe
their idea is correct. Round house,"
throws, those .loop-the-loop~ affairs
which weak.armed outhelders have to
resort to, seldom catch base runner,
while the low, ground humping throws
do in almost every game. ~ !