The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-09-22
BULK MOI NOT ESSENTIAL
FOR HARD SLUGGERS
Strength Doesn't Count Sc
Much With Batter, as Some
of Best Are Small.

The average layman-the fan who is
p~nacquainted with the inner and outer
conditions Of the game, but loves to see
It played-is Of the natural opinion that
\ champion batsnlan, a slugger of vast
and virile vigor, must BIZ a hercules,
he personification of muscled mascu-
unity. A heavy hitter. the man who
drives out the triples and the home
runs, so 1t would logically seem, should
be of gigantic sinew. able to perform
throwing, n a h or weakly player
should not ven be considered as g
patting possibility.
And yet, strange az 1t may seem,
some Of the burliest, huskiest, most
muscular ball tossers in the land are
puerile marks at bat, utterly unable to
get their names in the elite circle of
The 800 hitters, while others, slim and
almost girlish in their lack Of corded
sinews, are tremendous luggers, men
Who stand near the top Of the batting
records year after veal Wherefore
such freakish defiance of the laws gov
srning natural strength and the sur
gival of the fttest? How on earth can
such things be?
Keen Eye Best.
A keen-sighted eye and a quick COM
llallQ VI movement are superior TO all
she elepllantiue muscles that were ever
assembled on a burly frame. OF course,
when a hercules, such, for example, as
Hans Wagner, is also blessed with an
accurate " and a lightning sweep of
arm, that mar becomes a batting king,
put there is nothing more ridiculous In
| baseball than to see a player with the
strength of Sandow making huge swipes
athwart the breeze while the ball goes
whizzing by, and finally walking pom
d%erously back to the bench without
even rolling out a grounder.
Old Players Were Strong.
Wagner IS a big man and massively
strong. So We're Arson, Conner, Brou-
theirs n many others of the noble
smuggling tribe. In these cases, how
ever, the sheer strength of these giants
was guided and controlled by keen eyes
and natural judgment as to the loca-
ton of the bail.
In contrast to these bulky men was
Pete Browning, very tall, but with 8
skinny. bony frame, not specially
strong in muscle. Pete Browning coulc
not have held his own against Ansor
In a wrestling match for 40 seconds
rival year after year. The old gladia-
tor could not only pick out the ball tc
swing on and smash against it witt
unerring judgment, but could 81 neatly
concentrate what power he had that
the longest sort of drives went mir.
ring off his bat just as Arson and the
other giant whales could bling them.
Little Fellow a Hitter.
Willie Keller was a little bit of {
man, and not a specially strong one
either. But this midget could chor
them out time after time, and wher
he swung instead of bunting coult
belt two-baggers as neatly as men 81
pounds his weight superior.
The only Cobb, idol of the Tiger fans
Is not a big man. He is of good stat,
ure, but rather slender, with soft, Ions
muscles, not hard or corded ones. Cobb
IS far inferior physirally to Wagner OF
LaJoie, but how ny Cobb can drive
that ball! The perfection of the eye
he accuracy of the swing, the concen.
ration Of the effort-these qualities
united and tremendously brought int
play, make Cobb the champion bats.
nan of the American league, and make
lin the master of the men who coulC
mop him all over the floor in a man-to.
a encounter.
Great are muscles, and most pleasing
:hings to have, but the frail man wht
wants to play baseball need not worry
lor fear that his fragile frame will bal
lim from NOW For the eyes 6
1eener than the hand, and Quickness o
notion far surpasses bulky sinew. 4
queer game is baseball, and this per.
1aps is one of the oldest features O.
the game.