Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-03
LOOK OUT YOU BUSH LEAGUE PLAYERS,
MAYORS SCOUTS ARE WATCHING YOU
Experts Are Roaming Around the Land Hunting for 300 Hters
and "Phenom" Pichers-Conne Mack Pays $4,000,
Record Price, for Pitcher Lefty" Russell Of the
Baltimore Team.

looking for players and it is through
the work Of the scouts that most OF
them are obtained.
A manager picks up a morning pa
per and reads how the pitcher OF a
team In some bush league shut out
his opponents without hit Or else
1t may be a story about some out
fielder or inf1elder who in five times
at bat got home run, triple. a
double and two singles.
GO to Blankville and look at that
man Smith," says the manager to the
scout. "Get him If you think he'll do"
Then out goes the scout He lands
in Blankville, keeps his identity Sc
cret If possible and buys seat In the
grandstand. He watches the pitcher
or fielder as the case may be. 1t
makes no difference whether the man
wins that day or not. The scout Is an
expert and he can tell by the mans
actions whether he really is player
or just happened to have one day OF
phenomenal luck.
Probably other scouts are on the
scene. Then it is case Of the high
est bid taking the player If he really
Is the goods. If there is no other scout
present the one who is there notifies
his boss and the matter is taken up
with the owner Of the team to which
the player belongs. It Is against the
rules for big league owner to nego-
tiate with the player direct
That's the way most Of the players
are obtained by the major league
teams. but when deal is put through
like the one recently closed by Con-
ME Mack, manager Of the Philadelphia
Athletics, and Manager Jack Dunn, Of
the Baltimore Eastern league team.
for the services Of Lefty Russell,
pitcher, 1t is generally because OF the
record the player has been making for
himself.
1t is reported that Mack has paid,
or is to pay. Dunn $4,000 for Russell.
If this is true, and 1t probably is, 1t
is a record price for player, being
$1,000 more than Manager McGraw OF
the New York Giants paid for Mar.
guard, purchased from Indianapolis.
Russell Is to finish the season with
Baltimore and then join the Athletics.
He Is said to have splitter" that
rivals that of Big Ed Walsh of the
Chicago White Sox, or the one used by
Russell Ford, the new star of the New
York Highlanders. If he has he is
worth $4,000.
When a player in an effort to COM
rliment young Fisher told the raw
boned Yank that he had shown some
thing during his three innings as
pitcher. Fisher calmly answered In a
philosophical sort of speech: Eyes; l
showed that l had more luck than
some Of the good pitchers on this
club" Another well-wisher asked
Fisher how he liked big league pitch
ing as far as he had essayed it. "Just
like pitching anywhere else. You've
got to pitch all the time and outluck
the batter. II you do not, you look
bad" he replied.
always has there been and always
will there be too much fuss made over
'no-hit' games" remarked Addie Joss
not long ago. Il mean by this that
generally there Is too much credit
given to the man In the box and not
enough to the catcher and to the men
in the field; the men who made the
'no-hit' game possible. Strictly speak
ing there is. of course. no such thing
as a 'no-hit' game. The only possible
'no-hit' game would be one In which
the pitcher struck out twenty-seven
men, in which the catcher had all Of
the twentyseven put-outs and In which
not even a chance was offered any
other Of the nine players on the team.
Il doubt If one ever heard pitcher
boast Of having been the hero Of a
'no-hit' game. He knows too we'll how
he was helped along to fame by the
men behind him; knows how large a
need of the praise is due the catcher
who coached him along.
Base hits-some base hits-and
put-outs-some put-outs-are 80 near
ly analogous that it is folly to talk Of
what a pitcher intended when he Of
fers up a certain ball to a certain
batter.
If 1t is the lucky pitchers day the
ball will be batted straight into the
hands of some fielder. If 1t doesn't |
happen to be the pitchers day the ball
will be batted a foot or two out of
the flelder's reach and instead Of an
easy put-out,' as it is set down in the
records, there Is a smashing double
to center
"See the point? The pitcher puts
up a certain kind of ball to bat |
ter one day and the batter sends an
easy fly to an outielder. In the next |
game between the same clubs the |
pitcher sends up the same kind of q
ball. This time it is batted in a slight |
" different angle and the batter gets |
credit for a double or triple.
"Of course to pitch 'no-hit' game |
q pitcher must be at his best, but I |
have worked harder and felt 'fitter,'