Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-10
HOW FANS CAN INFLUENCE !
THE OUTCOME OF A GAME
Collins Tells of Incident in Chi
cagO That Enabled Athletics 7
to Win Out.
RIOTERS FOR YOUNGSTERS
But Ty Cobb Made Philadelphia
Fans Scatter to Escape
His Spikes.
By EDDIE COLLINS
champion Second Baseman Of the Ameri-
can League.)

champion Second Basemsn OF the Ameri-
League.)
Whenever l think of how a crowd
| at ball game can collectively infiu-
| ence it's outcome, l recall to mind
an Incident which took place on the
old South Side grounds in Chicago
several years ago. Plank was pitch
| ing for us on that occasion, and the
| White Sox were giving US an awful
battle. We were leading, to 0, going
| into the ninth, when the Sox began
| to solve Eddie's delivery, and after
Billy Sullivan, Walsh and Eddie Hahn
| had singled in succession, scoring
run and leaving first and second oc-
cupied, things were not SO bright for
us. Jones sacrificed and moved his
| comrades up a base.
When this rally began the crowd,
| particularly that part of 1T in back OF
| third base and the left field bleach
ers, started to tear up newspapers.
score cards, ETC.. and to cast pieces
In the air. Fortunately for US, there
was a strong wind blowing, which
carried the majority of these paper =
| fragments directly across the dia-
! mond, giving the appearance OF
snow storm. The bleacherites. of
course, We're tickled to death. They
thought this would serve to unsettles >
Plank and the rest of the Athletics,
greatly.
| Instead 1t acted quite the con-
trary by making 1t much harder for
/ the batter to see, and so increased
| Plank's effectiveness rather than les
sened 1t. AS q result. Isbell, the next z
batter, struck out. The Sox coacher
on third tried to make the fans stop,
but they misinterpreted his protests
ing shouts, and the "snow storm" in
/ creased in fury. Result No. 2: Plank
struck Dougherty out, the game WA
over, and, thanks greatly to the Chi
cage fans, they had unconsciously
aided us to victory.
! These same fans are about as loyal.
American League rooters as you can
find anywhere. The reception our club
received in Chicago after we had de-1-
feated the Cubs for the world 8 cham
pionship in 1910 will live long in my
memory. | know it exceeded by far
anything we had ever got in any other
city number of our players re-
marked about it at the time and won
dered why the Chicago fans seemed
so glad that the Athletics had won.
-Why, that's Comiskey and his Amer
lean League bunch" some obliginG
fan answered. "Some big bunch,
was all we could say. sige.
} Some New York Fans Unruiy.
Quite a contrast to the manner in
which some few New York fans ac-
: cepted the defeat of their favorites,
the Giants, at our hands last October.
In New York, as In Chicago. we went
| to and from the baseball grounds In
taxicabs, but instead of a cheering .
mob to greet us, we usually ran the
gauntlet of a shower of sticks. stones,
ripe vegetables. and other missiles too
numerous to mention. Beyond the
smashing of a few window lights In
our taxis, no damage was done, how
4 ever. 90
Similar Reception for Giants.
The Giants got taste of the same
kind of friendly feeling on the part
of the Philadelphia populace last sum-
], mer when Umpire Bill Brennan rem
dered his now famous decision which
forfeited a game to the New York.
team. McGraw and his players were
certainly unjustly assailed, as they
had done nothing to influence the UNI
; pire's verdict. even though they were
benefited by it temporarily.
Boston Bugs Break Boards. y
| The action of the crowd up in Bos-
: ton at one game of the 1912 worlds
series, when they broke down a ten~
porary fence and encroached on the
' playing field. thereby causing a delay
2 of ten or fifteen minutes in starting
the game, undoubtedly ndu mucn 10
t do with its final outcome.
. As j remember Joe Wood was out
in the pitchers box, warming up all
this time, but by the time the game
finally got under way his arm had got
: cold and stiffened up. and the Giants
got to him in the initial inning for six
runs fsstr
Fans Favor Home Players as a Rule-
An overflow crowd in the outfield on
big day will frequently show par
TALLY in the way they will open up
to let a home player go as far back
as possible after O ball which
threatens to land In their midst, but
never bulge an inch for a visiting
player when he starts toward them.
| A Philadelphia crowd In right field
assumed this attitude of immobility
against Ty Cobb one day last year,
but Ty was not to be stopped by d
little opposition like that, SO in his
chase after the ball he never hesi-
tated because of the crowd at all,
but made one flying leap. feet first, 5,
in its direction and there was wild
scramble to avoid the spikes. All
managed to give him an opening, hufz
as he caught tho sphere one of his =
feet telescoped q straw hat which :
some fan had dropped in his hasty =
flight. The capture of that fly was
y worth the price Oh IL BrOSo VI muse
and then some. :
The action of several fans in the
left field bleachers in Philadelphia. =
last season, in their anxiety to grab y
a fair hit ball precipitated o long
argument between Hughie Jennings. .
manager of the Detroit team, and
Umpire Bill Dineen. The hit in ques- :
ton was one IDENTICAL with the home
run Merxle made in the worlds Sc
ries. which first struck on the play
ing field and then bounced into the
left field seats; only this one az
fan reached out and caught after III
had bounced, but before it had come
, in. Jennings contended that 1t should
have been limited to two bases, ac-s.
cording to ground rules, but Dineen~
ruled it a home run, as in his Judg-
ment it would have gone into the
bleachers anyway
Mustard for Sey bold.
Several years ago when big Socks4s
Seybold was playing right field foI-~
the Athletics, he made great pic
, ture one afternoon as he was in tho
act of capturing a fly close to the
edge of the crowd, which infringed@
on the field Some one either tripped
him or he caught his feet In the
ropes-anyway he fell backwards~~
right into a basket of fresh cut mama
and cheese sandwiches with plentys
| of mustard. which some Careless