The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-07-15
RUSSELL FORD.

!
Russell Ford of the New York Yam
KEGS, who is regarded as the pitching
find of the American league this year,
has helped to prove the oft-repeated
! assertion that dope on baseball
teams is the most uncertain of any in
! sport.
There is the turf dope" for in
stance. The experts have been fairly
able to figure that if "Cinch" beats
"Sure Thing" and Lead Pipe" throws
dirt in the eyes of both of them, it is
| as good as money in your pocket to
have bet on "Sinecure" when he is
in a race with "Cinch" and Sure
Thing" because he has recently trim
med Lead Pipe" Sometimes it fails,
but more often it will not
In pugilism Pug" and "Knocker-
out" battle to a draw. LEFT Swing"
hammers the life out of Right Jab."
Then Right Jab'' turns around and
trims Pug" Along comes Upper
Cut" and he whales both left Swing
| and Right Jab" Then some pro-
moter matches Upper Cut" and
"Knockerout." Who should win? The
dope" says Upper Cut"
But in baseball you have to figure
on too many men. So when the sea-
son started there were few who
thought the Stallings bunch would be
such troublemakers in the American
league. 1t was because they did not
know just how good Ford is. Some
persons say he Is better spit ball
artist than Ed Walsh, which is going
some The youngster won seven
straight before he lost game. 1t is
agreed that his great twirling has had
much to do with putting the New York
team up near the top, thereby showing
how impossible it is to dope" base
ball team.
Umpire Bill Evans asked Ford the
other day if he really knows which
way his spit ball delivery is going to
break. Ford's answer was that he
would demonstrate, and, according to
Bill, he broke the splitter just as he
said he would. On the strength of
what ball players and umpires say
about the New York phenom, it is not
at all hard to understand why he has
been meeting with such success
Every batter of any class can be di-
vided into three divisions, according
to some of our most prominent UNI
pires. Larry Lajoie leads one Sec
Coh ho m II
Schultz the third, in other words,
these three great batters are the most
typical of their divisions.
Lajoie of Cleveland, who has stood
as leading American and National
league slugger for years, stands "up
to" the ball with only trif1e of a
bend, and swings his bat slowly. He
does not exactly walk into the ball,
being more of one-base swatter than
cleanup hitter. This is the most re-
liable type perhaps. The performer
being a surer hitter Others of the
same class are Wagner of the Pirates,
Willie Keller, now of the Giants and
former Highlander, and Johnnie
Evers of thu Cubs and Crawford of
the Tigers. Gessler of Washington
and Stahl of the Boston Red Sox are
other notable examples.
Ty Cobb, the great Tiger slugger, is
the nervous type. His body forms a
sort of an arch, and he swings his bat
faster and faster as the pitcher I'M
winds. He puts all the strength of his
body into the final swing, and If he
hits the ball it is good night" This
is the cleanup type. Doubles, triples
and home runs often fall to the lot of
the leaders in this division. The Cubs
have many in their lineup who bat &C.
cor5!ng to this style. Manager Chance
is one and Joe Tinker another. Terry
Turner of the Maps falls into the
same category, and so does Killifer of
the Senators.
Then comes the silent type, best ex-
amplified by Frank Schultz of the
Cubs. To the average fan these bat
tiers appear careless. They stand like
a statue. calm and almost motionless.
Perhaps the batter may give one
swing before letting go. They stand
and eye the pitcher out of counte-
nance. OF all the batters, this type
is most feared by the pitchers. There
is grimness in the situation. The
batter seems to say, I'm laying for
you, old kid"
Some of the best batters of the
decade belong to this classification
In addition to Schultz there is Speak
or Of the Red Sox, one of last years
sensations. Dougherty Of the Sox is
another. You can almost imagine
they are yawning with ennui as they