Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-29
GOOD AS A RESCUER
Tom Hughes of Braves is the
CIeverest in Major Leagues.
PICKED OFF TEN AT FIRST
Boehling Has Nipped Seven, and Is
Tied With Cicotte and Alex
ander for Fourth Place.

ander for Fourth Place.
BY ERNEST ]. LANIGAN.
Long Tom, Hughes of the Braves
not only has proved to be about the
best rescuer in the major leagues this
season-he also has set the pace at
picking ambitious or sleepy runners Off
their bases. Never before has anybody
taken the trouble to find out how many
athletes a hurler caught Off the cush-
ions, this brand of dope being some
thing entirely new. Previous to col
lecting it the opinions of two major
league captains were sought by the
writer az to the six best men. Johnny
Evers of the Braves, in his answer.
said: 81 will do the best ! can to tell
the six best in our league at catching
men OFF bases. Your pick of Hughes
is good, but Tom has fallen down at
that end lately. Rudolph is a corker
and James is good. So are Aitchison
of Brooklyn, Cheney Of Chicago, Cooper
of Pittsburgh, Alexander and Matty.
Many of the corking men in this line
catch few, but they hold the men close
to the bases"
This was the response of George
Moriarty,l Held boss of the Tigers:
In my opinion the six best pitchers in
the American League at picking men
off the bases are as follows: Walsh,
Scott and Cicotte of Chicago, WARRIOR
and Caldwell Of New York, Wood OF
Boston and Boehling of Washington. 1
have named seven instead of the re-
quired six, because it would be ex-
tremely poor judgment to omit the
name of Walsh just because he is not
in active pitching service. Walsh, in
my opinion, is the master of all hurl-
ers in picking men off and gluing
men on to the sacks"
The choices of Evers and Moriarty
are substantiated by the figures, which
show that Hughes leads the National
League hurlers in picking men OF the
fingers. Long Tom" has ten victims
to his credit, all of them shared OF the
getaway sack. Death Valley Jim"
claims eight victims, six nipped off
first and two of second. James OF
Chicago also claims that the jumps are
a trifie hard on him this season and
are calling phantom bafks on him.,
Not Doing So Well.
One thing Is certain-Scott is not
catching as many men OF first this year
as he did last, Jim making wonder
full record in this respect in 1914,
though no one knows just how many
FASTENERS he nailed. In the game play
ed at the Polo Grounds, May rs, 1914,
for example, Scott twice caught Trues-
dale mapping and once he found Maisel
asleep. Hughes, May ~ of this year, in
game with the rejuvenated Reds,
eaualed SCOTS 1914 performance or
getting three men off the bases in one
contest, Charles Lincoln Herzog. who
lately found out that the president OF a
club can, and the manager can't sell a
player, being detected too far away
from Schmidtville twice.
Even if Scott does head the American
League pitching brigade in nipping
men off the bases. he doesn't rank as
runner-up to Hughes. That position
falls to Sherrod Smith of the Superbas,
one of the many men scattered through
the major leagues once the property of
the Pirates. The Brooklyn southpaw
has picked nine athletes off the bags.
The pitchers who have caught five or
more men this year are hughes OF the
Braves, 10; Smith of the Superbas, 8:
Scott Of the White Sox, 8; Alexander of
the Phfllies, Z; Cicotte of the White
Sox, Z; Boehling of the Nationals. q;
Adams of the Pirates. s; Rfxey OF the
PhiIlies, S; Benz of the White Sox. S;
Dell of the Superbas, S: Mamaux of the
Pirates, s; Marquard Of the Giants, 5;
Tesreau of the Giants, 5: Perdue of the
Cardinals, S; Coumbe OF the Indians, .,
and Shawkey, who started the season
as a White Elephant and VINO VIII
finish it as a Yankee, S. In giving the
pitchers credit for catching men on the
bases no attention has been paid to the
athletes who have been thwarted when
they tried to steal home.
Most of the men caught have been
picked off first, but quite few have
perished at second and small group
have met their fate at third. Coumbe
of the Indians and Weilman OF the
Browns are pitchers who specialize IN
throwing the ball to second SO that tne
runner can't get back. Each man has
picked four Of the enemy off the key
stone hassock, the Indian once having
saved himself from possible defeat by
a. quick throw that shared an opponent
The pitchers who have cauEn. men ns . on
White Sox, McQuillan of the Pirates.
Niehaus of the Cardinals and ShaWkey
of the White Elephants The athietes
trapped were, respectively, Mcbride OF
Washington, OMara OF 6rooklyh, Me-
hoff of Philadelphia and Pipp of New
York, 1t is a fact worthy Of comment
that the players who are caught on the
bases by pitchers are generally good
base runners. -
runners each major league pitcher has
nicked off first, second and third this
sea son:
CAUGHT OFF BASES BY PITCHERS
Braves. 2s-Hughes. 10, all of nrst; Tyler, =:
all Of hrst Rudolph Il r. sr on n 5sms ana Oh
s srst. Gru nIs.r i, T. Oh second.
81 Ph .aeand Ki1sy ali OF rsr; Demaree
ali ali al first; Mayer. 3. all OF first: Lineup. 2.
both OH first: Chalmers, 1. OF second; Baum
White sox. 20-Scott 8, 8 of first and ? o.
second: Cicotte. Z, q OF first and on third;
Beng s. all on first.
Superbas, 1s-Smith. 8, on first and ] on
second: Dell 5. all OF first; Coombs. 2, both
OF second; Rucker, 1, OF first; Prefer, 1, on
Pirates. 1T-Adams. 6. all. OF first: Mamaux.
K ali OF first; Councilman. 3, all on nrst:
Kantlehner, 2, both OF first; McQuilian, 1.
Giants. 1e-Marquard. 5, all OF first; Tesreau.
&. 3 on first and 3 Oh second; Strond. 2. both
OF second; Perritt. 2. both OF first; Hitter l.
on first: Mathewson. 1, on first.
Cardinals 1B-Perdue. 5, all on nrst; Doak, 3.
/ on first and OF second; Robinson, 2. both
Indians. IB-Coumbe. 5. of drst and on
second: Morton 2 both on first: Harstad. 2,
both Oh FIRST: Steen. /. OF first; HaGerman. !.
on second; Brenton, I. OF second; Walker, l.
on second; Jenes. s, all OF FIRST.
Reds,S 14LToney. 5. all on hfst; Dale, 4. all
of frst Schneider, 3. all of hrst; Benton, i,
Oh first; Douglas. l. OF hrst.
Nationals, 14-B0ehling. Z, all OF hrHt: Gallia.
g. all on FIRST; Ayers. 2. I Oh first and OF
second; Eneel. 1. on first; johnson, l. OF frst.
White Elephants. 14Shawkey. 4. OF hrst: