Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1910-07-26
BASE STEALING
DECLINING? YES
High Development Of Team
Work Partly Responsible
For The Change
OLD TIMERS STOLE
EN- BY HUNDREDS

A good deal has been written of late
with regard TO the decline of base
stealing, several reasons being offered
for the present absence Of big records
OF former years. The cause of the
lack Of present records as of yore is
especially puzzling in view of the
number of fast men playing to-day
men like Cobb, Collins, Wagner.
Speaker, Bush. Bescher, and others
Among causes to which the decline is
attributed are improvement Of team
play, development of the hit-and-run
play, the big catcher's mitt and
changes in the scoring rules. A writ
er in The ST Louis Globe Dispatch
discusses the question at length as
follows
The decline of base-stealing in
baseball has been much bemoaned
Base-running has been described as a
rapidly vanishing art and all that
That ball players nowadays don't
steal as many bases as they used 70
twenty years ago is a plain, bald fact
but that doesn't necessarily mean that
baserunning has suffered TO the Diet
riment of the game On the contrary.
baseball is a more scientific and in
more bases were stolen The high
development or team work-which is
one reason why so many bases aren't
stolen-the hit-and-run play. for in
stance, has improved the game as 4
game, even If doing away with some
individuality and initiative by indi-
viual players on the bases
Base runners are as fast as they
inc
them, and they run with just as good
Judgment
Scoring Rules More Strict.
Aside from the subordination of the
individual 10 the team, there are ex-
cellent reasons why fewer bases are
stolen in the present era Of the ma
tional game For one thing, there is
q big difference in the way stolen
bases are scored Once upon a time
all a player had 10 do was TO start for
the next base with the pitch and he
got credit for a steal-if he got there
no matter what happen to the pitched
/ ball. If the ball was hit he got his
! steal just the same. The present rule,
Z prohibit crediting q man with stea
| If he gets TO the next base aided bv Z
batted bal, and that in itself makes
! difference.
But q more potent influence in "a
ducing the number of stolen bases and
one often overlooked in discussinf
the question. is the advent of the bis
| catcher's mitt Prior TO 1890 there
we're many more stolen bases thar
later The big mitt began 10 be usec
/ first in 1899, but was not generally
/ adopted until later Arthur Irwin wa,
the man who originated it, and his
first experiment consisted of puttins
a single piece of leather over the
palm Of an ordinary felder's glove
Out Of this grew the present bis
| glove irwin experimental with hi.
glove through the medium of Ton
DAILY then with Washington, and PA
/ Murphy. then with the Giants anC
now a policeman in Worcester.
And what difference did the big nit
make on base stealing? Just this I
saves valuable time to the catcher II
getting his throw away When catch
ers used the small fingered GLOW,
a pitch. The yield Of the hands L
swiftly pitched balls meant that jus
so much time was lost in launching
the throw. And there were NOR,
passed balls then But with the huge
thick padded glove there is practical
no give. The big cushion held on
in front serves as a pocket in which
the pitched ball stops dead and thu
catcher simply picks out the ball will
his other hand and makes the throw
The fraction of time thus saved ha:
been the main reason why base steal