Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-05-06
Bv Percy H. WHITING.

n pitchers from Detroit They
are Sperry and Caville At
least that's the red-hot tip now in
circulation.
These two men have been at De-
troits farm, which is at Providence.
Owing to the large number of
young pitchers that Hugh Jennings
has gathered together in an effort
to get a few 70 help him out in his
pennant chase. he was able TO over
stock the Providence team. and
when these two men went on the
market the Cracker club made a
grab al them.
They win Join the team al once.
T UST off an unoccupied pedestal
j in the Baseball Hall Of Fame
A bust of President Boatwright Of
the Virginia league belongs there.
President Boatwright is the only
league official ever heard of who
actually made any progress in fore
ing umpires to hurry ball games.
He has cut the average length Of a
baseball game n minutes in his
league.
Now, this doesn't mean that he
has given the fans p minutes less
of baseball action 1t means that
he has cut q minutes waste out of
the games-which is scientific
management applied to baseball,
Ninety-five per cent of all ball
III .4s-
playing. all the action, an the
baseball could be packed in less
time. All that would be necessary
would be to cut out the lost mo-
ton
The real possibilities of high
pressure baseball have twice been
demonstrated by the Atlanta team.
Once they played ball game in
what was then the record time of
a minutes Later they cut that
time to the present worlds mark
Of 80 minutes,
Both games were high-class con-
tests. None of the players made
an effort TO get out They played
the game for what it was worth,
but they cut out the hddhng, the
time killing. the lost mouon.
Hardly more than half of an or
binary ball game is action The
rest is mere stating The pitchers
are the worst offenders. They have
been bahied and mollycoddled until
they figure they aren't attracting
the right amount of attention un-
less they fiddle around a half min
ute or so every time they pitch the
ball Pat Flaherty showed us
something of the possibilities of
pitching. He never appeared 70
hurry. except on his famous quick
returns. but he never wasted a sec
ond. When the catcher threw him
the ball he took his position, swung
and pitched Would that all pitch
ers would do the same.
There is time lost by the teams
when they change sides There is
time lost BY batters in taking their
places at the bat, especially at the
first of the innings. There IS time
lost in arguing with umpires.
This lost time ought to be cut
out.
Considered as an amusement en-
terprise. a ball game is an athletic
pantomime. Now. imagine pan
tonime on the stage in which the
characters spent fully half their
time stalling. doing nothing. 1t
would be a frost A pantomtme, 10
be worth hang. must be full OF
action. The same is true Of a BAN
game.
The fault for the sloppy oondi-
ton of things in every league lies
primarily with The league presi-
dent. If he would instruct his um-
pires to hurry games they would
do it. If the umpires hurried the
players, they would cut out lot of
lost time.
a game taat lasts over two hours
for nine innings is pest With
a little conservation Of time il
would be possible 10 play any bail
game in an hour and a half II the
fans want more baseball. let's ex-
tend the game 10 ten or eleven in
nings If two hours Of baseball is
needed to draw the folks and give
theim their moneys worth, fine
business But lets pack ten or
eleven innings OF baseball into il.
THAT yedder sitton lacks
l whole lot Of being ready for a
release was demonstrated by SAT-