The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1910-09-15

gun which was firing the National
cannon ball at and around them, he
monotonously commanded: Wait"
and they went up--and waited. One
strike one bail, two strikes, a foul,
strikes, sometimes a weak fly that
netted nothing. To the crowd 1t
seemed as II Donovan never could be
beaten. as the champions appeared
helpless before his tremendous speed.
Still Chance commanded Wait
wait him out" Every batter went to
the plate intent upon making Donovan
pitch as many balls as possible. They
fouled, they waited, sometimes even
let him strike them out sometimes
they hit, but never until they were
compelled to do so. When the eighth
inning came neither had scored. Hof-
man led off that inning and still his
orders were to wait, and he waited
until he could wait no longer then
rolled a safe scratch hit down towards
third. In that moment Chance, COM
manding general. ordered the charge
'-'~i--- ".~~ ~ ~rvf batter and the
order for the assault was the single
word: Switch" That was all, but
Tinker, rushing eagerly forward TO
the batter's position, knew that the
leash that had held the champions
had been cut and that he could hit
when he pleased, even the first ball.
Crash, Tinker smoke the sphere ter.
rife blow and like a swallow the ball
darted out to right field, high. higher,
until, soaring far over the heads Of
the crowd IT struck the sign above
the right-feld seats and the crowd
went wild. Then, like soldiers attack
ing a preached wall, the champions
rushed to the assault and, before the
inning was over they had made six
runs and their waiting game had won.
Chance had calculated from the
first that Donovan was pitching with
too great speed, and that no human
being could hold such a pace through
nine innings, and during all the time
that the crowd thought Detroit would
win, the leader of the champions was
sitting watching every move, waiting
for the first sign that Donovan was
At the start of the seventh inning
he thought he detected signs Of weari-
ness, but the Smiling Tiger still was
strong. After Holman scratched that
hit at the start of the eighth, Chance
saw Donovan lower his pitching arm
as II weary, and he issued his order
and after Tinker drove that home run
he ordered: Take a crack at the
first one" Like a general, he had
found the breach and ordered the
charge, and his men leaped to the
plate and began the bombardment
that brought victory.
They do not realize that as soon as
Marquard of New York, or Pfester of
Chicago, is named to pitch, the OPP
posing manager orders a bunting
game, or that as soon as a catcher
known to have a weak arm, or to
throw badly, or a pitcher who does
not watch base runners carefully is
elected to perform battery duty for
the day the opposing manager sig
nails steal" steal" steal" to every
fast man who reaches a base.
Listen to a coacher, DOC" Mar
shall of Brooklyn, for instance, on the
line at first base, running up and
down, paving the dirt, acting like a
madman, and perhaps one not deeply
versed In the game imagines he is
trying to rattle" the opposing pitch
er, or spur his own men to greater
efforts. A hundred of the words or
nh he
but somewhere among them the base
runners hears: Careful, Harry"
which tells him Marshall has seen a
signal for fast ball, flashed the bat
ter signal to hit and is warning the
runner TO start as soon as the ball is
pitched. Or he may catch: Now
we're at EN-" and leap forward to
save himself from being forced when
the batter bunts sacrifice.
The lengths to which clubs will go
TO learn the signals, especially the
signals OF managers from the bench,
is astonishing TO those not familiar
with the game. To catch a signal
legitimately by observation, quick
ness Of eye or quickness Of thinking is
part Of the sport, Marshall Of Brook.
lyn, Kane of Chicago, Doom of Phila-
delphia, Bridwell of New York, Hart
sci Of the Athletics, of the present
generation of players, are past mas
ters OF the art of seeing what the op.
posing batsmen are tr pr to do be-
fore the effort is made In one game
at Cincinnati in 1909 Manager Griffith
said he was compelled to change his
signals six times during the contest
because Pat Moran was getting them.
Efforts have been made In the past
TO steal the signals by the most
brazen trickery and unsportsmanlike
methods. Perhaps the worst case Of
this kind ever revealed was that of
the old Philadelphia team in the Ma
tional league. Here was the greatest
aggregation of batters ever assembled
on one team, but, not satisfied with
their natural batting ability, they
wanted to know in advance what kind
of ball the pitcher was going to