New Britain herald., 1916-03-04
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Sir Frederick Penney, once man darin of first basemen, was talking And when Frederick mentions base ball you can always know that truth, wisdom and logic are on the way. You hear a lot nowadays said Fred, about speed in covering ground. Speed has it's place, but it isn't all speed, as I can show" Instinct
 Instinct" continued Penney, lis more important than speed. Take my old infield mate, Herman Long. Herman was no red streak of light ming. But he could cover more ground than any shortstop I ever saw How: By simply beins at the place the ball was hit. We used to say that the batsman would tell Long where to stand. Sure Herman ; would reply, I make him show me- Ky this he meant watching every de- tail-the position at bat the brand of ball that was coming up, fast or curve, and a few other things. But after all I guess it was more instinct than anything else. If a fast all was hit by second base, Long was there ready for it. If the next man hit 8 fast one just out of the third basemans reach, there was Long again. For some reason or ether he had shifted over to the l eht place. They never crossed him. And in this way he made the play so i easy that few gave him credit for his wonderful work"
 Then Speaker. l T,-ie, ;<l Fred. He is fast and can naturally cover a lot of ground. But he covers more ground by instinct than by speed. He has that inside knowledge that tells him where to go. On one play you will see him in right center; . on the next batsman in left center. Put nine times out of ten he is in the right place.
 Part of this is due to his know iedge of batsmen-that is, whether ; they are right field or left field hit ters. But a good big part is instinct something that only a, few have'
 Making for Speed. The discussion here shifted to speed Wherein Clarence Rowland, White Sox field marshal, had this ob- ,ccrvation to make:
 
 the way they stand. Nine out of ten while waiting for the batsman to swing and bent over with their hands on their knees and their feet wide apart. This makes for a slow start The best way for quick start is to stand fairly upright with your feet fairly close together
 "I should think said a ball player standing near by, that you could get more speed the other way, brace6 with your feet apart.
 Nothing to it," said Rowland Take the case of Hal Chase, one ot the fastest starters that ever played Hal was nearly always standing erect with his feet fairly close as the ball was hit. Then he was off like a flash The same is true of Eddie Collins. You never see him bent way over, braced, as the pitcher shoots one over. Eddie is erect and ready for a dash either way Then Again.
 What Rowland says only covers part of the ground. Hans Wagner stands with his feet wide apart. Hans couldn't stand any other way, even though his knees are further apart than his feet.
 Another fast starter from a squat ting position is Maranville. The Brave infielder waits with both hands o,; his kneecaps, feet wide apart, and -et no man gets away quicker in a plunge for the ban.
 Starting Types.
 Most football backs start from a bent over, braced position. Yet Mahan, Driggs and others, running straight up from fake kick forma- tion, get away like flashes-almost at top speed.
 Which at least shows that the bending over, braced position for the start is not necessary for speed.
 In tho Ring.
 This can also be proven in the ring. The boxer who crouches with his feet braced is rarely a fast worker. But {, man like Jack Johnson or Packy Mcfarland, standing erect feet fairly close together, carries out Rowland $ theory.
 This latter type is the fast type of the ring. They seem to be far sniff tier than the others, probably because they lack the rigidity which develops start
 The sprinter starts from the bent ever. braced position. But that's a different affair. The sprinter can go Cnly one way, whereas the ball player,