The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1910-09-15


only because IL was their duty, sud
denly begin raging, screaming and
saving the dirt The manager who
has appeared half asleep, makes
trumpet of his hands and leads his
men, bawling orders to his players
and wild taunts to the opponents.
The spectators do not understand
anything has happened. Other bat
ters have had two balls called many
times-and the situation looks the
same to the spectator who Is be-
yond the break" influence. In two
more minutes the bench is a mad
house with 20 men shouting. scream
ing, ordering and moving. Three
balls" A madman rushes out to the
deck" -Four balls!" And the spec
tators join the players in the demon.
stration, not understanding why. The
madness is spreading. Crack! A base
hit. a bunt, a wild throw; another
base hit; screams! shouts! impreca.
tions!-a roar of frantic applause!
final long fly. The manager reaches
for his glove, spits into it, and says
quietly: -Four runs. We've got
EN-" The break is over and the
players bench is again the quietest
part of the grounds. The surge Of en-
thusiasm. confidence and noise sub
sides and the game is won.
Baseball is almost as much psychol.
ogical as athletic. Why one team
can beat a stronger one regularly.
and lose to a weaker with the same
regularity; why one batter can hit
one pitcher and is helpless before an
other; why one pitcher is effective
against a strong team and at the
mercy Of another that cannot bat half
as hard, are psychological problems.
In 1908 Joe Tinker, who is only an
ordinary batter, became imbued with
the idea that he could hit Mathewson's
pitching at will. The confidence born
of this idea enabled him to beat
Mathewson out of several games. and
after that Mathewson seemed to have
the same belief, for Tinker during the
season won five games from New
York by his individual hitting. and In
four of them Mathewson was the vic
tim. One of the hits that Tinker
made OF Mathewson will be part OF
Chicago's baseball history for gen.
erations. The teams. with Mathewson
and Brown pitching, had battled for
four innings. neither being able to
score, and in the fifth Tinker came
to bat, first in the inning. Tinker
drove the ball ON the line into the far
left field corner-and he raced around
the bases. At third base Zimmerman
who was coaching, leaped out, tackled
Tinker and threw him, trying to drag
broke away and scored with the only
run of the game, beating Mathewson
to 0. Twice later in the year
Tinker beat Mathewson by long
drives.
What probably was the most sensa-
tional finish ever recorded in any
league was that in the Western league
on the last day of the season of 1909.
On that day the psychic wave struck
Omaha. The situation was this:
Des Moines and Sioux City practical
ly were tide for the pennant, and each
team was playing two games. the
Sioux City team playing at Omaha.
Sioux City had to lose two games and
Des Moines had to win one to give
Des Moines the championship. Sioux
City lost the first game. but had the
second won by three runs In the ninth
inning. Manager "Ducky" Holmes OF
the Sioux did not feel the break
coming. He leaped into his automo-
bile after the first Omaha batter in
the ninth inning went out, called the
attention of the crowd to his cham
pions. and raced away toward home
TO start celebrating the victory. Just
then the break came. Omaha need
ed three runs to tie. four to win. Hits
and errors quickly filled the bases and
with two men out three men were on
the bases. and a home run drive
scored four runs. won for Omaha, beat
Sioux City, and gave the pennant tC
Des Moines.