The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-10
THE GENTLE ART OF BASE STEALING Joe Rickert Has the Southern
 League Record HOW EXPERTS WORK Some Get Away by Using Speed and Some by Using Brain-some
 of the Record
 Breakers.
HOW EXPERTS WORK
BY PERCY H. WHITING.

BY PERCY Ii. Will ! INC.
 Atlanta. January 9-(Special. )-Jimmy Archer formerly catcher of the Cracker team. is alleged to have given vent to this unusual (for Jim) statement:
 .-rhere is no thrill quite so delightful as the one that goes through you after stealing a base It is pleasant to hit out a two-bagger, and especially agreeable (did you get that? From Jim Archer, tooD when you land on a home run, but give me the sensation of stealing the base once in while."
 There were all kinds of base stealers in the Southern league last year, ana some of them seemed to enjoy 1t as much as Jimmy Archer.
 There are all sorts of ways to run bases. With some men it is a polished per1orh- anee, thing carefully thought out ana well executed.
 Probably there is not more hnlsheo base runner in the league than DOC Wiseman Doc takes a good lead on first and then at the right moment neither fraction of second too soon or too late. he lights out for second. He runs smoothly and without apparent er- fort When he gets within sliding dis tance he goes gracefully into dive for the base. As he hits it he comes up again to his feet after which he makes one bad with his right hand to clean on the dirt and the deed Is done. DOC doesn't steal a lot nowadays but those he does steal are works of art
 Gygli, who yanked off 2s stolen bases last year, is another who does 1t very well. He is not as graceful as Wise man but he is a pretty handy performer. Baerwald, who got away with 2 last year. is also in the meat performance' class
 Some players depend on speed alone getting away any old time but running like mad. Henline, who lead the south- ern league last year with 43 steals gets his bases by speedy running. He doesn start so especially fast but when ne gets under way his feet fairly twinkle Bay is another man who gets away with stolen bases by high speed work Con- sidering how fast he can run 1t is shame that he does not steal more Last year he annexed 24.
 Slightly different from the speedy base stealer is the crazy one. J. Daley was the leagues leading example of the crazy base runner. Every time he got to hrst he would light out for second. Some times he made it, 25 times in fact last season. but more often he did not. There were several other crazy runners in the league last year but none who really compared with Judd.
 Another variety of base stealers are the foxy" base thieves. Otto Jordan Is the king of that class. Otto is no speed merchant. He is a big, husky man. not slow but not especially fact However, he managed to steal 27 bases last year, more than any man in the league who couldn't beat him 10 yards in 100 at run ming. Jordan just outthinks the oppos- Ing team. He always manages to time his run just right and usually gets 10 second without the least apparent effort. Otto may not have been the man who invented the delayed steal but certainly he works it better than any other man who ever played in the south. The crafty way he will make pass a stealing, run down the line toward second, then turn back to first and appear to give It up. then turn again when the opposing team is off it's guard and run for second just as the ball is thrown to the pitcher and nobody is covering second is worth the price of a season ticket. And Jordan is too foxy to cheapen the play by re- peated attempts He doesn't work it un- less 1t is necessary. But in critical game, when he gets to first and is very keen to reach second, he pulls it off.
 Old Pa" East is another of the slow runners who steals now and then. Old and languid on the pins as he is he took down 19 last year. and most of them he got away with because he knew just how to time his effort and how to out guess the opposing players.
 Atlanta possessed one base stealing Wopder last year in Roy Moran. Roy was pretty useful at ordinary stealing, hav- ing ripped off A last season. But what makes him famous is his ability to steal home There Is no more artistic base running ever done than when Roy gob- E bles home plate with well-timed steal. Being active and a quick man to turn and scratch back to base he always leads well off the bag When he gets the signal to try for the home plate on the next ball he leads way off and gathers himself as tense as a fiddle string. Then as the pitcher gets far enough in his wind-up so that any pause in 1t would ba a balk he digs for home plate. There is a the pitcher and catcher of the opposing team are waking up. Then comes the hurried peg by the pitcher, a demonstra- ton by the batter, and then at about the same second the ball hits the catch CTS glove and Moran hits the grit for a slide Some times he makes 1t and of course sometimes he doesn't. But when he does there Is not man or woman who sees it who does not realize that bril- liant piece of baserunning has just been accomplished.
 The Southern league has never in it's history numbered a great base stealer, though once there was player who gave wonderful imitation. That was Joe Rickert, in the good year 1904. That season he stole IT bases, a mark that has never been approached before or since in the Southern league. Here are the best stealers of past teams.
 19O1-Gilbert, Little Rock .-. .-- .....- 5t 1eO3-Smith, N. O.-Shreve. ..-.- ..... ... 4s 1eO4-Rickert, New Orleans ... ... ...... 71 1e05-Williams, New Orleans e. =. ... 4
 Brouthers, Montgomery 4 19O6-Byrne Shreveport 4 1907-Ball. Montgomery 6
 Paskert, Atlanta e. e. 6 19o8-Downey. Birmingham ...... 4 1s09-Heniine, Birmingham e. e. 4