The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-01-27

bhlGHtSii wv Az hSh bttAN~i
is a phrase current in baseball, and the
same goes for the defensive part OF the
game as well. Great feiders are natu-
raj born bali players. II makes no dif-
ference whether they be infieiders or
fly chasers In the outer garden. they
must have a natural aptitude for the
position they play.
Once in q while comes a great all
around player like Mike Kelly, Hans
Wagner. Lajoie, Moriarty or Hal Chase.
/ but as a general rule a player sticks
1 to the place for which he is most MT
| ted.
I At times one reads about an IN
/ felders OF ordinary ability developing
/ into a star ontfielders, or vice versa,
/ and numerous cases are known where
/ fair box artist has proved a great
| gardener--Van Haltren and Cy Sey-
/ mour. for instance. Mitchell, pitcher,
| became catcher. which is rare case,
and Hans Wagner and Jimmy Collins,
! outfielders, became the greatest infield-
/ ers in their positions the game ever
knew.
Tssney Was Versatile.
| Fred Tenney is an instance OF
| catcher who became an ontfielders ana
| then showed all the first basemen how
! that position should be played When
/ the former Brown player Joined the old
Boston Nationals he was regarded as
| the best catcher in the college world.
| He proved such a good batsman that
Frank Selee wanted him to play regu-
larly, so he placed him in left field.
! When Tommy Tucker went bad Selee
put Tenney on first, and his record
there is known to all baseball fans.
! Consequently Tenney Is one who
speaks with authority on the game
| from every angle.
The better the outfielder the more
quickly he judges the flight OF fly
ball after 1t leaves the bat, Tenney
says o. The good outfieder judges the
place where a fly ball will come down
before the ball reaches the topmost
point in it's art of flight. He judges ii
before the break or angle In the curve
the ball Is describing. If he waits un-
til the ball reaches the zenith of it's
flight, he ls not good fielder; and II
he cannot Judge it's downward course
until the bail has passed It's meridian.
he Is still less proficient. The sooner
he gauges the balls flight the more
time will he have TO be there when 1t
comes down.
McAleer a Wonder.
Jimmy McAleer was a wonderful
Judge of fly ball" says Tenney, and
another was Tom Mccarthy. With
them 1t was to a large extent instinct.
1t seemed to me that McAleer was
able to judge fly bali, the instant 1t
left the bat for l have seen him turn
at the very sound of the bat, dust
out as fast as he could go and never
look back until he was ready to put
out his hands and make the catch.
/ suppose he was able to Judge the
force by the sound and to Judge the
angle of the curve instantly or al
most instantly after the call left the
bat, With most FEEDERS the course of
a balrs descent Is judged just before
1t reaches its highest point, while it
is still rising, and fielders like Nc
Aleer and Mccarthy were able TO
Judge that break or angle by the time
the ball had traversed half OF Its as
cending arc. They judged force by
the sound and the trajectory by sight
and did 1t with instructive quickness
, and accuracy"
Long and Bridweil.
Tenney says the best infielders are
those who follow the ball" Such a
fielder was Herman Long and such a
| one Is Al Bridwell. That Is. as soon
as "a ground ball In hit they get in
/ motion to cut across it's path. Field
ers of this sort are in a position to
cover more ground than the fielder
who Ii not in the habit OF following
every ball hit and even If the former
can't make play on the grounder
they are SO moving as to be at the
right place to make the play likely to
arise after the ball has been fielded.
For instance. # Il shortstop is moving
toward a grounder hit to right field
he IL nearing second base. where. IL
there is a runner on first, the next
play IL likeiy To be made. This fol-
lowing Of the ball isn't instructive like
judging tiy. says Tenney, but II
practiced 1t gets to be q habit. Some-
times, as in the case OF a third base
man, following the ball may draw him
away and cause him to lose play
at third, but the percentage of plays
which he will be able to make by fol-
lowing the ball will be greater than
that OF plays he viii lose.
| Keeping ON the Move.
One of the secrets of fast inheld
is being on the move" Tenney con-
tinued. The catcher's signs tell the
| infielders what ball the pitcher Is go
ing to send up. and they anticipate
| where the batter Will hit the ball.
One reason Herman Long covered so
much ground was because lac not only
! followed the batted ball, but also be-
cause he was always so balanced az TO
get In motion for q ball that was ike
1 ~ to be the result of what he knew
the pitcher was giving the batter.
Il remember once Vic Willis was
pitching for Boston and Jesse Tame
hill was at the bat Long saw as
willis wound up that he was gong
/ 10 give Tannehill low ball and Tan
nehill could wallop that kind. He
was apt to paste them hard TO right
/ field.
| NO, no. don't give him that"
| cried Long but Willis was just let
| ting the ball go and Long darted
across the diamond in front of the
second baseman as fast as his legs
would carry him. He knew that Tan
nehill was apt 10 slam the ball to
right field and he wanted to head II
! off. There were two strikes on Tan
nehiil. and as luck would have 1t he
missed this one and struck out. Long
described a circle, came up to Willis
from the direction OF first base. grab
bed him by the hand and exclaimed