Norwich bulletin., 1910-02-22
RADICAL CHANGE IN SCORING.
Griffith Proposes to Call Any Out 2
 Sacrifice That Advances a Runner.

Griffith Proposes to Call Any Out .
 Sacrifice That Advances Runner.
 Manager Griffith of the Cincinnati gard to the scoring of sacrifice hits. | says the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 Under the present system, two kinds Of sacrifice hits are scored When a than two men out, deliberately bunts the ball with the intention of advanc- | ing the preceding runner, at the prob able cost of being thrown out at first nase himself. said batter is credited with sacrifice hit,swhich exempts him from a time at bat and therefore ben ef1ts his batting average. This is the regular sacrifice and always has been scored as such in recent years. Two years ago another kind of sacrifice hit was added to the list. When batter hits a long fly to the outf1eld, with a man on third base and less than two men out he is credited with sacrifice hit. provided that the runner is able to score from third after the catch. The idea is that a man who can bring in a valuable tally. at the cost of rbe- ing declared out himself, is entitled to the benefit of not being charged with a time at bat.
 This innovation was introduced into the rules at the request of Billy Mur- adelphia team. The theory was that 1t was scarcely fair to charge a player with time at bat when by his efforts a run which possibly might decide the game was scored. It was believed that the rule would be an incentive to the batter to try to drive out long hits to the outfield when there was a runner on third base. As a matter of fact, the rule has not worked any too well. No manager ever instructs a batter to go up to the plate and go out on a fly ball. What he says is something like this, when that situation arises: "Go on up there, Bill. and bring in the run" He hopes for a base Init and the batter does the same It is a rare thing for a batter to go to the bat with the deliberate intention of biting long fly. He tries for hit and the fly is usually the miscue of his efforts
 Blunt Sacrifice Always intentional.
 On the other hand, the bunt sacri- flee is always intentional Of courseyl the bunter goes to first base fast as he can and endeavors to beat out the hit, but his first idea is to advance the runner ahead of him. Before the in troduction of the sacrifice fly to the outfield the record of sacrifice hits meant something to the student of dope He could tell from the averages at a glance how proficient any player was in laying down hunts. With the sacrifice fly rule, however. the records are not so clear. For instance, Jimmy Sheckard of the Cubs led the National league in sacrifice hits last year. with ID to HIS SfcOlts WHICH WAS very many more than any other player in the league obtained Jimmy is a clever bunter. but he is also a long hitter. No one can tell from the figures just how many of his 46 sacrifice hits were bunts and how many were flies to the outf1eld. The value of the sacrifice hit column is deprecated by the introduc- ton of the long fly rule.
 All Sacrifices or None.
 Manager Griffith has given this point some thought and his idea is that either bunts only should count as sac rifice hits or that all fair balls which advance base runner at the expense of the batter being put out should be called sacrifice hits. That is, he either would go the whole hog or none He would return to the old way of scoring sacrifice hits. giving credit for one only when a player bunted or he would call everything that advanced a runner a sacrifice He contends that if long fly which scores a runner from third base is to be called a sacrifice, then a slow grounder which accomplishes the same result is just as much entitled to that credit Very often a runner is which bounds over the pitchers head and cannot be fielded in time to get the man at the plate, though the batter s thrown out at first. This kind of a hit does the club just as much good as long fly and is entitled to the same consideration. So, in Grifhth's opinion, is any kind of an out which enables a. preceding runner to advance a base, he scores or not. If runner is advanced from second to third on an out the batter should be entitled to a sacrifice hit, even if he did not bunt the ball. This. he argues, seems to be much fairer to the batter than to sin gle out one kind of an out and call it a sacrifice, to the exclusion of other kinds. which may be just as helpful to the team.
 
 Ball Players Would Like 1t.
 Most scorers will be in favor of go- ing back to the old rule that only bunts shall count as sacrifice hits, thus restoring the value of the sacrifice hit column But if the long fly sacrifice Is to be retained it looks as if Griffs idea Is a very fair one-namely, to count as sacrifices alI outs which advance a preceding base runner. This change would be welcomed bv all ball players, as it materially would increase the batting averages.
 Catcher kieinow Signs.
 New York. Feb. 21.-Catcher John K1einow signed with the New York American league club today and will start for Hot Springs tomorrow to get into condition.