Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-04

give that guy one in the groove,
writes George Young in the Phil
adelphia Ledger. How often have
YOU heard that expression at
base ball gameo Almost every
time "Gavvy" Cravath, the cham
pion home-run clouter OF the major
leagues. lands one into the bleacners
or over the right field fence some one
in the crowd is sure to say Serves him
right for growing the ball. They
used to say it about J. Franklin Baker
before the American League home
run king" retired to pastiminE i'll
county league.
From the time the Trappe. Md. farm
er broke into major league base Dali
from the Reading Tristate League
team and his batting eye was bright
ened by what he picked up as mem
Der of the Athletics, every player on
the other seven clubs in the American
League and the New York Giants IN
the National League. who met Baker
in two world series. tried to hnu out
Bakers weakness Some pitchers
thought they knew it, and every time
one of them famed the slugger he de-
cided that he had discovered what
Baker couldn't hit. But Baker con-
tinuel to hit home runs just the same.
Probably Do Have a Weakness.
1t is the same with Cravath of the
PhiIlies. Vic Safer of the Chicago Cubs.
Larry Doyle OF the New York Giants.
Sherwood Magee of the Boston Braves
and few more of the "leather-killers.
Probably all of these heavy hftters
have weakness that is known to one
or more pitchers in the National
League. Maybe Ty Cobb. the premier
batsman of the world Joe Jackson OF
Cleveland. Iris Speaker of the Boston
lean Leagues star batsmen are weak
hitters against certain kinds of pitch
ing, but year after year these men go
on hitting just the same. ana every
hit that cleans up, or happens 10
come a; critical stage OF game
where it does 4 lot OF damage, there is
the same old cry. 'Grooved that one"
Finding a batter's weakness is one OF
the f,ne points of base ball these days
1t is a part OF what is called inside
base ball. and it is 4 most important
factor in the system OF play that is
usually followed by winning team.
COME Mack, George StallinSs. Clark
,:r..hth and the other managers who
have adopted the players meetings
as part of their daily drill and school
ing make this one of the most impor-
tant Lessons taught to the players. par
ticularly the youngsters who may spend
the greater part of the season on the
bench.
1t is often the work of one or more
players on the bench to do nothing but
note the kind of ball that certain
batter hits, how he hits it and in what
direction. Another will watch the way
certain player stands, whether he
pulls n ball that is inside or goes after
the ones on the outside of the plate. 1t
is case OF studying the batter all the
time. With the manager on the bench
IN is he Often g he
making n mark on his score card after
man makes a hit or strikes out. He
Is not keeping score; he is marking
down what kind of ball was pitched
to the batter and what he did with it.
The man on the coaching line is prob
ably keeping tabs. too, so with these
watchers. in addition to the players in
the field, particularly the catcher, there
does not seem to be a chance of miss
ing a batsman's weakness il he has
one.
The Pitchers Control Is a Factor.
OF course. the pitcher cannot always
get the ball just where he wants it,
even when he knows where it should
go to prevent the batter from hitting
IT. This is where control counts. Dur
ing the world series Of 1911, between
the Athletics and New York Giants.
Baker hit one of his history making
"homers" off RUDE Vanguard and the
eccentric southpaw was criticised for
giving Baker zone in the groove
Christy Mathewson. who was supposed
to be writing series of special arti-
cles. was credited with having taken
MarQuard to task for giving Baker one
he could hit over the fence.
Keep il nigh on the inside" was
Matty's advice to RUDE. In the next
game. with Mathewson pitching. Baker
hit another homer, and after the Ath-
letics had won that game Mathewson
was asked what kind of a ball he
pitched TO J. Franklin. He said: 81
tried to put. one across his shoulders
and on the inside corner of the plate.
hut must have slinped il right through
TIE groove for him" The sane old alibi
has been given hundreds of times and
VII -h@ ri"en again so long as the slug
S""s continue to slug the ball and the
pitchers continue to try for the bat
te'E weakness
There we're heavy hitters in the oIden
da"s. and IL is likely that some of the
old timers had weakness" but the
PLAYERS and managers did not think so
much o! the inside game" in those
days and there was little effort made TO
learn l! a player who was known to be
sluSger rad such thing as a batting
weakness concealed about his sys-
TEN. II the great Ed Delahanty of the
Philiie3 h.sd weakness no one ever
FOUND II. for Big Ed" was still slug
cling the best of pitchers up until the
time he jumped from the PhillieS to the
American League, where he was play
Ing when ne died.
What Would Champion Cobb Dc?
There was 10 such thing as finding
gu; if batter had "a weakness" dur
ing the days .nen the batter was al
lowed 20 call FOR the k.ad OF :, bail he
~2ntei 10 int. either a high or low and
was not compelled 70 strike at II TN