The Washington herald., 1913-09-07
Defines
PUzzLING Play
Cincinnati" Base Hit Is Dis
cussed; Its Origin, and
What Is Intended.
1T HAS BEEN ABUSED
Common Sense Should Be Employed
by Scorers in Order that Fayorit.
ism May Not Be Shown.
By w. ]. MACBETH.

By W. J. MACBETH.
! New York. Sept. 6-The cincinnati"
/ base hit is a much abused and little un-
! !derstood stranger in baseball. Its mis-
sion was all well enough: the trouble is
that the ma jority of our scorers refuse
to get properly acquainted with il. A
few days ago the publisher Of one Of
New YOrk's greatest papers asked one Of
his sporting writer's to explain the "Cin-
cinnatf' base hit. The writer fiunked.
He didn't understand it himself.
That is one of the great troubles. At
the Polo Grounds within the last few
weeks / have seen hits slipped to favor
ties where the rankest sort of errors had
been committed. / do not think that any
OF the scorers Intentionally favored the
batter. 1t was a case OF Unfamiliarity
with the sense of the new scoring rule.
Common sense. after all, is a pretty fair
guide to a proper solution of every prob
lem. The Cincinnati base hit-as the
name irnplies-originated in the home city
of the Reds. Sporting writers of Garry
Hermann's town believed that under GER
tain conditions when a batter helped his
running mate to advance without himself
being retired, he should be credited with
a base hit and not charged with a time
at bat and nothing to show for it, as
prevailed when the PLAY was formerly
ueslEhdlcS = utlutI > GnOlCc
An Old FIeIder's Choice.
Here was the proposition pure and sim
pie. The old felder's choice was Just
what the name implies. With one or
more base runners on the paths when
the ball was batted to a fielder, the lat
ter had uhe choice of making a play at
any one of several bags. II a force play
resulted or If the batter was retired at
Il =
the hitter being credited with a time at
bat and nothing more. Naturally when
there appeared time for the play it was
always policy to try to force the man
who had progressed furthest around the
bases. Often long chances would be
taken with him. where an out at first
, would be a dead certainty.
But If the play were made other than
at first base il always left open to argu-
ment the question as to whether or not
the batsman might have beaten the ball
to first base. 1t was maintained by the
advocates of the Cincinnati" base hit
that there was no way to tell for sure in
the absence of the play at first base
whether the hitter would or would not
have been retired. II was maintained
that the runner should be given the
benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, Z
vas argued that the skill OF base run
ner in avoiding retirement in the face
OF a possible force-out should reflect TO
the credit of the batsman.
Teamwork Must Prevail.
Team play is one Of the most neces-
sary essentials of a winning club. Har-
mony between batter and base runner
must prevail at all lines in order to
establish this characteristic. In the in
terests Of the base ruItner the batter
must often take chances ION hitting balls
at which he would not offer if left 10 his
own initiative. of il no base runner pre-
cSded him. Working in conjunction with
the runner and having to jeopardiZe his
chances Of hitting safely thereby. it has
been argued that whatever return the
base runner may give is nothing more
than fair and just TO be credited toward
the joint cause of the two.
The Cincinnati base hit was never
intended to be abused the way il has
been. It was not the sense of the rule
TO credit the batter with hit every time
the opposing side failed to register an
out Scores should figure as prominent
ly in this play as in any other. No one
man-handled. The fact that the play
may be made to some other than first
base does not eliminate fielder's LA
bility 10 err.
Recently at the Polo Grounds a double
play was missed because a fielder
failed to tag second base before making
his relay. That shows up the 'Cincin-
natl base hit" said an old scribe. But
it didn't show up anything of the kind.
The fielder who failed to touch second
base was as guilty of an error, in my
estimation, as if he had dropped the
ball. He should have made sure Of re-
tiring the furthest advanced runner. OF
course, most scorers do not give an error
when an out is registered Still there is
an axample where. the common sense of
the baseball rules should make the
charge OF a misplay inevitable.
The more one considers the "Cincin-
nati' base hit. the more fair II seems.
A batter is not charged with a time az
bat when he sacrifices or Intentionally
advances a runner a base to his own
Why should he be charged
with a time at bat and not given a hit
when he not only advances one or more
runners but likewise reaches first base
safely himself? Certainly he has done
more for the common cause than the fel-
low who is lucky enough to drop a bunt
into the inheld- 1t stands to reason,
also, that his bat has been Of more
service than that of the man who scores
a runner from third as the result Of a