The Washington times., 1914-03-15
Grimen Practice Batting the SabbatC0bb Tells Secret

and, In fact, neither COnnfe Mack nor
his players think that these dirty look
ing uniforms are worthy Of being en-
tered in an art exhibit or a tailors'
chow.
But for several seasons the Athletics
rlaJed good ball at home. and always
They wore quite natty and pretentiOis
uniforms for travelling purposes In those
days. but perhaps they were too careful
Of them for fear OF spelling the cut or
creases or something. for they won few
dull drab travelling uniforms for the
club in 1910 They looked so bad when
new that there was no chance Of spoil
ing them. The boys got away to q fine
jump on the first trip and came through
with the pennant largely through the
good work on the rad. They have been
a great road ball club ever since, nit
ting like demons away from home. and
at home. too. for that matter. Connie
has received many protests against the
he makes the same reply:
I'VE win ball games on the road in
them. That is all We put on uniforms
for. We are not representing a fashion
ape *asss ss@"ss ses s'ss sh E'1 s9e sn'T they
tainly win ball games.
Larry Doesn't Care.
Lajois Is one Of the players who
bust them" whether he il on the road
or at home. 1t does not make any DIFF
ference to him. but he Is one ball player
who will probably never have an equal.
He Is Just a natural hitter. and / don't
look for any more ball players to have
his wonderful record for continued hit
ting. because his smooth. easy tempera-
ment Is responsible for it He has the
temperament to last. Most others have
% . L. xux~ H. -
SUSTAINED @ % pace Gajoie never nc sep tries I tho to
outsuess the pitcher. He does not need
to. He even whangs at bad balls. a
cardinal sin In most batters. and turns
them into base hits. He kind Of shuffies
uo to the plate in a sleepy sort Of way.
swagger.
Come on. / dare you to put ono
over" he says by his manner.
Lajoie has tho pitcher half licked be-
most pitchers. They are all afraid Of
him. and nervousness makes 1t easier
for him to push the pill a mile.
Lajoie Is one Of the Few free swingers
In baseball who can get away with this
hitter to be free swinger. I do not
consider myself a natural hitter. There
are not more than ten In both big
leagues at present. believe. Sherwood
National League. they tell me. is one.
I have never seen him play. LaJoie Is
one The great Delehanty used to be
one. There are players who can hold
their bats away down at the end and
long wallop at the ball. because they
have naturally remarkable eyes and
are wonderful Judges OF distance and
speed.
They Choke Their Bats.
But the ordinary starr of the game are
the men VINO choke their bats Up short
and use their wits. Speaker and COL
Iins are Of this type. They always OBJ
playing. and perhaps try to draw the
third baseman in a little with a blum
az il to bunt, so that they can blesk
one down past him. There are hum
dred tricks which can be applied when
one is at the plate II a man 10 concen-
trating on his work and las his wits
about him.
I believe it is due to constant figuring
that 1 have been able to hit When
the pitcher and get him in the hole.
Some twirlers will look at a :,ittcr's
feet, believing. perhaps. that In this
way they can get a line on where he
intends to try to place the ball.
Often. I make bluf that mean to
MT 70 rlSnt HelU, NHeH my real plan -
to get one past the third baseman. Who.
notice out Of the tail of my eye, Is
playing away from the bag foot too
far. The pitcher guesses my blum. as I
intend him to. and serves me a ball on
the outside which would be very diffi-
cult for a left-handed hitter to pull to
right. 1t is just the sort am looking
for, and I get my chance to bust 1t
over third base.
I'm kissing them all on a line, but
right into somebody's hands," I fire.
GuentIy hear batters complain Gee. I
can't get any breaks in the luck
II man finds that he fs doing this,
he should examine his own style. and
he will generally find that there is
something wrong with IT. He. him
Of luck Perhaps his feet are too close
together or too far apart. Maybe he
Is swinging too hard IN an effort to be
a hard hitter. The most foolish thing
any batter can try to do is to attempt
to drive the ball over the fence or
ing batter 1t looked to be the fault
with the Giants hitting in both series
against the Athletics that I saw. They
are naturally club Of short swinsers
and chop hittcrs. They al choke their
bats short. but against Philadelphia
they were all so anxious TO comoile
wonderful records that they forgot
their true form and were taking the
big wallop and missing the bali by .
foot in most cases. I believe It was
this fault which made them look 50
admitted It one night in 1911 when We
were in a hotel discussing the series
during the long rainy spell when the
Giants were tied up in Philadelphia
My players have tried to become
sluggers and FREQ swinEers overnight"