The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-17
All rights reserved.

| teconu pase, Tinker met IL at top speed, |
souched Crawford three feet from the
pase and standing still, and Detroit was
beaten and IN panic. An instant later, |
as hossman struck out. King threw 10
| second, and Evers. leapinp stuck M ono |
hand, dragged down the ball, and while |
descending touched Cobb as he slid The !
big. crowd, frenzied over the brilliant
series OF plays, and only half under
standing them, cheered for five minutes
= fcw years ago n play suggested by
reporter came near beating the Chi |
cago Nmte Stockings out of tho Amcr-
can league pennant. - Dutch Schaefcr.
WIN several other PLAYERS and the re-
IN Chicago talking shop as usual, |
ana the scribe WAS lamenting The |
lhck OF 1nvcntIrcness and ingenuity in !!
inc later generations of ball players. |
ny, he said, TO clinch the argu- !
fnent, today three of you fellows lei
Aitrock sneak strikes over on you
After he had done il once why didn z |
2 batter walk up to the plate. pretend
not TO he watching, and when he tried |
the lot -
Al that time Chicago was fighting
game counted, 1t looked as if one de |
feat would mean the loss of the
championship. The next afternoon, IN
the ninth inning. with the score l 10 o |
IN favor of Chicago, Shacfer, who had
been crippled, was sent TO bat. As he
came slouehlne up to the plate, carry
ing his bat in his left hand and pre-
tending not to be watching the pitcher !
at all. the reporter hastily regretted the
argument of the previous evening. |
Shaefer actually turned his head away, |
and '' Doc White, thinking he saw an
opening. drove fast, straight ball over
the plate. Schaefcr walked up mauled |
that ball clear into the left field bleach
ers, drove home runner ahead OF
HIM and beat Chicago TO / The news
paper man didn t dare tell Comiskey
about that argument until the pcnnant
WAS won
Each winter The magnates" meet
and solemnly make rules for baseball, |
amend old ones, and all summer every
ball player in the business spends hours
of time and thought to see how he
can beat the rules, to discover some way
to gain an extra base, or some slight |
advantage over their opponents. Show
ing how deeply some of them study The
rules, and how to get around them, is
play devised by Eyers.
There is a rule that base runner
may advance on the bases after a fly |
catch provided he touches the base after
the ball strikes the heGdcr's hands,
Another rule provides that an "infield !
fly' is out, whether or not the ball is
caught, ii first and second bases are
occupied and fewer than two men ont.
This rule was made necessary by |
felders trapping flv balls and then
doubling base runners because they
were compelled to hold their bases until
they saw whether or not the fielder |
caught the ball. Whether or not a batted |
ball is an infeld fly is left to the iudg
ment of the umpire, and the rules order
that the umpire must call enfield fly
while the ball is in The air IN order 10
protect the base runners.
Evors reasoned that. as base runner
may run on q fair catch, he may also
run as soon as the umpire calls 80 'intield !
fly because, technically, the ball Is
caught the instant the umpire calls.
So he waited his opportunity, which
came with him on second another
runner on first and Chicago leading by
cision would not hurt. O'Day was um
piring, and when the batter drove Il
high fly into the air Evers waited a |
second. with one foot OH the base. The |
ball was sixty feet III the air when
Day called enfield fly batter out,
At that instant Evers dashed for third
base and reached it in safetv before the
ball dropped into the tielder's hands |
and could be relayed o Day, unlike
civil judges, refuses TO be hampercd by |
legal technicalitles, and called EverS
out. although technically he was en-
llrled TO the DnSo.
Fielder Jones once deliberately tested |
rule IN Detroit and stirred up one of
the biggest discussions baseball has had
in many years. With runner on third
Jones ordered him TO steal home as the
pitcher was in the act Of delivering tho
ball The pitcher hcstated changed ,
his pitching motion, and threw the ball
TO the catcher. who ran in front of the
batter. caught the ball and touched
the runner. The umpire called the
runner out. Then Jones raised this
point: Was not the runner safe be
cause the catcher interfered with the
batter by running IN front OF hun.
thereby preventing HIM from hitting
the bale The umpire ruled that he
was not out, as the bali was thrown to
the plate and not pitched, therefore the
batter had no right TO hit it. Jones
Welded the point and then argued
Did not the pitcher make n balk, If, as
the umpire had ruled, he changed ms
motion and threw TO the plate instead
of pitchings The umpire was corncred,
and refused to discuss the case further,
beyond ruling The runner out.
The case stirred up long discussion
The presidents of the two major leagues
ruled in different ways, and the UNI
pircs admit, after studying the play.
that Jones was right, and that the
runner was safe. either on the grounds
of interference or because the pitcher
baked. But they decided 10 cali all
runncrs out in such cases, because, they
argue. if they did not, every runner
who reached third base could steal
home.
If You watch n baseball game this
season watch and listen. Behind the
"E-Yah' of Jennings and the way he
kicks up one foot, or plueks a blade
of grass. YOU may catch his signal TO
tho batter or runner Back Of thc war
cries of Chance Z" Alta boy" and
s'now. vou re pitching may he hidden
u whole command TO his team. When
. Matty' shakes his head one way
he means ''no,' and when he shakes II
iust a little differently he means
YES. y and is making the batter be
lieyc his "vcs" is ''no.
So. iC YOU sit real still and watch
the game closely every second. and see
every move, and study its meaning, you
will en- iov the game lots more, but you
-, - ,roirb The very first time