Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-03
CONFIDENCE BATTER'S BEST
d ASSET, SAYS ED COLLINS
Players Might Learn to Field,
but Must Be Born
Batters.
SOME HlTTERS HAVE "JINX'
Cobb Finds 1t Hard to Hit
coornbs, Lajoie DisIikes
White.
BIZ EDDIE COLLINS
champion Second Baseman Of the
American Leasue)

American League.)
''Frank. play a little deeper OF
Crawford" said Connie Mack Il
Baker one day in Detroit after San
: had hit sharply along the third-bas'
line for a double.
"But if I play back, Connie, he'll
bunt." answered Bake. loath to lose
the argument.
Say, any time we can make Sam
Il Crawford resort to bunting he's fol
us" replied Connie, land that goes
for any other slugger like him. You
don't notice any of the third basemer
In on top of you when you're at bat
do you ?" asked Connie Of our home
run artist. MOO" slowly answered
Frank. but you see"
..That'll do interposed Connie, sat
isfied that Bake was convinced, only
would not admit it.
Comics point was that any good
hitter. such as Crawford and Cobb,
who is 'going good" would be foolish
to attempt TO bunt. If a player is in
a slump-suppose he has gone to bat
fourteen or fifteen times consecutively
without a hit-then I would say. let
him try to get on by some other
means than by smuggling straight
Rway-a bunt, or playing the pitcher
down to the limit with the hope of a
pass, anything to change his luck
and bring back his confidence. But
for man who hits for so many extra
bases as Crawford usually does, Con-
ME would be glad to see him willing
to try for only one, and that's why he
spoke to Baker as he did.
What constitutes a good hitter,
anyway? In the first place. what is q
good hitter? In answer TO this /
would say one who hits .275 or better
for a season in the major leagues.
: Yes. one who can maintain $50 is a
dangerous man at all times. Aver
ages are deceptive, it's true, but they
assist in drawing comparisons OF diff
ferent kinds of hitters.
Good Batters Are Born. Not Made.
In my opinion, to begin with, good
batter is born, not made. 1t is not a
case of a man inheriting any charac-
teristics of his forefathers, but the
art of hitting must be natural. A
young player may begin crude, awk-
ward fielder. but these faults he can
overcome more or less by proper in
,struction and practise, and while the
saying goes, practise makes perfect,
the analogy does not follow with hit
ting. Regardless of how industrious
or conscientious a player may be in
his hitting practise, if he has not that
natural swing or knack of meeting
the ball squarely on the nose, he will
never attain much success with the
baseball war club.
The way to account for the wide
difference in the prowess of hitters is
primarily by the possession of more
natural ability by one hitter than an
other and the development of this
characteristic more by some hitters
than others.
~ But there are two other major re-
quirements with some minor assets
t. which go to constitute what is COM
monty called q good hitter" These
are. confidence and Judgment.
"a There are many players in the mi
nor leagues today who are stars in
their positions at bat and field on a
par with major Lacquer, but when
Incomes to performing in the big
show they are not there simply be-
cause of a lack of confidence. Put
any one of these individuals among
major leaguers CARRIED in bush league
uniforms. and if he did not know
them to be majors the chances are he
would hit 800 or more, just as they
do.
d. Some players have Confidence"
Ito bat. Look at Lajoie-, Why you
can almost hear him say, Put it
over here and I'll hit it a mile" as
he saunters up to the plate, gives
1t wa.llop with his bat, and as
sumes an attitude of "Oh, this is
cinchl" while he waits for the
pitcher to wind UP. Whereas Lar
ry'' exhibits his confidence by his
easy, matter of-fact attitude, Cobb
rri1f mi 20 hatr 1nxz
dash, vim, what one might think
nervousness or seeming anxiety to
have it over quick. But its all of
the same brand. They seem to
say to the opposition, I've got
q something on you and you know It,"
Barry Has Confidence.
1t is not necessary to take these best
hitters for examples of what conf
dence means to the batter; for in
= stance, scrutinize Jack" Barry a
moment with me. a player who u.s.
ually averages around .265, but who
is feared as much as any 300 hitter
in the league. He is the personifica-
ton of confidence itself. When it
comes down to bed rock for pure nerve
and perseverance, he can't be beat. He
is a masterful exponent of the
squeeze play, the execution of which
calls for the biggest lot of self-con-
fidence which can be called into a
play by a hitter. Many times last
year the situation of a man on sec
ond and third with one out would
confront Barry when he came to bat
and invariably he would score them
both via the squeeze, everything de-
pending on his skilful execution of
the play. He had absolute conf
dence in himself to go through with
1t, whereas many players would have
preferred to hit straight away, and
II they failed, there was still a
chance for the succeeding batter to
drive in a score.
Certain pitchers are hoodoos for
certain batters just because the feel
ing exists that you can not get one
safe, no matter how hard you try.
And the reverse of this is often true.
Tinker VS.. Mathewson / have heard
an awful lot about, although I never
saw them pitted against each other,
but I've always heard it said that
Joe" seemed to have something on
'Matty.' Larry" Lajoie, a batter
without an apparent weakness, al
ways had trouble when up against
doc" White, of the White Sox and
never hit him any to speak of
Coombs is one of the few pitchers
who has something on Tyrus the
great. Speaker at one time could not
hit Plank's offerings with a paddle,
but he found himself one day last
year and got four in a row against
EDDIE" a case Of where persever-
ance finally overcame a lack of con-
hdence. Now Speaker seems to have
something on our left-hander. instead
of the shoe being on the other foot.
Just how good judgment will aid a
player mat erially at bat, and other