Norwich bulletin., 1910-01-18
TAKING CHANGES.
The Key to Baseball Success-More Needed Than Batting and Pitching,
 Says Umpire Evans.

The successful ball team is the one that takes desperate chances in any and all departments of the game, says Umpire Billy Evans. No team ever won a pennant by depending on pitch ing or batting alone, to down the op- position Of course, these factors play prominent part, but the ability to grasp opportunities and take chances are just as essential, if not more so. Pittsburg won the pennant in the Ma tional league because it had high class catcher, a good pitching staff. an excellent defence, and, best of all, play CTS who were will to take chances, alert to every opportunity, and always desIrous Of accomplishing the seem- ingly impossible.
 Detroit won the championship in the American league under just about the same conditions. The club .boasted of better than the average talent in all departments, and had several players who took the long chances and gener- ally got away with them. The Pirates defeated the Tigers in the worlds se- Ties, not because they took any more chances than the Detroit teams but simply because they got much better results from the chances they took It has often happened in the history of baseball that the team that looked the best on paper before the season opened failed miserably in the regular cam paign. In many cases the club in question appeared to have the pitching talent that would hold the opposition
  pared favorably with the twirling staff and batting ability to drive in enough runs to win a big percentage of the games played.
 Nine times out of ten the failure of such a club may be directly traced to the inability of the players to take ad- vantage of the opportunities offered and the refusal to take desperate chances at the bat, in he field or on the bases It's the pulling off of the unexpected that wins more victories than air-tight pitching, hard hitting or brilliant fielding. Invariably the ac- sends the opposition ballooning, and before a landing is made the game is usually beyond recall. Quite a few Of the champion Pittsburg team were ever alert to any chance that might be of fered, and they were always willing to go through with the play t any cost. Perhaps no player on the Pirate team. tried to do so many difficult feats as whatever he tried to do spelt more victories for Pittsburg than the indi- vidual efforts of any one player.
 Any time Wagner reached first in the series with the Tigers he generally kept on running until he had cross ad the plate. The Detroit catchers knew any time he reached first they had trouble on their hands, but despite this knowledge they failed to stop the Fly ing Dutchman. He stole bases almost at will, and his work in this depar.- ment of the game alone was just lpout the undoing of the Tigers. The famed star of the Tigers, Tyrus Cobb, took just as many chances as Wagner, <tut didn't get away with them like the Pittsburg wonder. Although just as fleet of foot Cobb failed. to meet wi1h the same success, yet the most thrill ing feature of the entire series wa s his wonderful steal of home in the second game. He performed the ex- traordinary feat in clean-cut style. and there was never question as to the decision.
 It's the team that mixes them up and takes chances that gets away with the pennants in the major leagues. A set style of play is soon fathomed and defense worked up for it. It's the hit and run that confuses when a bunt is looked for, and vice versa. In a few words, success in baseball is largely dependent upon the doing of the unex- pected. It was not uncommon for the Detroit players last year to try and steal third with no one out. Some times the runner was made to look foolish, but often the play was sue cessfrl, and invariably it meant a few runs, often just enough to decide the