Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-09-30
ADVANCE DOPE
DOESN'T HURT
BALL PLAYERS

his daily baseball stories which he
syndicates to q number Of papers.
that Manager Herzog OF Cincinnati
wants to see the Giants beaten out
OF the pennant Herzog. who was
slipped something Of lemon when
with the New York team. Is accused
of tipping on the weak points Of the
team TO other managers Matty's stuff
was written before Boston put the
Giants down fors the final count, but
II his dope is correct, then Herzog
must be wearing broad smile.
However, big Six doesn't think
that advance information is much ac-
count in baseball, and he gives some
interesting examples. He writes in
part as follows:
/ don't for a moment believe any
thing Herzog may have told the mem
bers and managers of other clubs OF
the supposed Weaknesses of the Gil.
ants has hurt the New York team.
He does not know any more about
the flaws Of the club than does the
average manager nc has been IN
the league for a yea or two, and be-
sides, II is hard to get knowledge OF
any great value In this second hand
ed way. We have been told before
worlds series OF the grooves" and
weaknesses Of our opponents by base
ball men supposed to know. but
have never found that this informa-
ton profted us to any extent. It Is
the same with pitcher when he IS
working on batter he has never
faced before. He can obtain only
general knowledge of the hitter's ten
denotes from another twirler, but ne
must discover the fine points OF work
ing on him for himself, fitting them
to his own style. When first pitch.
ed to Delehantv at the time he was
with the old philadelphia club some
body had told me that he did not Ike
a curve ball. He hit to the fence
two curve halls handed him. After
ward / tried fast ones on the corners
and got better results.
It is natural for man Of Herzog's
nervous Temperament, TO want to see
his old club beaten after he has LETT
ii. In fact, most players following
transfer to another ,eam are glad to
see the old crowd trimmed. None OF
us bears Herzog any hard feeling on
this angle. 'sHerzie. even went so
far as to tell Hpggins that Il. ST. Louis
once caught us we would quit cold.
Mike Mitchell and Dick Hoblit-
zell, discarded by the National League
this season, went over into the Ameri-
can and have been among the leading
hftters since their tsebut. And yet
the opinion prevails among experts
that the pitching In the American
League is more air tight than that IN
the National and the hitting lighter In
the National than IN the American.
How. then, did Mitchell and HoblitzeH
compile such records?
The answer is that the pitchers In
the American League did not know
these batters and their weaknesses
when they first went over, and both
men were inspired by new ambition,
such as a change in team will often
do for player. When q twirler faces
a new hitter he begins studying him
carefully, his position at the plate,
etc, to discover what he does not
like. IL the new batter smashes
high, fast one to the fence the pitcher
at once makes mental note OF the
fact that he wants 20 keep the ball
away from that zone.
Z Many batters have made sensation
al records when they first broke into
the big leagues, only TO take bad flops
after travelling at the fast clip for q
short time. Others come in and bat
the ball hard for = few weeks and
then drop back to their normal posi-
tion. Still others arrive, hit hard and
never do fall back. Few are In this
class, and they are known In the
league as the linen without grooves
For a long time after Eddie Collins
began to play regularly with the Ath-
letics all the pitchers In the American
league were busy trying to figure his
grove" At last they concluded that
he did not have any weakness. and
they have been going ahead on this
basis ever since.
Meyers Disliked Low Curve.
Look at Meyers when he first be-
gan batting the National League. He
was the terror of all pitchers until
somebody discovered that he did not
like a low curve on the outside, and
the news spread around the league.
Snodgrass of the Giants made great
squirt after he first began to play
regularly, as did Davey Robertson.
In the deciding game of the 1913
worlds series with the Red Sox Hen
erickson, a youngster, was put in as
a pinch hitter in about the seventh
inning. He got himself in a hole
right away with two strikes, one be-
ing called by Silk O,Laughlin that
looked little bad, one of the few
which did in that series. Then tried
to get Hendrickson to bite at a bad
ball, but he let two pass, showing
good nerve. Next gave him a. curve
on the outside OF the plate, Hendricks
son being left handed hitter. He
hooked it over third for two bases.
That hit cost us the game and, final
y, the series.
The question of whether the pitch. |
ing and hitting are better in the
American League than the National
Is hard to decide. The fans say the |
hitting is better because players like |
Cobb and Jackson collect higher an
-.