Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-29
PlLFERING A BASE.
Ono of the Most Closely Calculated
PLAYS In Baseball.


Base stealing, the gentle art of
sprinting and hitting the dirt is the
finest drawn and most closely calcu-
lated play in baseball and the one
that, above all others, reveals the
mathematical exactitude of the ma
tional game" says Hugh S. Fullerton
in the American Magazine. "a play
er who can run eighty-five feet in
three and one-third seconds from a
fiat footed start ought to reach second
base exactly tied with the ball, nine
times out of ten starts, If the play is
perfectly made by the runner, pitch
er, catcher and baseman. The slight
est inaccuracy or hesitation decides
the play.
1T seems a simple matter to run
ninety feet while a ball is being
thrown sixty-eight feet and caught
and thrown back approximately 1872
feet, caught again and held In posi-
tion to touch the runner. Yet there
is art and science in the feat.
There were great base runners In
the old days. This was chiefly be-
cause in the early days stealing sec
ond base was the chief aim Of the
game. Mike Kelly, Billy Hamilton,
who in two successive seasons stole
over 100 bases, and Big Bill Lange,
who stole 100 times in one season,
were all great runners who would be
great under present conditions. 1 re-
call vividly Lange's one hundredth
stolen base which established his
record. He was on second base with
no one out, and Chicago needed one
run to win the game. Anson was at
the bat. and, after his stolid, business
like style. he poked down perfect
sacrifice bunt and went numbering
third base, stopped and trotted back
to second. Halfway to the bench An
son discovered where Lange was and
came near having a stroke of
apoplexy. Lange had deliberately
permitted his captain to sacrifice
without advancing. Then by a Won
derful dashng start Lange stole
third base. scored on a fly. and the
game was won. Because he won the
game Anson forgave him, but the
modern player who attempted such a
thing would be suspended and fined.
The most effective steal ever devils
ed is the delayed steal, which, al
though used during the early develop
ment of the game, was neglected for
many years until revived by Manager
Chance of the Chicago Cubs. 1t was
used with great effect by Bill Lange
and appears to have been invented by
Harry Stovey, a wonderful base run
ner of the early days The theory of
the steal is to catch the catcher and
the infielder unprepared and out of po-
sitiOn, and its success lies entirely in
its uneXpectedness.
"Lange, the leading exponent of the
delayed steal, made ii after this fash
ion. AS the ball would be pitched he
would leave first base at top speed
and sprint as hard as he could perhaps
twenty eight to thirty-five feet, then
stop short, hesitate and act as if he
had blundered and intended to try to
regain first base. If he succeeded in
drawing the throw to first base he pro-
ceeded to second at top speed. But
in the great majority Of cases the
catcher would not attempt to throw to
either base, but would keep motiOning
as if threatening to throw, and all the
time Lange would be edging back, inch
by inch, toward first, jockeying with
the catcher. The catcher satisfied that
danger was past and that 1t was use
less to throw to first, would relax from
throwing position, ease down his arm
and get ready to toss the ball back to
the pitcher. The moment Lange saw
the arm drop and the catcher change
the position of his feet he would dash
at top speed for second base. The
catcher would leap back into throwing
position, raise his arm again and
throw, provided the shortstOp and sec
hol 10
and walked back toward their regular
positions. If they lost a fraction of a
second in recovering the base Lange
would beat the ball. The fatal hesi-
fancy of the catch and baseman gave
him his opportunity.
Stealing third base from second is
much easier in reality than stealing
second from first, although 1t is at
tempted much less frequently. The
runner moving up with his arm can
take more than twice the lead from
second base than from first, and, be-
sides that, it is much easier to gain a
flying start. 1t has, however, been
declared bad judgment to steal third
except i'm close games with one out
and the opposing pitcher going well
and preventing hitting. In such cases,
where one run will win or tie, stealing
third is advised by many. 1t is more
difficult to see the pitchers movements
from behind him than from one side.
Still, the runner need not start as
quickly, but can start at top speed
when he sees the pitcher swinging his
arm. advance a third Of the way to
third base and then retreat in safety
because the Catcher's throwing is much
longer Also he is in much better po-
stiun To tuke advantage Of any slight
slip in the work of the battery