Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-09-30
NOT ESSENTIAL
FOR HARD SLUCGERS
Strength Doesn't Count So
Much With Batter, as Some
of Best Are Small.

The average layman-the fan who Is
gnacquainted with the inner n outer
conditions of the game, but loves to see
t played-is of the natural opinion that
4 champion batsman. a slugger Of vast
and virile vigOr, must be a hercules,
the personifcation of muscled mascu-
inity. A heavy hitter, the man who
drives out the triples and the home
runs, so 1t would logically seem, should
pc Of gigantic sinew, able to perform
feats Of weight lifting and hammer
throwing, and a thin or weakly player
should not even be considered as a
oatting possibility.
And yet, strange as It nay seem,
some Of the burliest, huskiest, most
muscular ball tossers in h land are
puerile marks at bat, utterly unable to
get their anne in the elite circle Of
he 800 hitters, while others, slim and
almost girlish in their lack OF corded
5inews. are tremendous luggers. men
who stand near the top Of the batting
records year after year. Wherefore
such freakish defiance of the laws gov
srning natural strength and the sur
gival of the fittest? How on earth can
such things be?
Keen Eye Best.
A keen-sighted eye and a quick COM
mand Of movement are superior to all
he elephantine muscles that were ever
assembled on a burly frame. OF course,
when a hercules, such, for example, as
Hans Wagner, is also blessed with an
accurate eye and a lightning sweep or
arm, that mar becomes a batting king,
but there is nothing more ridiculous in
baseball than to see a player with the
strength Of Sandow making huge swipes
athwart the breeze while the ball goes
whizzing by, and finally walking pom
d~erously back to the bench without
even rolling out q grounder.
Old Players Were Strong.
Wagner is a big man and massively
strong. So were Arson, Conner, Brou-
theirs and many others of the noble
~slugging tribe. In these cases., how
ever, the sheer strength Of these giants
was guided and controlled by keen eyes
and natural judgment as to the loca-
ton of the ball.
In contrast to these bulky men was
Pete Browning, very tall, but with a
skinny, bony frame, not specially
strong In muscle. Pete Browning could
not nave held his WI against Arson
in a wrestling match for 40 seconds,
but he was Uncle's worthy batting
rival year after year. The old gladia-
tor could not only pick out the ball to
swing on and smash against II with
unerring judgment, but could so neatly
concentrate what power he had that
the longest sort Of drives went whir-
ring off his bat Just as Arson n the
other giant whales could bling them.
Little Fellow a Hitter.
While Keeler was a little bit of a
man, and not a specially strong one,
either. But his midget could chop
them out time after time, and when
be swung instead of bunting could
belt two-baggers as neatly as men so
pounds his weight superior.
The only Cobb, idol of the Tiger fans,
IS not a big man. He is of good stat
ure, but rather slender, with soft, long
muscles, not hard or corded ones. Cobb
s far inferior physically to Wagner or
La1oie, but how Ty Cobb can drive
that ball! The perfection of the eye,
he accuracy OF the swing, the concen-
ration Of the effort-these qualities,
united and tremendously brought into
play, make Cobb the champion bats
nan OF the American league, and make
iim the master OF the men who could
mop him all over the floor in a man-to-
nan encounter.
Great are muscles, and most pleasing
things to have. but the frail man who
wants to play baseball need not worry
Tor fear that his fragile frame will bar
aim from o For the eyes is
reener than the hand, and quickness OF
notion far surpasses bulky sinew. A
queer game Is baseball, and this per-
laps is one OF the oldest features of
he game.