Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-01-30
BY BILLY EVANS.

majority OF baseball leaders Tor years.
Scouts prior to starting their gum
shoe expeditions into the minor
league country are invariably told to
pay particular attention to the fellows
with speed. Perhaps no manager In
the country has paid more attention
/ to this detail Of the game than Nc
Graw Of the Giants. His team. when
II was winning National league pen
nants was said to be running away
with them. In 1913 the Giants stole
$50 bases In the National league. Gin
cinnati, with 236 steals to It's credit.
was New York's closest rival. an even
| so thefts In the rear. No other Ma
stiOnal league club was able TO reach
the 200 mark. In 1912 the Giants
Istole 319 bases. The Cincinnati club
was again second. with 24S steals to
its credit. IL being the only other club
to reach the double century mark. In
1911 the Giants led, with BAT steals to
their credit, aud once more Cincinnati
was second, with Chicago third. these
two being the only other clubs to
reach the 200 mark.
A perusal of these figures makes II
very apparent why the Giants were
ALWAYS credited with winning the pen
nant by their work on the bases, or,
In other words, running away with IL.
1t will be noticed, however. that the
Giants fell on in their base stealing
efforts each year In 1912 McGraw's
team store % less bases than in 1911.
The condition has been quite general
- he hak al
Some of the second division clubs
have improved their work on the
bases. which OF course had been their
one great weakness, but most of the
clubs that have been up In the race
for the past three or four years have
slumped badly In their work on the
bases. The question naturally arises
as to what has caused the rather gen.
eral falling on in the base stealing de-
partment Of the game.
It must also be remembered in this
connection that this decrease in base
running has taken place despite the
fact that within. the past few years
the game has lost such sterling throw
ers as Billy Sullivan. Johnny King,
Lew Crieer, Mig Clarke, Charley
Street and others OF lesser import
ance.
Sped on Bases curtaIled.
In baseball just as soon as any one
feature appears to be getting the up.
II sr hand wise managers set about to
destroy the one branch which they
have been busy building up. When
the hitters appeared to hold the stu.
alton, the rule makers made It easier
for the pitcher by causing the first
two fouls to be called strikes, pro-
yided, Of course, there were no strikes
on the batter prior to his making the
fouls. This was q rather severe han
dicap. In three or four years the sit
uation shifted, the pitchers appeared
to have decided advantage over the
batsmen. Nearly every game was q
pitchers battle, shutouts were num-
erous and large score games were the
decided exception to the rule. Low
scores greatly predominated, and
usually a one-run margin separated
the victor and vanQuished. In order
to even up matters q ball that was a
trifie more lively was adopted This
change appears to have struck a. fair
ly happy medium At one time the
style and size Of gloves worn by In
fielders and outfielders were entirely
changed, in order to make the art OF
fielding all the more difficult.
The cry for more speed and the In
PRODUCTION Of great number of fast
players into the game, other things
being anywhere near equal, set the
managers thinking as to how 1t would
be possible to break up the various
plays. possible to execute with feet
men on the bases and at the. bat. II
was early apparent that the pitcher
must be the main cog In cutting down
the speed on the bases. It was up to
the twiriers to devise some way to
keep the runners from getting q flying
start, to try to figure with the aid OF
the catcher, of course, the best time
to waste ball in an effort to aid
the catcher In throwing a runner out.
the opportune time to throw to first
to get runner mapping.
Pitcher Greatly Aids Catcher.
Stolen bases are always credited
against the catcher, but very often II
proper justice was melted out, the
stolen base would be marked against
the pitcher. On the other hand, a
wise pitcher often deserves as much
credit as the catcher, when a pretty
throw retires the base runner on an
attempted steal. Ed Walsh was al.
ways great aid to Billy Sullivan, ar
though Sullivan with his wonderful
arm was able to whip them out with
only ordinary help on the part of the
pitcher. Lew Criger was another
catcher that didn't bother much about
what the pitcher did. | have often
heard Criger tell Cy Young to pay at
tention to the batter, that he would
take care Of the base runner. Youngs
quick, easy delivery and great speed
held the runner down fairly well, de.
spite the fact that he didn't pay much
to holding them on.
Five years ago the pitcher who had
a deceptive move to first base was the
exception to the rule Ed Walsh was
one Of the few pitchers who would
throw to first when the runner was
positive he was about to pitch, which
of course always resulted very disas- |