Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-21
Silent Language Wells Schemes of Ball Teams
Signal System Is Used on Offense and Defense

hitter, can place his hits on most any
sort of delivery
Knowing the general laws of hitting
ethics the fieders station themselves
accordingly, Every man on the team
knows just what sort of ball is going
to be served the batsman. When the
battery agrees one of the infieldels
down around second catches the sign
from the backstop He flashes it to
the rest of the infeld and to the out
field. Sometimes you will see the in
field or outfield switch suddenly after
the pitcher assumes a pitching po-
Sition. 1t is because such a pitch is
forthcoming that if the player con-
meets the ball is almost bound to
travel in certain direction. In other
words, the pitcher is playing for
batter's weakness.
The pitcher and catcher must have
absolute confidence in one another
Each depends upon the other like a
building on its foundation. The catch
er, having the play always before his
eyes, must keep the pitcher posted as
to the situations of base runners If
d
too far from his base he signals the
pitcher. The particular baseman guard
ing the territory involved must get that
sign at the same time He rushes to-
ward the bag; the pitcher, after Ger
tain specified wait-while he counts
three. for instance-whips the ball
| blindly to that cushion. If all three
q fol nj nd
calculated to fine mathematical pre-
cisiOn, the base runner may be caught
mapping. If any one falls down most
damaging error is likely to result.
Pitcher at Fault Sometimes.
Unless one fully appreciates the play
contemplated. it is impossible to fix re-
sponsibility of many a bone" The
backstop always is charged with bases
stolen by rival clubs. when maybe half
the time it is the pitchers fault in not
holding the men to their stations. The
greatest catcher in the world can not
stop a fast man who gets a good start
on slow delivery
Directly upon the cunning of signals
depends in a great measure the sue
cess of inside baseball. I'll illustrate
with few examples.
A fast man is on third base with one
or none out and one run needed badly
scientific hitter is up. Naturally the
infeld is drawn in for a play at the
plate. The batter takes a swing at the
ball as if trying for a long fly. That
"Moriarity" may be only a ruse to catch
the infield mapping. Perhaps the bat
ter Intentionally missed his swing with
the idea of attempting the squeeze
play on the next pitch. And he may
get away with it, too.
The hit and run play is one that de-
ponds for success upon the clever exc
cution of some fixed idea In this play
the runner starts with the pitch and
the batter is supposed to hit through
the infeld When the runner starts one
of the guardians of second base natur-
ally races over to take the throw from
the catcher The batter's plan is to hit
through the place where that base
guardian should be.
It's simple enough if the battery
guesses out the hit and run properly.
All that is necessary then is a pitch
out that the batter can not possibly
modest. and the runner is tagged. But
on the other hand if it proves a bluff
and the runner does not really go. a
pitch out puts the boxman in bad way.
The real good catchers are the ones
that do not ask for too many pitch