Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1910-03-03
FEW CHANGES MADE
IN BASEBALL GAME
Players of Early eos Could
Come Back Today and Get
Along Without Difficulty.

62xOAk w
Considering the number of years that
It has been played and the thousanus
Of suggestions that have been mace
with q view to it's Improvement, oase-
ball has undergone fewer changes imam
any national sport which we nave
knowledge. saws the Washington Star.
And even the changes that have been
made from time to time have been SO
comparatively slight that II the play
ers who made history in the early ovs
were to return they would have no dll-
| ficulty in recognizing the game Whicn
| they did 50 much to exploit ana 10
popularize, AS a matter of fact, there
has been no change in the fundamental
principles OF the game, and those VINO
| have given the subject much thought
| cannot see how 1t can be improved
| upon in that direction. 1t must pc
PLAYED with ball and bat and upon "di-
| Almonds" with which we have been Ia
mlar all our lives.
| Distance Remains Same.
| Now and then there has been mild
| agitation over the length of the bat or
| the 'liyeliness," or the deafness OF
the ball, but the old sport cannot recall
| of a single instance where any one
| seriously espoused any movement look
| ing to change In the distance De-
4
between the bases was not finally nxed
upon without much experimenting, put
| the baseball fathers, who finally de-
! termined that 80 feet should De the
distance, showed nicely OF judgment
| which even today Is matter or won
der to many. They struck JUST tne
| proper distance to insure the greatest
possible evenness Of contest between
the feeders and batsmen. Add or SUD-
tract three feet from the present dls-
tance and a positive advantage would
be given to one or the other. For that
reason, If for no other. it is not likely
that any suggestion to change the dls-
lance between the bases will ever be
considered.
Some Are Necessary.
This reluctance to make changes in a
system which has met with general APP
prevail for years is to be commended.
Change does not necessarily mean i'm
provement, no matter how firmly con-
WINGED the sponsors of some particular
change may be to the contrary. OF
course, some changes eventually LEAD
to others-necessitate them, in fact.
Take, for instance, the foul strike rule,
originally devised to head off Roy
Thomas. There is not the slightest
doubt that the obnoxious rule was ret
roactive, and contrary to the general
trend of all changes made in the
| IuiSS duiih6 AiiS ~ Wv oAAi6 ~
years. In obedience to the public de-
mand, as voiced through the newspa-
pers nearly every committee on rules
sought to lessen the dominance of the
pitcher and to increase the likelihood
of batsman reaching first. This foul
strike abomination had just the con-
trary effect, and so far as Thomas
was concerned, did not accomplish the
object for which it was intended. 1t
has lessened the hitting, thereby re-
ducing the number of runners who
should naturally reach first.
Runners That Count.
AS there is positively no action-that
Is, the real, bloodstirring action---until
a runner, or runners, get on bases, the
game has lost much of its spectacular
value to the talent. whose support
keeps it going. Undoubtedly, there will
be many to point out the falsity OF
these deductions by calling attention to
the fact that the attendance at the
games of the American and National
leagues has practically doubled since
the adoption of the rule which has
given the old sport so much mental
perturbation. That is undoubtedly true
but not because of that rule, but in
spite of It. The game has secured such
a hold in popular favor that it will
, continue to flourish despite the efforts
of all the rule managers in the coun-
try to rob 1t of many of it's most at
tractive features.
Make It Three Balls.
That there is a disposition to recog-
niZe the demand for more action In
some quarters is shown by the fact that
Fred Lake of the National league rules
committee announces that he will make
} an effort to have his committee make a
, favorable report on a change which he
J proposes to advocate regarding the rule
governing bases on balls He argues
and with Il great deal of reason--tfat
II the number of balls be decreased to
three the publics demand for action
!. will be met, and that in this way many
!. of the Objectionable features of the
foul strike rule will be eliminated
With his strategic resources reduced [
per cent. the pitcher would be handi.
: capped somewhat but the spectators
: would be the beneiciaries, and, after
all, they are the ones whose pleasure
should be consulted. Reducing the
;, number Of balls to three would put the
batsman upon practically the same
;, equality with the pitcher that he en-.
: joyed before the foul strike was adopt.
ed. The pitcher could rot afford e
, | waste so many balls, which would tenC
!, to increase the action of the game, t.
| improve the hitting and to add to the
!, opportunities for brilliant fielding. Ii
: is doubtful IL Mr. Lakes suggestion
: will be adopted just now, although II
seems to be in the line of genuine i'm.
provement, but 1t should not be turned
down without the rule makers giving
4 Il -. i