Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-02

BY J. ED GRILLO.

one hears much of the science of base
ball. and yet when the game as played
today is viewed day in and day out the
impression is created that what science
there is has become decidedly stereotyped
So far as system is concerned every club
plays about the same sort of game, and
there is no denying that there is a de-
cided lack of head work on the part of
individual players.
Magazine articles on the subject Of the
remarkable amount of quickwittedness
that the game calls for these days read
all right. but it is decidedly doubtful IL
they are based on facts. There are, Of
course, some ball players who resort to
strategy, but unless these are helped by
their teammates working with them their
efforts are lost That is why, perhaps.
one sees so little out Of the ordinary
at major league ball games these days.
There was more real scientific base ball
used ten years ago than there is now
Today 1t is the hit and run or sacrifice
occasionally these are mixed up in such
way as to battle the opposition. but one
team plays 1t about the same as the
other. and. what is more, none of them
play the hit-and-run game according to
the original theory. Nowadays the bats
man signals the base runner to advance
on the next ball pitched, which he will
hit at. If the catcher outguesses the
batter it is pitched out and the base
runner is thrown out If it is over and
the play works successfully a clean hit
for one or more bases results. But that
is not the hit and run.
When that play was originated the OBJ
ject was to hit shove the ball behind
the runner or through the space which
the infelder who had started to cover the
bag had left unguarded. In this way the
batter was sure to advance his man and
stand chance Of getting a hit himself.
1t is pitiful to see the players of today
attempt to work this play. In most in
stances every man. woman and Child can
tell just when the base runner is going
to try to advance. The movements OF
the base runner under such conditions
are SO palpable that it is only when the
pitcher is forced to that he puts the ball
near the pate.
There is whole lot to the playing of
base ball. but unfortunately for those
engaged in the game, but few of them
are familiar with the finer points of the
game. That is why every ball team you
see has the same system of play as its
rivals. and yet they talk of the wonder
full advance the game has made.
The uninitiated may be led to believe
that the battle between Jeffries and JOHN
son will be a bloody brutal affair but il
1t is 1t will differ greatly from any
championship contest held under the
Marquis Of Queensbury rules Fights of
today are really more contests of en-
durance than anything else when two
men are fairly evenly matched True
there may be alittle blood now and then
for 1t does not require much to make
No hut v,tnt
as battles in which the contestants wade
in gore is all bosh. Many Of the great
est fights between notable pugilists have
been entirely free from such spectacIes
1t would not be at all surprising that ex-
cepting perhaps a black eye or a split
lip neither of the fighters will come out
of the battle much the worse for his ex-
perience
Perhaps there is no better illustration
of the determination which Jeffries pos
SeSSes than the long and arduOus course
of training through which he has gone i'm
an effort to regain the title from Jack
Johnson.
to make a bluff at getting into condition
after SO long lay-On for the mere. pur-
pose Of fattening their Golfers, but few.
indeed. who would go about the siren
uOus task with such earnestness as has
the big Californian.
His whimsical temperament has created
a lot of dissatisfaction among followers
of the sport and fight critics, but after all
it must be agreed that Jeffries has done
the work he laid out for himself faith
fully.
He came out of his retirement deter
mined to fit himself for the battle of his
life, and from all accounts he has accom-
plished that. There is no reason for be-
lieving that Jack johnson will meet a
tottering old man July 4. If he earns
a victory over Jeffries 1t will be because
he is the better man. There will be no
excuses to offer. for Jeffries seems TO
have done everything that a man could
do to prepare himself for a contest of
this kind.
1t is not revealing a secret to say that
a very large percentage Of the ball play
ers in the American League are anxious
to see Larry Lajoie carry of the batting |
hcnors this year and thus win the auto
mobile which will go to the leading bats
man. Not that the players are preju- |
diced against Ty Cobb. Lajoie's nearest |
rival, but because the players believe |
that Lajoies hits are more clean cut |
than those of the Tiger star When clean, |
hard hitting alone is considered Lajoie ]
has much on Cobb though |
the latter. by reason Of his speed, his |
all-around ability to do the unexpected, |
has been able for the past three years to |
lead all the players in the American |
League But when 1t comes to good old |
fashioned hitting Lajoie undoubtedly is |
in a class by himself. and he appears to |
be in better form this year than he has |
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