The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-02


f, to left field and are "easy" on slow
balls, suddenly begin to hit slow and
low balls hard and to right field.
| Besides the first knowledge of a bat
ter s possibilities, the catcher must
| look closely each time be comes TO bat,
ries; second, to observe the position Of
his feet and body, upon which positions
the direction Of his hit depends, and
| third to see how he is gripping his bat,
IN order TO guess his designs. Frequent
| ~ the catcher, after observing the posi-
| tion of the batter, must order the pitch
er to pitch straight and fast towards the
batter S head, the object being to force
the batter TO shift position quickly and
DESTROY his plan of attack, Batters
never before seen are Judged by the po
sition of their feet and their grip upon
the bats and then the catcher must ex.
pertinent 10 discover the weakness of
the batter. Frequently players watch
ing durinn batting practice find the
| weaknesses of new men before the game
starts. Boston brought young out.
| fielder TO Chicago who had reputation
for being able TO hit. King and
! Brown watched him closely during bat
she II fish, remarked Brown.
i" Anything low-in or outside,
whispered King
| Brown pitched low curves outside the
| plate and low fast straight balls inside
during the game and the new man
could not reach. Brown, when asked to
explain how he knew this said
"He showed nervousness and pulled
his left foot I knew he would swing
at ANYTHING that broke quickly
He held his hand with the wrists
fully an inch too far apart TO, get
good swing at low ball inside: -
The slightest shift of position Of
hands, feet or body of batter must he
noted by the catcher, and interpreted,
| The first nervous motion TO bunt. the
the intention of the batters and the
catcher can order the ball pitched exact.
| ly where the batter is not expecting
Spectators are not aware that one of
the greatest and most effective balls
pitched is the "bean baIl,'E beam is
| baseball for "head' and pitching at
the batter s head, not to hit it, but TO
drive him out Of position and perhaps
cause him 10 get panic stricken and
swing at the ball in self~defense is an
art. Even hitting batters is advocated
| bv many pitchers. Tony Mullane, in his
| day one of the greatest pitchers, owed
| much Of his success TO the fact that he
| hit batters who tried 10 crowd the plate.
| One of the Chicago pitchers, at the start
of his career. was timid, and the batters
| kept encroaching upon the plate and
hitting his curve ball Chance instructed
the pitcher to hit one batter In the first
inning of every game he pitched until
the batters were driven back. The pitch
cr followed orders and after he had
pitched once against each opposing team
the batters were driven back until he
| became q success.
After experience has brought to the
catcher r knowledge Of batters and an
intimate familiarity with his own men,
play, the catcher begins to be valuable.
Being the only player facing all the
others he must either originate or trans
NIT all orders. He must know every
signal used, either by\manager or men,
and have courage enough to assume
| responsibility for issuing orders when
| III positions where il is impossible to
get them from the manager. In this
respect the playing manager has the ad-
| vantage of the bench manager again.
as he is in position to signal the catcher
constantly. and afford much assistance,
especially TO weak man.
the catcher must conceal carefully
every signal given, not only hiding his
signals, and "covering up to prevent
coachers, batters or base runners from
seeing them, but frequently when he OBJ
serves be is being watched, he must
gave false signals to mslead the opposi.
ton. In the scheme of attack of all
| teams the detection of signs and sig
nails of the opposing team is the great
strategical principle, and the alert eyes
of the attackers often detect signals
and compel quick changes, so that the
catcher constantly is on the alert to
outgeueral the men who are watching
him,
Possibly the most intricate part Of
| tch ha
important, is throwing to catch runners.
not when they are stealing, but while
they are leading off the base, The
number of runners actually caught mat
ters little, but the throwing has for
its principal object the prevention of
stealing, and holding the runners close
TO their bases, The catcher watches the
runner edging away from first base. He
| knows to An inch how far the runner
can 60 and return In safety, The catch
er signals, by turning his mitt over and
back rapidly, that on the next pitched
ball be will throw to first AS the ball
is pitched the first basemap dashes be.
hind the runner to the base, the pitcher
throws shoulder high and outside the
plate, and the catcher, without looking
grabs the sphere and hnrls it at FIRST
base, whore the baseman meets ii on the
run. If the runner has besitated an
eighth of a second in diving back, he
Catchors like Archer. who throw with
n snap Of the arm while standing flat
footed, catch scores of runners each sea
son, and practically stop the stealing OF
} second base by preventing the runners
) from getting a flying start After a
: catcher once establishes a reputation
! for throwing, he has few throws to
J make.
4 throw of that kind made by King
that caught Herzog off first base in
. the famous game between New York
and Chicago when they played off their
tie for the championship gave Chicago
the pennapt in 1908, Two men were on
bases, Bresnahan was striving to buut,
. King caught the bunt signal, the ball
was pitched out and like a flash King
; hurled the ball TO Chance Herzog was
bag and New York was stopped in the
; midst Of a rally that ought to have net
: ted half a dozen runs.
. The Cubs worked variation of the
. 4