Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-08-08
ANALYSIS OF A BALL PLAYER
Macdonald Believes Country Boy,
Born in Summer, Stands Best
Chance Of Becoming Star.
FRIDAY IS UNIUCKY DAY

|
NEW YORK. Aug. 7.--If one IL born
In the country and during the warmer
months OF the year. he stands better
chance Of becoming a star base ball
player than II he is a city-born boy
whose birthday is in the months from
November to April, inclusive.
That. at least. IL the conclusion OF Ar
thur Macdonald. Washington. D. C., who
IL interested In the scientific study OF
the ball player and OF those things that
80 TO make for his success, outside OF
natural ability 60 play ball which he
Allows, and OF the scientific side Of which
he knows nothing and probably cares
less. 30 long as he can get his bl-monthly
pay check. The player knows no can
play ball a little better than his fellows.
Mr. Macdonald Is trying to find out
the whyi
Being born between May and October
and In the country-which means a place
with less than 1900 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
according 10 the data about the lives OF
i@ OF the crack players OF the major
league clubs. II makes one think Of
Frank Danlels' song. Never BE Born on
Friday. IT'S a Most Unbuoky Day"
Yet Macdonald takes the matter serl-
ously and shows that OF the admittedly
best players In the game. 81 per cent
zero born In the country and 60 por
cent In the warmer months, against 20
and 81 per cent. respectively, for the
city-bon who first saw the light of day
In the colder months.
Applies In other Lines.
Furthermore. he points out that ssp,,,ar
conditions exist IN the highly Et,ocosSfui
IN other trades and professions. ana.
therefore. Ia a natural law that mrs.
prove true for all ball playera, no matter
now expert or positively bone-headsd
they may be.
similarly anaiyzinE records. MacDon-
40 tinas that players under five feet
eieVeh inches In height are better bat
.ers ana noiders than those who are
.aher' and that tho superiority is greater
oasuns than I'm fielding. Thus the
'aher men, who batted for an average
% ~ OF better we're but ls per cent OF
sns whole while the shorter men had a
ie,oins average Of 40 or better, and
80 -, cent OF the taller men got
nso that charmed circle OF players.
Win a general average OF feet w
inches Tor all OF group OF $50 players.
seAusues OF whom were available. the
pitchers averaged within a fifth OF As,
inch OF six feet In height, with their
eighteen eatehers an inch and a hair
shorter the ahortstops being the pig.
mics among players. with an average
height OF but sesnt feet 81 inches
CAtehers are the heaviest. with an av-
erase weight OF i7s pounds and short
stops the lightest, their average being
but 1871
/ The Curious Facts.
curious facts Macdonald has dug up
)ut or the statistics personally collected
AZ games. These show that but 20 DER
cent OF fair balls battsd result in safo
hits OF the loe7i batted balls Of which
he has records. 20 per cent were siy
balls 81 per cent grounders. per cent
hunts and per cent line drives. Ths
latter are the best balls 10 hit FOR "a
per cent resulted In safe aits while the
percentage OF groundeFs was but s. and
OF hunts. g.
OF the long fly balls but 20 per cent
were turned into safe hits and but "a
OF per cent were muffed by the field
ers. showing these 70 ba poor productive
hits, and incidentally that Il L. a rare
thing for fielder TO mufs a battsd ball
win scientific study OF the elements
that enter into the game OF base ball
produee better player OF the game
and improve the game itselfY
Can manager OF base ball team with
statistics not now collected in scoring
the game, supplemented with anthro-
biological data. better his playing ma
chines
These are questions which MacDon-
aid has set for himself 10 answer. He
cannot reach any definite conclusions
} because complete records necessary are
lacking. He has succeeded in opening
field OF speculation rife with interest
ing possibilities however.
HeFFnaaaR IL Inprssaed.
III Chairman Hermann Of the National
commission has been 90 Impressed By