Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-03-19
~ JoHHNY EVERs.

donal and American leagues today
who are credited with being trick.
Isters. But one Of the first things l
learned after getting into the National
League was that Il takes two players
to execute successfully any play In
which q trick 10 to be pulled.
One Of the best known plays that
might be classed a. tricky il the
squeeze" This play aptly demon
strates how necessary II ID. to have
two men in on II, and how necessary
It is for both OF them to play their
parts successfully. II either fails, the
play IL lost For instance, IL the play
Il prearranged by signal, the runner
on third mus get q good start and
then Il IL up TO the batter to bunt
the ball In order TO have the man
score II the batter fails TO connect
with the ball. the catcher usually has
It waiting to touch the runner. Some.
times the runner will attempt the play
without q signal to the batter and
then IL 10 up to the batter to use
bis head and quick wits and come to
the rescue oftthe runner. -
It must be remembered that. In all
cases where trick plays are attempted,
II. Il q case of matching wits with
your opponents. IT the latter. who ara
supposed to use their heads on the
bases as wen rs IN the field. get wise
TO the program planned. the trick
plays often q :
The Old ny IAN Ruse. s
One Of tha plays that Joe Tinker
and I worked successfully many times
was the blum to make q runner on
| frst think that hy ball was hit on
the ground. II was almost impossible
to work this play when the ball was
|hit to left neId. On the other hand,
when It went 70 right either Tinker
or myself would scramble toward sec
ond base and make al sorts Of mo-
tons Ia order to make the runner
think that the ball had been hit on the
ground and wtswere preparing to take
q throw FOR 9 force out &C second. II
the runner was not wise to the trick
he came down to second and then the
right fielder would relay the ball,
after catching it to first base for a
double plays
Il Is generally believed that most
trick plays are planned and worked
by infielders. such, however, Is not
the case, as there are as many tricks
that may be worked by outhelders as
by the playerb On the inner line Of
defense One Of the best outfelders
n the business It taking advantage Of
4 slfunflun WI Jimmy Sheckard. One
Of his heady plays that comes to mind
&C.,. s~...IIr1 =, - - = - -. - a. Te.,fo-
There were runners on first and
second with none ont The halter hit
q short ny to left which Tinker could
have gotten With little or no EFFORT
But Sheckard who was nearly as good
an inlleldef as he was an outfelder
ran n on the ball yelling, Il got it,
Tinker kept away from the ball, which
barred the umpireB from enforcing the
infleld fiy rule Sheckard trapped the
ball. while the runners on FIRST and
second stood still Jimmy threw the
ball to me az second and all ] had to
do was to touch the man and then put
my foot on the base and there were
two ont Another Of Sheckard,s IA
vorite plays Of ontguessing the other
fellow was with 9 man on first and
q bail hit % left on the ground. On
this sort 0f 4 play the man on FIRST
usually oKerruns second to take adj
vantage Of any slip that might let him
reach third. Sheckaf.a was wei aware
az this and when the ban was hit on.
the ground toward his territory he
would come IN at top speed and make.
use Of his inflelding ability Picking
up the bah cleanly he would throw
straight 10 second there were many
occasions on which / was able 10 get
the put out on runners who had over.
ran the bag and yere unable to get
back.
Pirates Had Clever Tricks.
One Of the clever plays OF the Pitts.
burg team in the days when Tommy
Leach was on third and Claude
Richie was covering second base for
the Pirates was blur to eat1h 4
man at third and get one at second
The play was usually attempted when
there were runners on those two bases
and sometimes was worked when
there was none. one or two out.
4 signal was given for q pitchout
and the catcher would snap the bali
- I'LL ~ ttttAlOuts uloAllB AAy Gu0TI
to touch the man on that base, Leach
would make quick relay to second.
and many times the runner was
touched on the base. The idea Of the
play was this: When there are two
men on the bases. as mentioned above,
they both usually lead on as far as
they think they safely can. when
the play Is directed to the man at
third. the runner occupying second
usually becomes absorbed In that play
and forgets himself .It was this that
enabled Richie to sneak mp TO the
bag and get the throw, from Leach.
One Of the old tricks that Mathew
son was successful IN working many
times was his quick return throw to
first 70 catch q runner mapping and
Merkleis quick return Of the ball On
the first attempt Matty would toss the
ball TO Aferkle and as soon as the lat
ter would return 1t Matty would make
q quick delivery to the plate, appar.
emily to prevent the runner from get
ting lead on the bag. The next time
Matty would throw to first Merkle
would make the motion to return the