Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-23
COBB WRITES OF TRICK PLAYS
AND HOW THEY ARE EXECUTED
Daring Feats That Have Made the Tigers
Dreaded, and How They Are Planned
and Carried Out.

final score. The man who can go from
first to home on a single is doing some
thing unusual for his team.
"A peculiar play of this type comes to
my mind, peculiar in that 1 pursued the
superstitious bent of the player and
followed 'hunch.'
Follows a Hunch.
ut was in a game against the Ath-
letics several years ago. / was on first
base. Some one hit rather long sin
gle to left field. I had taken a big
lead. I started with the pitchers wind
up motion and dashed for second 1
was nearly to the bag when the ball
was hit. l was half way to third when
the outflelder had the ball in his hand
AS neared third I saw Baker standing
some half dozen feet away with his
back toward me. He knew that he
didn't have a chance to get me and was
taking things easy. The ball was al
ready on its way to his waiting mitt
When I am going at full speed around
the bases my mind usually works fast
er than my feet. 1t is natural, SO it is
no credit to me- But in such cases I
always seem to be more clear headed
than usual and keener sighted Posi-
bly,, being keyed up for the play and
working at fast nervous tension has
something to do with 1t. And in such
cases l always have my eye on the
ball. If anything happens to that ball
l am ready to take advantage of it,
Now there didn't seem to be anything
the matter with the ball which was
shooting in from left field. Baker
would have it in a fraction Of a second
1t looked impossible to score. And yet
as neared third base 1 got bunch to
try for home. 1t came into my mind
like fash. and I operated on it auto
matically- l remember jennings, who
was coaching at third, held out his arm
TO stop me, but l brushed by him and
dashed for home. 1t looked like A fool
ish move. but ] followed the bunch and
won out. Why? Because Baker drop
ped the ball I don't think he saw me
at all. SO it wasn't a case of being rat
tied by an unexpected play. 1 believe
ne was merely taking things easily,
perhaps bit carelessly. But the main
thing Is my bunch was right, 1 scored
from first on q single.
ANY player. under normal circum-
stances. ought to advance two bases on
a hit. 1t takes fast work at both ex-
tremes to advance three-that is, fast
head work and fast foot work. But 7
got to thinking the situation over and
decided that 1t would be possible to
help some of the other Tigers mil off
these plays once in a while. Bush ia q
man who gets on base very frequently
and is good natural base runner and
fast on his feet
Cooked Up Play.
Il cooked up play with Bush that
looked good. The play was this: With
Bush on first l would try to single
TO the outfield. Bush would take a
very long lead off first. He would start
with the windup and ought to be near
second when the ball was hit He
ought to be so near third when the ball
was In the felder's hands that there
would be no chance to get him at
third. In the meantime | would round
first base and dash for second at full
speed. The play then would be to
throw to the second baseman. He
would have the ball in his hands before
! got within twenty feet of the bag
| would come tearing in toward him
He would naturally think l had gone
mind except to catch me. For the time
being all thought of Bush would escape
him. i would crash into second and
would guarantee to tangle him up in
my legs and arms for a while. so that
ne would have no time to think of
Bush. OF course. 1 would be caught
that was part of the plan--but the way
timed the play, Bush ought to score.
I'VE tried 1t two or three times. but
It didn't work. Something crossed us.
minute, or something happened. The
way things went 1t looked as though
l were getting shown up on the base
paths. But that Is all part of the
game. The spectator never stops to
consider that there is only hairs
truly good play. Perhaps 1t was the
snap OF flelder's wrist, or the least
little delay in grasping the ball with
his fingers that made a great play pos-
sible. Again. with those little details
absent the play might have failed and
seemed absolutely foolhardy from every