The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13
Bad Coaching Has Lost Many a Game, While Good Coaching Is Feature That Has Won Many
nx HONIS WAGNER

like to watch a hustler coaching at first or third, but "slapstick" comedy isn't everything Judgment and alert ness are important and if these are not observed, one or more runs are lost
 Coaching in the field is the more inn portant branch of team play Mixups are unavoidable, but they can be re- duced to minimum by careful sys- tenn of coaching. Similarity of names has caused many blunders to be made. We had occasion early in the 1915 sea- son to make switch so as not to have confusion result from the cries of Scoops" and "Spooks." Scoops" Carey and "Spooks" Gerber both had a right to their nicknames, but not during a game with Carey in left and Gerber at short. We foresaw the danger in the similarity of the cries, and we made the cry of Gus suffice for the young shortstop.
 We were reminded of this by a tough game that Pittsburg lost to New York one day three years ago, or, to be exact August "A, 1912. Not man had reached first base on Adams, with two Giants out in the seventh inning. Dow bounced lucky hit over Jack Miller's head. Jack Murray hit short fly be- hind second. Either Artie Hoffman or Artie Butler could have caught it and retired the side.
 "Artie Artier' yelled everybody. and the two Arties went headlong after it.
 The pair came together, the ball fell safe, and a few seconds later Merkle smashed one over the left field wall at Forbes field for a home run, netting the Giants their only three tallies and the game.
 why don't you watch where you are going?" snapped Hoffman, as he re- joined Butler on bench after the disaster.
 T guess I've got as much right to answer the cry of 'Artie as you," fired back Butler
 T don't know about that either.' an- swered Hoffman. q was christened 'Artie many years before you were ever thought of"
 It was an unfortunate occurrence, but we guarded against another break of that kind by allowing the senior Artie to hold that title and the nick name Butts" was prescribed for But Ter. Had the good parson not christ ened them both "Artie," we would have won that game and a contest with Chi cago over the game that put us in sec ond place that year would not have been needed.
 TOOK SECOND PLACE
 Pittsburg was four games behind the Cubs in third place when we opened a four game series on the West Side. To gain second place we had to win four from Chicago and one out of two from the Reds. Chance was in a New York hospital undergoing an operation, and Joe Tinker was running the club. But Joe was no more responsible for the mixup in the fourth game than Clarke, myself and the rest of them. We took three games and entered the fourth. You would have thought those Cubs were battling for the pen nant In the ninth inning Cotter, bat ting in pinch for the pitcher, singled and scored Chicago's tying run. Ham Hyatt, who had played regularly in right field that day, made a wonder full throw in that same inning that cut down Tom Downey at the plate with what would have been the winning run and second place for the Cubs. But more of Ham later.
 In the tenth inning, with Robinson replacing Camnitz the Cubs got a man to second. Cotter, after batting in the ninth, had replaced the Cub catcher be- hind the bat. He should have gone to bat in the pitchers position, but instead with the winning run on second, he faced the pitcher in Archer's place. He singled to center, the winning run came in, and the crowd broke for the field in wild cheers and the players hiked to the clubhouse. Not a soul on the field discovered the blunder and the players did not know of it until a Pittsburg scribe dashed into the club house and called attention to the fact. The timeliness of this discovery was all that gave the Pittsburg club grounds on which to have the game thrown out and called a tie. Victory in one of the two Cincinnati games then cinched second place.
 Now for MT. Hyatt's luck in that game. Seven Pirates batted 300 or better that year. and in the cancelled game Ham had four hits. He was proud over the fact that his long throw in the ninth had cut off the winning run and dozen times in the next few days he would say:
 Its a good thing I cut off that run, and sood thing that the reporter caught Cotter batting out of turn.
 On the train he would whisper to the scribe:
 "Well they can thank you and me for saving second place, can't they?"
 Ham was happy, but he changed his tune on learning that President Lynch in throwing out the protested game had also thrown out four of his hits and other records from official aver ages. The action kept Ham out of the 300 circle. The loss of his four hits gave him .29S. where he should have had BOP In the spring when he met the scribe, he shook his fist angrily and yelled:
 "I wish you had kept your head shut about that guy batting out of turn You kept me out of the 300 class"
 Ham certainly loved his base hits.
 Hyatts attempt to judge curves by observing the shifting of Ragon's quid might have caused him to be accused of sign stealing. I laugh every time that sign stealing "scandaP comes up, and what Comiskey said last summer when the White Sox were accused is true. All ball players have hard time remembering their own signs. let alone stealing those of their oppo- nents.
 BASED ON COMMON SENSE
 Some folks have the impression that baseball is an involved code of signs and complications, but it is really all based on common sense, with fewer signs than people figure The Boston Red Sox, in their first years under Col lins, did not have a sign, and in the many games that Chief Trimmer caught Cy Young for Cleveland he never signed for a curve. Thinner was so used to it that he would ride the curve" as the players put it in that time.
 Outfield coaching is very necessary thing and when a man goes back to left, middle or right after playing somewhere else for a long time. he finds himself quite wary and thinks there are outfielders running into him with every ball he goes a ftor Tha