Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-06
WATERS" VALUABLE
AS RUN GETTERS
Cardinals 0verdid This Fea-
ture, But Bresnahan's
Idea Is the Right One.

NEW YORK. February THAT per
sonal ideas and characteristics of the
manager of {: ball club can be reflected
in the players is proved in the records
which were recently issued showing that
ST. Louis led the National League in me
number Of bases Oh balls and that the
Giants led the league in hitting.
Until Brosnahan became manager OF
St. Louis the Cardinals had never been
considered a good waiting club. He
was tho best waiter that Mctiraw ever
had, and that is why he was put at the
top of the batting list. Roger always in
sisted on waiting for that fourth ball
even if he ran the risk of being called out
on strikes With two strikes and three
balls on him he would often let the next
one go by in the hope that the umpire
would give him the benefit of the doubt
and call it ball. When Bresnahan
went to ST. Louis he carried the idea with
h m and forced all his players to become
walters. 1t SO hapI cncd, however.
that Roger PLAYED ii too strong and the
team did not get enough hits to drive the
runners in
The Cardinals became such chronic
walters" that they would always take
the first strike without making any at
tempt to hit at it, .MathcWson said they
always dItoNt' u ilIUi 10 Set me iiISi s~iIihe
on thcm. and that is q b < advantage.
The only man that switched me. "
Sa ii Matty. was IionetchE. and one day
when ! put him an easy one over he hit
it for three bases. ! was SO surprised
that for minute / Gidn't know how to
proce d..
In the case Of tho Giants their hitting
record also reflects the ideas of Mctiraw.
The Giant manager, III his playing days,
was esSent ally a hitter. He AWAY. be-
li.l cd in citing fHp Ina
there is Il man on first, he Will always in
sist on the player hitting in behind the
runner or working the hit and run. He
drove that idea into his PLAYERS. and in
that way a large number of hits We're re-
corded that would never have been made
if waiting policy had been pursued.
Il had rather strike out than nit a
ball toward the snorIsto,, with a runner
on first McGraW said to Snodgrass one
day He has always insisted that wal
lop in that direct on does more harm
than a strike-out as it gives "a chance for
double play. On strikc-out the run
ner would at least nave Il chance OF
stealing second
"A man who cannot hit into right field
or behind base runner is not d coed
hitter. no matter how good may be his
eye said the Giant manager the other
night While the st. Louis club got
more bases on balls than any other team,
you will notice that they did not get
anything like as many runs A good
waiter Is IL NdlidB ne tlllnS 10 nave on a
ball club. but there is a limit to it. If
everybody practiced ii we would have
very few cleanup hits.
Another peculiar fact that is shown by
the new records is that Cincinnati was
the best tase-stealing club in the lea que.
The Reds were also a good hitting team.
Putting those two things together it is
hard to understand why they failed to
make as many runs as the other clubs.
Arthur Irwin explains it by saying that
the Reds ran bases at the wrong time.
If they had saved their steam. according
to Arthur and had used it when a
stolen base meant lot in the game
they would have made many more runs.
The Reds had a very bad habit of trying
to steal second with nobody out The
trouble was that they tried it too often
and the catchei'S got or to them. Ariie
Latham says that if the Reds had prac-
ticeI hitting in Deh nd the runner when
the steals were attempted they would
have been the hardest club in the league
to beat.
Clark Griffith has always been a great
advocate of base stealing. While man
aser of the Highlanders he had a Won
derful base stealer in Davy Fultz In
fact, Davy led the league in stolen bases
and hit far below There is a lot
of difference between the terms base
running" and 'base stealing A player
OFTEN shows himself a good base runne:
by not trying to steal.
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