The Washington herald., 1914-03-04
COACHING IS A
BIG.FACT0R IN
A BALL GAME
Matty Says McGraw Is a
Wonder on the Base
Paths.
TWO KINDS OF COACHING
None but the Brainest Players Are
Now Chosen to Guide the
Runners.
TWO KINDS OF COACHING
By CHRIsTY MATHEwsON.

| "As many games are lost on the
coaching lines as in the field" is a
frequently iterated statement of
McGraw's, and he ougfrto know.
The first thing / want for ball
club is good coaching"
There are two kinds of coach
ing, defensive and offensive, but
the sort to which McGraw refers
in particular in his remark is the
work OF the men stationed at first and
| third bases to guide the runners. Coach
Ing Is really advising. and this includes
| the tips that one player on a team will
/ give another, when he Is making a play
in order to help him. There Is also
the other kind of advice when an op-
posing player will talk to throw of a
man.
That fellow Cabb Is a lucky player. Al
most any man with his run Of luck should
be hitting up around .+00.' / have heard
fans say. He gets to first base oftener
| OH errors than any player 1 ever saw"
| Does the follower of baseball ever stop
/ to figure out why this Is true? As soon
as a fast man hits ball to the fielder.
| the idea at or e flashes through the
i latter's mind that he must hurry the
play. because. IL he doesn't, the kunner
is going to beat the ball to the bag.
Therefore, he pushes through. and his
chances Of making an error are In
creased. His fellow players are apt to
| worry him by shouting: Got to hurry
| IL. Shoot it, All are urging haste
| because all realize that the runner Is
| exceptionally fast. For this reason the
/ speedy ones reac- irst oftener through
misplays than do slower players This
kind Of coaching does not help.
4 Light Tip.
l recall an instance when a little word
of advice to Larry Doyle in the final
game of the 1872 worlds series would have
4 served to steady him. A Boston runner
was ON first base. and Jake" Stahl,
known to all OF us as a slow goer. was
at the bat. He hit sharply TO Doyle and
| Larry pounced on the ball. and. with
4 out waiting to steady himself. shot IL In
| the general direction of Fletcher. cover
/ ing second. The throw was very wide,
and II was only by phenomenal, elastic
| stop that the New York shortstop got
his hand on the ball at all. The poor
throw pulled him on his balance. and he
was unable to make a play to first base
/ for the double. He was lucky to register
one out. whereas, II Doyle had taken his
time. We would have had double just
like breaking sticks. The play was right
in front of him. too.
| Hasn't McGraw told you often
| enough" said to Larry" walking from
| the box to second base, not to make a
| play on a slow runner, like Stahl. as II
he were Speaker
That's right he answered. Il thought
il was Speaker"
after that Doyle watched the batters
closely and played good ball for the re-
mainder OF the game. Now some player
should have yelled at him as he was
fielding the ball:
| PLENTY of time. Take il easy and
! make il sure. Slow man"
We would doubtless have had the double
play through this little bit Of timely
coaching.
4 New Rule.
The National League recently passed a
rule that coachers could not grab a base
| runner and throw him back on the bag in
existed in the American League, but
coachers have been able to tackle and
| hurl back wild base runners in our
league. This is 'ng to give McGraw
come trouble in advising "Red" Murray,
although Red has not run so wild on
the bases for the past few seasons as he
did formerly. There was a time when
| II WAS dlInOSI lIllpOsslDie 10 STOP MIN at
third without grabbing him and hurting
him back on the bag.
Coaching has developed rapidly in the
last few years. There used to be a time.
before smart managers like McGraw saw
the advantage of good coaching, when
any old substitute was sent out on the
lines to advise the base runners. Now
the smartest men on the various teams
man the lines. If hit is made, the
Il coacher must instantly consider many
| things. He must know the speed of the
runner he is handling. the speed of the
outfielder. the strength of his throwing
arm, and the stage of the game. At
some stages a coacher will take a chance
on sending a man home on n certain
kind of play when the risk would be
too great under other conditions
McGraw and Shafer, very fast man,
pulled a clever play against the Phillies
in a game last season which shows the
cooperation that must exist between
runner and coacher. Shafer was on first
base when there was a single to center
on hit and run play. Shafer made third
easily and was stopping up in obedience
to McGraw's sign after taking his turn,
when the Philadelphia center fielder,
about to throw the ball home, noticed
this and dropped his arm. As soon as
McGraw, watching closely, saw the arm
drop. he urged Shafer home with a wave
Of his hand. In two steps the fast
| third baseman of the Giants was at full
speed again, and had scored before the
center fielder could draw back his arm
to throw. That run won the game. The
question is, who was responsible for the
victory, McGraw or Shafer?