The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-06-08
PILFERING A BASE
One Of the Most Closely Calcu.
lated Plays In Baseball.
WORKING A DELAYED STEAL.


Invented bs Harry ssevsy, Used to
Be Pulled OF by "6Is Bill" Lsnss.
Anson's Wasted Sacrifice 6unt.
Base stealing, the gentle art Of
I sprintns 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 mathe-
matical exacttude of the national
game" says Hugh 8 Fullerton In the
American Magazine. "A player who
can run eighty-fve feet in three and
one-third seconds from a dat footed
start ought TO reach second base ex
actly tied with the ball. nine times
out of ten starts, II the play is per.
fectly made by the runner, pitcher
catcher and baseman. The slightest
inaccuracy or hesitation decides the
play.
ut seems a simple matter to run
ninety feet while ball Is being
thrown sixy-eight feet and caught
and thrown back approximately 1872
feet. caught again and held in position
TO touch the runner. Yet there are art
and science In the feat
There were great base runners In
the old days. This was chiefly because
I'm the early days stealing second base
was the chief aim of the game. Mike
Eally nllIy uo,,tlfnn mho o. kxya
successive seasons stols over 100 bases.
and Big BIZ Lange. who stole 100
( times In one season. were all great
runners who would be great under
present conditions. recall 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. businesslike style, be
poked down a perfect sacrifice bunt
and went numbering toward nrst base
Lange started Cor third base. stopped
and trotted back TO second Halfway
TO the bench Anson discovered where
Lange was and came near having
stroke OF apoplexy Lange had de-
liberately permitted his captain to sac
ritice without advancing. Then by
wonderful dashing start Lange stole
third base, scored on fy. and the
game was won. Because he won the
game Anson forgave him. but the mod
ern player who attempted such thing
would be suspended and nned.
"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. II was
used with great effect by Bill Lange
and appears to have been invented by
harry Stovey. wonderful base run
ner of the early days The theory OF
the steal 10 to catch the catcher and
the inhelder unprepared and out OF
position. and It's success lies entirely in
its unexpectedness
"Lange. the leading exponent OF the
delayed steal. made 1t after this fash
ion. As the ball would be piiched 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 II he
had blundered and intended 10 try to
regain first base Ii he succeeded In
"A t.ttv ka h fa Anoe knD hA
proceeded to second at top speed But
In the great majority of cnses the
catcher would not attempt TO throw to
either base. but would keep motioning
as II threatening to throw and all
the time Lange would be edging back
inch by inch. toward first. lockeying
with the catcher The catcher. salts
fed that danger was past aud that #
was useless 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 pase The catcher would leap
back into throwing position. raise bis
arm again and throw. provided the
shortstop and second baseman had not
deserted the base and walked back to-
ward their regular positions. IL they
lost a fraction of second In recover
ing the base Lange would beat the
ball The fatal hesitancy Of the catch
er and baseman gave him his oppor
tunity.
Stealing third base from second Ia
much easier In reality than stealing
second from first. although It is at
tempted much less frequently The
runner moving up with his arm car
take more than twice the lend from
second base than from first, and. be
sides that. 1t is much easier to gain 9
flying start Il has. however, beer
declared bad judgment to steal third
except in close games with one oui
and the opposing pitcher going vel
and preventing hitting In such cases
where one run will win or tie. stealing
third is advised by many II is more
difficult to see the pitchers movements
from behind him than from one side
sull. the runner need not start Al
quickly. but can start at top speed
when he sees the pitcher swinging biz
arm. advance a third of the way te
third base and then retreat In safety
because the catcher's throw is much
longer. Also be Is in much better 20
sition to take advantage Of any sligh'
slip in the work of the battery"