The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1910-07-28
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The Cubs worked a variation of the
same play with great success one
season until Evers was sent TO hos
pital by II. The play was planned to
kill the sacrifice bunt. With run
ner on first base, and the intent of
che batter to sacrifice self-evident.
the pitcher curved the ball far outside
the plate. Chance would desert his
position and dash forward as II to
feld the bunt. giving the base runner
freedom to move away from the base.
Evers than came at top speed behind
the unsuspecting runner and King
threw to flrst base. Evers taking the
ball and catching the runner. The play
proved effective until one of Kings
throws went wild Evers attempted
TO block the ball. aud Blankenship Of
Cincinnati, who was the runner, col.
lided with Evers and sent him to hos.
pital for six weeks.
There always has been much argu-
ment and contention regarding the rel.
ative abilities Of the great catchers.
The best authorities agree that Mike
Kelly, Buck Ewing and John Killing
were the best of their respective eras,
but conditions have changed so much
comparisons between them are impos-
sible Ewing and King we're men Of
much the same type-quiet, cool and
calculating; Kelly was different, being
a volatile, brainy, inventive Irishman.
How much Chicago's wonderful infield
helped in making King a great catch
er is hard to calculate. One eastern
catcher remarked:
'T would catch for half the salary
I am getting If l had that infield to
throw TO and work with"
King is a past master Of the art OF
working umpires on balls and strikes,
which is one of the duties of catch.
er that is not suspected by the spec
tators. Kings method was to be
friendly with all umpires, siding with
them, telling them they were right,
and frequently whispering to them to
be on the guard for a certain curve
that was coming. He urged them not
to pay attention to other players, and
while never openly criticizing umpires,
he occasionally whispered that he
thought the ball might have been over
the corner.
Roger Bresnahan, one Of the great.
est of catchers, works on exactly OPP
posite lines. He seldom says much to
an umpire (that anyone save the UNI
pire can hear), but he invites the
crowd to sympathize with him against
the Official by looking panied and
grieved When an umpire calls a ball
which Bresnahan thinks was a strike,
spectators have the impression that
Bresnahan has just lost his dearest
friend. He can assume a look of out.
ragged, grieved and hurt surprise that
would win a fortune for him on the
stage. Even the batter who knows
that the ball was a foot outside the
Bresnahan's look Of woe. Louis Cri
ger, another marvellous catcher, adopts
another method. He talks all the time
he is catching, forcibly expressing his
opinion of the umpire on every bal
and strike, and he keeps up running
fire OF argument and criticism. The
long suffering umpires have grown Sc
accustomed to him that they merely
allow him to rave. Red" Doom, the
hardest working and one Of the bes
catchers In either league, always talks
smiles, and fights at the same time. HI
is In deadly earnest and when he doei
quarrel with an umpire 1t is not for ef