Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-09-17
STYLE UNKNOWN 10 BATTERS
All Heavy Hitters Have Individual
Methods Of Swatting the Ball
SECRET IS IN KEEN OPTICS
Lajoie is Graceful, SO Are Some OF
the others, but the Majority APP
pear Nervous and Awk-
ward at Home Plate.

NEW York. Sept 10 Similar results in
batting-good results. that is-are obtained
from many different styles Good form.
poor form and no form at all get there
with the bat, and each contributes its quota
to the 800 division The thing Of form
at the bat is largely a shibboleth based on
nothing. In other sports form may be
more or less Of a necessity at any rate
certain branches of sport lay much stress
on form" possibly laying more on the
niceties Of physical poise than there is oc-
casion for. Maybe there is form In base
ball. but IL many different opponents Of
hard hitting go about getting good results
in quite different ways as to adjustment of
body, feet arms and so forth, It is not
clear Just where any regulation form comes
in.
No two batters handle themselves exactly
alike at the plate of course, but methods
differ so widely az to make each mans
form his own. Styles can be corrected
to advantage; that is, faults overcome and
changes made suitable to the individual,
but even then there is no approach to a
standard. A few cases will serve TO show
how different batters maintain sway
with a wide dissimilarity Of method.
Take Hal Chase, for instance. Many is
the spectator who says he doesn't see how
Chase hits the ball. Yet he does hit II,
keeps on hitting it and always has been a
first-class batter. The batter who steps
away from the plate is VIGOROUSLY poor
hitter, but while Chase doesn't step or pull
away he is fidgetty with his feet and sug-
gests that he is about TO step away.
Seemingly careless and Indifferent, he
really is watching the pitchers every move
ment as well as the whole layout. and no
man can hit better with a base runner.
His attitude is anything but menacing, in
deed, contains a hint of timidity, which
really doesn't exist but with loose wrist
and arm action he can adapt himself to
any sort Of a pitched ball hittable He
used to be weak on a low curve outside the
plate, but got over that and now is a free
hitter. If he wants to hit he'll hit at any
thing like Lajoie and Wagner, and he's
liable to hit anything. He doesn't swing
hard in the sense Of having a long swing,
but swings with a good deal of snap. His
eye and arm do the work without much
use Of the body in adding force to the
drive
They Have Golf Swing.
Entirely different styles of hitters are
Schultz and Hartzell of which manner Of
hitters was Ginger Beaumont. Theirs more
nearly represent the golf swing-a long,
easy sweep gathering speed as it nears
the ball, and with a distinctive follow
through They drive the ball long dis
tances, but so do batters who haven't that
sweep and follow through. Larry, Doyle,
slugger, is a snap hitter with a; sharp
but not sweeping swing, with more tensity
and less looseness than Schultz. Doyle
brings his hat forward on lateral plane.
more stiff-armed than some. but not with
the body swinging the arms with that pc
culiar push effect which charaeterizes
Caldwell of the Highlanders. Doyle's lat
eral plane meets the ball squarely. Cald-
well, sturdy hitter, is quite formless,
awkward, crouching, and with no freedom
Of motion, With him the arms are merely
handles to hold the bat while his body.
principally the shoulder, is really the pro-
pelling force. He is stiff-armed and I'M
calmly, but he biffs the ball e..
Fred Merkle puts body as we'll as arms
into his swing and is vicious swinger
There is more independence so far as arms
and body are concerned than in hitters Of
the Caldwell type, a freer shoulder move
ment and less rigidity in the arms, but a
coordination which gets all of his weight
in the swing when he lands. Like other
powerful swingers he is so bent on hitting
the ball hard that he sometimes swings his
eye off the ball and misses it a mile.
Two Of the best hitters, Cobb and Jack
son, stand in an easy, natural position. So
does Lajoie, for that matter. but a bit
straighter than Cobb, and feet not SO close
together. Latoie can hit anything, and, per-
haps, more than any other batter, person
uies form Yet he doesn't follow through
to any great extent A splendid eye and
quick, well controlled, but not violent. arm
movement do the work for him. His body
is turned toward the pitcher more than
Cobb's or Jacksons. Cobb's swing is sharp
and quick and his position gives him con-
troll OF hi every movement at least prior
to his swing. The force he puts in 1t nav
pull him off his balance for an instant, but
even then he is back in position at once.
He stands square, as the golfers say, his
body facing the plate, his head bent lightly
forward in the Willie Keeler manner, and,
Of course, turned toward the pitcher. His
feet are quite still and his rowing eye sees
everything
jackson IL Calm.
Jackson, a fine batsman, stands at the
plate easily, quietly and very erect His
position Is much the same as Cobb's, but
without the slight forward stoop, and his
bat dangling Cobb's bat is held all the
way from the shoulders TO the knees, while
popularity of Jackson's is that his bat
generally is pointing toward his toes on
the other hand, the business end Of Lajoie' 5
bat points upward. Regarding that one of
the most peculiar ways OF holding a bat
was that of the old Chicago player, Fred