The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-08-26

The Clerk Pointed into the Darkness.
.nd returned to the hotel at 2 a. M.
feeling jolly. They reached their W
floor in the hotel without being caught
by the manager and went to the room
of a player who is a wonderful hitter.
Banging on his door they urged him
to get up.
"Wha do you want?" growled the
awakened slugger.
Get up, we're going to have bat
ting PRACTISE" replied one of the
jokers who knew the weakness of the
inmate Of the room.
There in a minute" responded the
player, and as they heard him scram-
BILE from bed the jokers fled. Ten
minutes later the night clerk was
startled to see the great player enter
the lobby in his uniform, carrying his
two favorite bats, nor did he see the
joke until the clerk pointed into the
darkness outside.
In the early days of the game bat.
ting practice was neglected. The
heavy hitters practiced, but there was
no system to their work, and very lit
tie time or thought was given to the
scientific hitting. except by a few
men who realized the possibilities OF
play. "Dickey" Pearce invented the
bunt and the fair foul" hit in 1866,
but generations passed before the
bunt was used intelligently by all
classes of players. Indeed 1t was the
theory of players, as it now is with
many followers of the game, that
place hitting" "a or less of a
myth. In fact it has beer within the
last decade that ever the major league
players have made intelligent efforts
towards perfecting place hitting, and
their successes in that line have been
wonderful. Managers began to real
ize that ths attacks could be directed
at the vital spots of defending teams,
and the attack has steadily become
more resourceful. better calculated to
bring results. and more adapted to
cope with the improved pitching. Es-
pecially has it been made necessary
Al ~ OICoh up uClCIolte IColAl
work.
The force bunt" was brought into
prominence by little Butler of Colum-
bus, who afterward blew n hand OF
with a fire cracker and retired. He
pushed the ball slowly down the in
field, striving to make it roll fast
enough to pass the pitcher either to
his right or left, yet 80 slowly that
the short stop or second baseman,
playing deep, would have to take it
while s~printing forward at top speed
and make a perfect throw. The gain
by the play was not to the batting
averages. 1t did not produce many
safe hits, but it was productive of
wild throws, and fumbles, and 1t at
once became popular as a method Of
destroying infield team work and
breaking up games.
The Chicago Cubs used the force
bunt during all their championship
term, pushing the ball, instead Of
bunting it dead, a short distance in
front Of the plate. Their success with
the ball was marvellous. In the fourth
game of the worlds championship
series in 1907 at Detroit, Sheckard
pushed a force bunt past Donovan in
the critical moment of the game, and
before the panic in the Tiger ranks
ended. Chicago had made three runs
as a result of the bunt. and won
easily thereafter, 6 to 1. In one game
at Philadelphia in 1908 Tinker made
the bunt with two men on bases. push
ing a slow roller toward short stop.
Doolan was running to owe second
base and the ball rolled clear onto
the grass behind short stop, Tinker
taking two bases.
Men of the type Of Speaker, Cobb,
Clarke. left-handed batters, and occa-
sionally a right handler, Leach for in
stance, use the force buEt with great
effect.
During the seasons Of 1906 and 1907
sheckard Of Chicago used a bluff bunt
which worked with great success. He
hunted at the first ball pitched to him,
and purposely missed 1t. Then he
bluffed that HE intended bunting again
and. as the third baseman tore for
ward, Sheckard poked the ball over
his head. Leach, in the worlds series
Of 1909. beat Detroit two games by
the same play.
Calling the turn" is . style of bat
ting employed by some batsmen In
trying to outguess the opposing pitch.
er. It means striving to guess what
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