Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-18
ere Equipping
MANY Autos

is quite formless. awkward. crouching
and with no freedom of motion With him
the arms are merely handles TO hold the
Pat while his body. principally the Shout
Der Is really the propelling force He Is
ball
Fred Merkle puts body as well as arms
INTO his swing. and Is a vicious swinger.
mere Is more independence so far as
arms and body are concerned than in
hitters of the Caldwell type free shout
der movement and less rightly in the
arms. but coordination which gets all
or his weight in the swing when he lands.
Like other powerful swingers. he Is 80
bent on hitting the ball hard that he
sometimes swings his eye off the ball
ana misses II a mile.
Have Easy Positions.
Two of the best hitters, Cobb and Jack
son. stand in an easy. natural position.
SO does Lajoie. for that matter, but q
bit straighter than Cobb and feet not so
close together Lajoie can nj, anything,
and. perhaps, more than any other batter,
personifies form" Yet he doesn't fol-
low 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 Jack
son s. Cobbs swing is sharp and quick
ana MS position gives him control OF his
every movement, at least prior to his
swing. The force he puts In 1t may pull
MIN on his balance for an instant but
even then he Is back in position at once.
ne stands square. as the golfers say. his
body facing the plate his head bent
slightly forward in the Willie Keller
manner, and. of course, turned toward
the pitcher. His feet are quite still nd
MS rowing eye sees everything.
Jackson, a fine batsman, stands at the
md
position.is much the same as Cobb's but
without the slight forward stoop, and his
Dat dangling. Cobb's bat is held all the
way from his shoulders to his knees.
while a popularity of Jackson is that
his bat generally is pointing toward his
toes On the other hand. the business
end of Lajoie's bat points upward Re-
garding that, one of the most peculiar
ways of holding a bat was that of the
old Chicago player Fred Pfeffer. He
held his baton pointing straight upward
like a fagpole.
Many good batters keep their feet close
best, keeps his wide apart He faces the
pitcher with body As well as head. his
feet. one in front of the other. both
pointing out toward the diamond Ap-
parently he carries the weight on the
forward foot and bats off of one leg He
makes fiagpole out of the bat and
waves it. grasping IL at the end. He gets
MS whole weight in his blows. but with
out DelnS DOCy SWlnSer BODY, legs
and arms all play their part effectively,
though not gracefully, co-ordinated.
Wagner's Form Varies.
Wagner's form varies according to
his mood. Usually the great Dutchman
stands with his feet well apart. but he can
hit from any position. and sometimes
changes. His body is in his swing. and
his arms more SO. Sometimes he swings
SO hard he all but falls down IL he does
not land, ana sometimes he takes a slow
swing. He is a batting genius who can
afford to disregard canons about the ball
coming over the plate, and occasionally
offers at balls over his head or across
the plate from him. On hit and run
play he and Chase have been known to
lunge across the plate and clout a near
wild pitch safely past the infield.
Another star hitter, Eddie Collins is
loose and shambling at the plate. His
however. are under perfect
control. He hasn't the quiet poise of the
more statuesque Lajoie, and his bat is held
in various positions, though he doesn't
held, he brings il into use with the swift
est OF motions when ready to hit He is
absolutely unconstrained at the bat, the
picture OF unconcern. but for all that
alertly confident. Though comparatively
small he, like Byrne Of the Pirates. hits
the ball almighty hard.
PonderouS or agile, awkward or grace
full, styles of form are of as much vari-
ance among the best batters as there are
batters. One thing they have in COM
mon. the discriminating eye.