The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-05-23
Nv PAUL HALE HRUsKE.

BY PAUL HALE BHuSke.
Anv time that press and pubic
< /. arree that there Is something ap-
proaohing the sure thing coming on
S AZ our ball yard, hang out the danger
Any time that the crowds take II
Into their heads to stay away because
sof their overpowering sympathy Tor
,fhe TIGER victims, look OUT A chunk
or raw meat, thrown into the cage
where the Bengals are licking their
chops, is going 10 turn into some
thing faveHeus that will send the
monarchs OF the jungle tearing madly
about, looking for the exits!
Yesterdays game is In point The
washington club dropped in at Ben
: nett park, battered and bruised by
/ eight consecutive buffetings at the
) hands of St Louis and Cleveland, and
1 crippled by series OF Illnesses and
\ Injuries SURPRISING anything on rec
/ ord. The talent which lays the odds
1 and risks its money, offered the lib
eral quotation Of TO 1 with Tigers
on the short end. Ed Laftte-one OF
! our rapidly diminishing stan of I'M
beaten twirlers, stepped nattily on
. TIC olAU. AbAinol uAlh was
Dixie" Walker, an unlettered son OF
4 Alabama, who has been so punk on
former appearances this year as TO
y call out the threat on the part OF Man.
( ager McAleer, OF suspension In case
he failed to get himself into condl'
ton.
And then?
4 a Well, Dixie" allowed the Tigers six
scattered hits and would have held
them 20 one run but for untoward cir.
cumstances, while his mates pounded
Lafitte for eighteen-count 'em eight
een--hits and scored In five innings
out OF the nine.
IN q considerable experience In
baseball. the writer does not recall
any former game In which one team
worked the hit and run play as sue
cessfully as Washington did yester-
day.
No less than Ave times did the
Washington runners cut loose with
the pitch, drawing either Bush or Del
ahanty over to cover the sack On
each OF those occasions the Washing
ton batsman whaled the ball through
the stance left vacant by the Detroit
innelder who was covering the sack.
The base runners could always take
couple Of sacks on this procedure, and
there was nearly always someone at
the bat who was able TO get one or
them home I'm some way or other, A
\ hit and run play figured in every one
OF the Senatorial batting rallies.
When one stops to ponder the al
most miraculous ingenuity which the
successive repetition OF this feat Inn
plies. he Is necessarily smitten with
Increased amazement.
To perform successfully a hit and
run play the batsman must first de-
eide that the Detroit pitcher is going
Ito cut the plate. He must then de-
ter12Eo -k.oh .n4elder Is. going So
cover the bag. He IL then under the
necessity Of smashing the ball accur-
ately to the vacated spot To break
up the play It is only necessary for
the catcher or pitcher to waste one
ball The batsman is unable TO go
through his part Of the procedure and
the runner. as result, isf ound high
and dry, and - usually q mark for
his opponents.
Nothing like this happened yester-
day. LATTE and Stanage wasted
many pitch, but none Of the wasted
balls were those on which the Wash
ington bunch had elected to pull on
its speciality.
There was something positively
wierd and uncanny about the way
they outguessed our befuddled clair
voyants-
10 hecoucas, necessary to take cog
nee OF man whose performance
orday surpasses anything In the
records OF Lajoie, Cobb or Col
The athlete referred to Is Mr..
XtHride. the talented Washington
1hortstopper
Mr.. Mcbride has been In fast CON-
Dany long time and has been noted
o . fielder able to give Bush lively
argument for ability In grabbing ugly
gr0unders and in heaying them to
1rst with accuracy and dispatch.
Many times critics have gazed pity
lngly on Mcbride and remarked on
what grand ball player he would be,
we're he only able to get q hit occa-
sfonally.
After yesterdays performance there
II no longer any sympathy locally for
Mr.. Mcbride. Nice fielder but poor
4 hitter, chr
Take back them cruel words! Mr.
I Mcbride will henceforward be known
here as that terrible slugger whose
4 big bat IL likely to keep him In the
game for many years after his throw
ing arm has withered and his agile
iegs have become knotted with spav-
ins.
Five times Mcbride faced LATTE.
Five times he failed the ball to spots
where Detroit flelders were not. There
vas no doubt about a single one OF
his hits. They we're all clean and only
one Of them had the least element of
4 doubt about Il, this being the third
one which was fy, Just long enough
20 loop the heads of the inflelders
but too short TO permit apprehension
BY the outer gardeners. The rest OF
the Mcbride efforts were line drives
which nobody could catch.
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