Evening star., 1911-01-29

they are not quite enough. and DAMIEN
cries in the wilderness for ahothei
worker. :. III;
;,cb;nr staff The great hurlers who
Ielped win so many flags are now on ,le
verge of a rafting good bump. ana tue
tubs will try out a lot of new materlai On
the training trip. ,r,
c-s corralled-douby so if Moren and NC
ouillan behave. But the Reds Waiit d Iel.-
handler and would cough up cohsiueiauic
Lale TO obtain one of the proper sta,ni,a.
Good left-handers are carried by al the
,.luhS right now except Cincinnati. WneTe
the only so thpaw in sight is a Kid nameo
Schreibcr.
Mct;raw declares that his pitchers are
plenty good enough 10 take down the
banner but il will be noticed that he
is earnestly striving to reform ana re-
labilitate Bugs Raymond. ana aiso tndl
he hopes nightly for a new ieIt-nanue.
10 take the place of WiUse shouiu 'ioe
slender veteran break down.
Doom has a nice herd OF twirlers round
ed M for Philadelphia. but is far from
being fully satisfied. He mas an uHusual
number of juveniles on the list. and hopes
10 develop a couple of them into hish-
grade winners. , 80,
Pittsburg's pitching clan is on the blink
badly disintegra,ed and in need or thor-
ough repairs. As to the CardlnaiS-Weii'
Bresnalan has hopes. and nothing more.
According TO Paul Hale Bruske OF the
Detroit Times the stealing of battery signs
has become general practice In the
bIr leagues He charges that with lew
executions nearly every club In the Amer
lean League is resorting to ,nis ao-
vantage. This is what lie mas 10 say.
Steal their signs.
"A fine motto for leading partlcl-
pant in the national pastlme, Is IL not.
And yet II is one that. according 10 a
veteran big-league base ball prayer. Is
the ba battlecry-privately voiced, of course,
but nevertheless faithfully worked out
OF no less than five of the American
League clubs.
Il have it on the very best Of author
ity that such is the case My informant
is a man who has talked with the man1p,
ulators of the signal service In severai
of the American League cities. He is
man who knows these men personally
lie knows whereof he speaks.
three he said. And they do 1t in a way
that makes the famous old buzzer Of the
Phila delphia Nationals look crude and
barbarous. We players now take II for
granted every time we step on the field.
We arrange our plans to stop the thieves
as best can. They do the same py
US. Quite often we know the location
Of the signal bureau and make no secret
of 1t In our talks with the team that
maintains II. Once in while we find
IL necessary to break it up, as hughie
Jennings did in New i ork more than a
Year ago. But. as a rule. we're content
10 regard 1t a proposition Of give and
take.
"A good illustration of the way ball
players look at it is seen in the fact
that. despite the knowledge We all
nave or these signal pirates none of
us mas ever squealed to the authori-
mo- n1xr ho<J
In self-defense. and turn the tables
when we reached home. by trying to
Improve on the systems we've seen
on the road
George Stallings is regarded as the
King highwayman when it comes to
stealing signals. That is largely be-
cause he got caught at it, though. AS
matter of fact a couple Of the other
American League bosses make George
look like a porch climber alongside a
real Jesse James.
IF all the truth were known, a flock
OF form reversals in base ball last sea-
son would be whole lot easier to
explain. In particular would this be
true of the unexpected result Of the
worlds series. The Cubs didn't have
any license to win IL. but they should
have coPped several more than one
game.
:" And the st. Louis Browns. They were
rotten, of course. but not nearly as rot
ten as their standing at the end OF the
race What could you expect when
their catchers handed out signs that a
blind man could read. y block away,
with a pair Of opera glasses
las for me. | agree with Hughie
Jennings that in the long run. a team
loses much on the road as it gains
AT home toy the use of a signal serv-
ice. Players who. at home. get used
10 Knowing everything the pitcher is
going TO throw and every move of the
base runners before they make ii feel
all at sea when. on tho road. they have
10 RELY OH their own ingenuity again.
Hughie leaves no stone unturned,
though. 10 protect his signs and the
Tigers went through all last year with
the reputation of having better
burglsr-proof plan OF operating than
any club in tho league. Part of the
credit was undoubtedly due to Schmidt
and StanaGe. They gave signals with
their hands. their feet. their knees
their eyes and their teeth. Donovan
and Mullin used TO give their own signs
on the Philadelphia and New York
grounds.
"Tt makes me laugh TO hear old
fogies say that the science OF base ball
hasn't advanced in the past fifteen
years Why. good signal pirate could
take on one OF the old-time champion
clubs and show his men how to make
twenty hits every day, besides tipping
Off in advance every hit and run play
they tried to make.
"'Crooked" Why. not particularly
It's merely another element OF hazard
added to great old game Just as
eoon as the general idea gets around
that spyglass is on every sign some
way will be found To fool the spyglass
men. There are just as many bright
men hiding those signs as there are
trying to find them.
"'And when signal bureau gets
th,nps wrong his club is in far worse
straits than 1t would be without his in
reference.