Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-05-09
THE SACRIFICE HIT.

A Wausau sian" who has watched
the game of base ball on oa- local
diamond ever since we have had
league balr' in this city, and who
has been a stern and consistent critic
of the abuse of the sacrifice hit'' has
this to say in an interview with our
reporter:
II am glad to see that so great an
authority as John j. McGraw, mana
ger of the New York National Base
Ball club, confirms the criticism /
have for years been making of the
worse than foolish use of the sacrifice
hit displayed upon our local diamond
in every game played there.
''McGraw, being asked under what
condition he would use the sacrifice
hit, replied; Under any which would
fool the other side.
An impression seems to have been
made in base ball that a player must
sacrifice under certain conditions) no
matter if he might be able to do some
thing better. | don't believe in that
doctrine; keep the other
side guessing. If they are
at sea as to whether he will bunt or
hammer the ball out of the infield.
they do not know where to play.
1t is wiser policy to make
the tielders guess than it is to push
the runner along at the expense of one
certain o,d. Why is it not better STRAIT
egg, at times, to send a batter to the
plate with instructions to hit the ball
ont or cut in and advance player with
positive sacrifice as seems most ec-
pedient to him. The intielders are all
in the air. If they knew
that he was up to sacrifice, and only to
do that, they ,oould station themselves on
certain points Of the diamond
'Now, upon our local diamond, and
presumably everywhere-upon all
diamonds, in the lesser leagues, it is
the abuses of the sacrifice hit, as thus
described by McGraw, and not it's
uses, that we witness in the games
played. Suppose, for example, that
the first batter up reaches first Ease,
Immediately the intielders take their
places to gobble up the sacrifice which
they kROa0 will follow when the next
man comes to bat. He may be the
best batter in the team. He knows
that the opposing infeld has taken
up position that gives him the best
possible chance to make base hit,
thus not only advancing the man at
first, but going there himself. 1t
makes no difference: He must sacri-
fce, and so he does. He gets himself
out as matter of course. Whether
lac succeeds in advancing the man at
first is not by any means sure. About
three times out of four he does.
Once out of four times the result is
that two men are out on a double
play, or the man at first is put out
trying to reach second, while the
bunter is permitted to get first, the
net loss being one man out and moth
ing gained, in the one case or two
men out and nothing gained in the
other, or one man advanced to second
and one man out in case the play
succeeds, and one man out as against
player advanced to second base
seems trade of doubtful value, even
If it was a sure thing.
1.-THE only wise use of the sacrifice
hit is to make it at a time when the
opposing infeld are occupying their
usual positions, that is, achen they are
not expecting 1t. In that case, if the
hit is shrewdly put, the man at first
is sure to reach second, and the
| bunter stands fine chance of getting
to first also. But under the cast iron
rule of always sacrifice when the
| first batter has reached first base,
the infield know just what to do; they
take up the right position to beat
the play, and they beat it nine times
out of ten, at least bad enough to
trade base for a man, and that is
bad enough, as is often shown when,
by sacrificing a player gets to third
and dies there because all his chances
of reaching the plate depend upon
| one batter, the other two being al
ready out,-one on sacrifice and the
other either on a sacrifice or some
other way. The sacrifice should never
be used when the opposing infeld is
in such position that it makes, as
McGraw says, 'one certain out, and
that it always does as played on the
| local diamond"