Arizona republican., 1910-07-09

The superstitions of players re- garding their batting are more nu- merOus than the players themselves ''
 writes Hugh Fullerton in the Ameri-
 can Magazine. Each has d different
 mascot or a system of bringing luck. 1 To an outsider these superstitions would furnish a constant laugh.
 The Chicago Cubs have d red headed youth on ray whose duty it is to spit on the end of each bat as the batter goes to the plate. to bring him luck. Jimmy Sheckard sticks his
 chewing gum on certain lucky spot ! on top of his cap when he needs a hit badly.
 Roy Thomas always walks back of | the umpire, almost around him. be- fore he takes his place at the plate. Roger Connor, one of the great hit ters of the game. took his favorite
 bat to bed with him, and oiled and polished his substitute bats every night and hung them from the win dow of his room.
 Jimmy Ryan had to have bat with a red band and three wormholes in it. and spent days searching stores for bats with just three wormholes. He discovered one in a little-stOre in
 Boston once and hit three home runs over the left field fence with it that same afternoon
 Chance thinks he cannot make a hit if he looks at the score board at any time during the game. and even during exciting races, when as much depends upon the outcome of games
 being played by rival teams as upon the result of the one he is playing he will not glance toward the board or allow any one to tell him the score.
 "DaVy Jones must walk to third
 base and touch it with the toe of his right foot when coming from the out field to bat. If Frank Shulte finds a hairpin on the street he is certain to make two base hit, he thinks. If his sister is in the stands he makes home run. She has seen him play only five games in his career and he has made d home run in each.
 Certain bats possessed by players or teams are regarded as almost sa- cred. Not infrequently players think that if they lend a favorite bat every base hit made by others reduces the number of hits in it. If general slump in hitting overtakes q team it is common for them to discard all the bats at once. store them away and order new supply
 Most of the players have their special models balanced exactly to suit their hand grip and their style of hitting. player may have a dozen turned exactly to the same size and weight, of the same wood, grain and all, yet within short time he will discard eleven and cling to one-at least until it fails him
 If one man has a streak of sue cessful hitting with a certain bat his friends on the team importune him to allow them to use it in critical stages of the game. I have seen a player going to bat in pinch with half d dozen of his fellows. wild to win, urging the merits of their bats upon him, each guaranteeing d hit if he will but use that one
 Famous batters often present or sell their bats to admirers in the pro- fession and Wagner and Lajoie would be compelled to start bat factories to supply the demands made upon them for clubs. Ed Delehanty. who had no superstitions regarding his bats. sold large numbers to players in different leagues after he had used them. All he wanted was plenty of wood, and the shape did not bother him
 When batter faces the pitcher a