Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-13
SUNDAY MAGAZINE APRIL Is. 1s,
DOING THE UNEXPECTED IN BASEBALL
Continued from page 8

vantage eight times out of ten; for the latter
is likely to be expecting fast one.
| don't believe any pitcher ever gave a
more wonderful exhibition of this kind of
pitching than Vean Gregg, the crack south
paw of the Cleveland American League
team. recall the comment of Mack on that
performance:
"Never in my life did l see greater exhi-
bition of nerve. 1t was bit of pitching that
must go down in history without an equal.
Gregg had a world of stuff; but lacked
control of his fast ball. The Athletics, a
wise team were quick to notice this fact.
Gregg had always been effective against
them and they decided to wait In the first
two innings of the game Gregg's wildness
had him in the hole constantly; but he man
aged to pull through each time. In the third
inning after he had passed the third man he
walked up to Sid Smith, who was catching,
and said:
During the rest of the game when any
batter gets the call three and two I'm going
to use my curve ball. 1 have much better
control of it than have of my fast one The
Athletics won't be looking for that with the
count three and two, and l ought to be able
to slip it over on a lot of them"
l worked behind the plate that afternoon
and should have been as much surprised as
the Athletic batters were if l had not over
heard the conversation between Gregg and
Smith. Seven times during the third and
subsequent innings an Athletic player
worked the Nap southpaw until he had the
count three and two, only to have Gregg
slip his Curve right across the heart of the
plate, and to hear me call him out on strikes
Gregg was continually doing the unexpected,
and getting away with it. 1t was truly a
marvellous exhibition of nerve
THE overwhelming defeat of the Cubs by
the Athletics in 1910 was big surprise
to a lot of folk, and particularly to ardent
National League followers. To those who
really knew the strength of Mack S team and
the resourcefulness of the tall leader, the
outcome was not unexpected Mack did the
very thing that Chance and the rest of the
Cubs did not expect him to, and it was doing
the unexpected that put the great Cub
machine to rout.
During the season of 1907 and for several
seasons following the pitchers in the John
son circuit appeared to have considerable
edge on the batters. AS a result the clubs
for the most part were playing one-run base
ball, and were using the sacrifice almost ex-
clusively. The league was accused of not
mixing up its play enough, and of not pos
sessing the many styles of attack boosted of
by the National. When American League
clubs went into the worlds series they con-
tinued to play one-run ball. When a man
reached first base it was invariably the sac
rifice, and it was an easy matter for the OPP
position to break up the play because it
knew the style of attack.
When the Athletics and the Cubs met it
was only natural for Chance and his men to
expect the same style of play that had been
shown by former American League cham
pions. There was a surprise for the Cubs
The sacrifice hit was almost completely ia
booed by Connie Mack's athletes. 1t was
the steal or the hit and run all the time
When infielders came tearing in, confidently
expecting the bunt, the ball shot by them
at rate of mile minute. No team could
possibly have presented more varied at
tack than that of the Athletics. They did
just about everything the Cubs did not ex-
pect them to do. AS result of this general
shift of play the Athletics won four out of
five. and really should have had four
straight. In almost every game the Ath-
letics decided the result in one unusual in
ming. Instead of playing for one run, they
rounded them up in punches.
Prior to the beginning of the series Mack
drummed into his men the fact that they
must try to keep the Cubs guessing all the