Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-01

of the same family (no rela-
tion) from the Georgia Railway and
Power Company, went out to Ponce
DeLeon Park Saturday and laid off
the diamond for 1914 ball games,
scaling it down to gnat's heel in
tenths of an inch-pitcher's slab,
home plate, base lines, foul lines, and
all
And in this connection it may not
be out of order to gossip a trifie on
the manner in which a proper base
ball field is laid out-at any rate, we
should like to have one iron man for
every fan that writes in or calls by
telephone during the season to know
how far the pitchers slab is from
the plate, or how far away the fence
must be to make a home run legal.
Figured in Inches.
A regulation ball field is laid out
with nearly as much accuracy as a
billiard table. The distance between
the bases tas nearly everyone knows)
bred knows that. while first base and
third base are inside the lines, sec
ond base is placed so that the key
stone corner of the diamond is just
at the center of the bag. In the case
of first and third, the lines run along
the outside edges of the bag. The
bag itself is Is inches square.
mark at which the toiling pitcher has
to shoots square on the side facing
the slab, and is II inches across at
that point. To the batter, it fire.
ouentIy seems to be fully a yard
across. while many a perspiring slab
man has been willing TO make an af-
fidavit that the alleged plate is not
more than two inches wide. At times.
the pitcher appears unable to see it
at all Umpires also have been known
to suffer from this optical dersnge-
ment, and another equally provoCa-
tive of assault and battery known
as Swinging plate"
The Home Run Fence.
There is no problem of a home run
fence at Ponce DeI4eon, because it
would take two wallops. one begin
ming where the other Finished, to lit
one over the harricade Wallop
Smith and H. Welchonce cut loose
a number of punches last year that
looked good enough to get into the
fence climbing class of homers. but
the ball always got tired by the time
it had out distanced racing fielder
and came to rest amid the clover.
On smaller fields, however, the fence
must be not nearer than 235 feet to
the plate TO validate a home run.
Some teams with small fields made a
practice of collecting a bunch of left
hand hitters. If the right field is the
short one, and training them to ham
ner long, high flies in that direction.
which feature is a distinct advantage
when playing at home against a team
whose hard pokes go out to left
field.
There Is Mo "Pitcher's Box"
One of the most common refer
ences heard in the discussion of ball
games, even by close followers of tho
game, or players themselves. is that
so-and-so was knocked out of the
box" or that so-and-so took his place
'in the box"
There is no such thing as a pitch
er's box" There used to be-a reg
ular box. like that in which the bats
man stands, or is supposed to stand.
The pitcher could cavort about in this
box as much as he liked, so he did
not overstep the boundary lines.
But for a good many years the
pitcher has regulated his position by
a slab OF rubber, two feet long and
six inches wide at a distance of so
feet and inches from the home
plate. In pitching, he must keep his
rearward foot in contact with some
part of this slab, not moving forward
more than one step in delivering the
ball.
The "Turtle back" Trick.
There also is a provision that the
pitchers slab shall not be more than
fifteen inches above the level of the
base lines or the home plate, which
restriction was made to prevent some
very pretty little jobs being put up
by the home team on its guests.
Every diamond must be a turtle
back"-that is, it must have a little
slope outward from the center, so as
to drain freely after a rain. Some
enterprising managers discovered that
by raising the pitchers mound" and
thus elevating him considerably above
the batsman's footing at the plate, he
was able to shoot down upon his un-
fortunate adversary a most devastat-
ing assortment of curves and fast
ones At first glance 1t would appear
that this advantage was equal for
both teams: but 1t must be remem-
hered that the visiting pitchers would
be unused to pitching downhill, and
could not control their stuff.
The Memphis team still is known
as the Turtles because of one of these
exaggerated turtie-back diamonds,
inaugurated (as We recall it, while
Charley Babb was manager. Protests
from other clubs finally caused the
league management to order
change.
These are only few of the inside
points of laying out a baseball dia-
mond The whole affair represents
careful study and the development OF
many years The greatest change is
that of the pitchers distance from
the plate, which at one time was only
as feet-a distance at which Walter
Sohnson's fast one would look about
the size of BIB shot, and would
surely murder the catcher.