Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-10
VALUE Of BASE STEALING
Ty Cobb Says Pilferirg Will Al
ways Do Great Damage to
Opposing Team.

'In 1915 tried for a modern record in
stolen bases. ! admit it. And in acknowl-
edging that fact / admit also that I was
playing poor base ball. l have no ex-
cuse to offer except the more or less
human excuse that 1 had a chance to
set pretty high mark and l couldn't
resist the temptation to go after it. At
the same time / am not going to admit
too much. l didn't lose sight of the well
fare of the team. / never went out with
the determination to steal every base in
sight, regardless Of consequences. II
had done SO l could have stolen more
bases than l did steal by considerable
margin. I know of several cases where
1 was tempted to steal and didn't when
the results showed that 1 would easily
have made the base had tried for IT,
says Ty Cobb in the Base Ball Magazine.
II am strong for the stolen base. l be-
lieve it should play a much more promi-
nent part in base ball than it does play.
But I'm not manager and the drift is all
away from sensational individual work
toward the precision of a machine
II am strong for the stolen base be-
cause / believe 1T is possible to do more
damage to the opposing team 8 defense
by daring base running than by batting
or fielding or anything else When you
are making q lot of hits you may dis
courage the opposition. But at the same
time they reason that the players are
not so much to blame. 1t Is really the
pitcher who is getting his.
Therefore team play and defensive
play, so far as the club Is concerned, are
not impaired in the least by the fusillade
of hits which may win the game and
same applies to fielding. If misplay is
made, 1t is the fault of some one player.
1t doesn't affect the other players and
1t doesn't even affect the man who made
II very much For ne reasons. ! missed
that one all right. but when the next
one comes this way l will stop it or
break leg.
"All these things are important But
no one Of them, not even home run
with the bases crammed. can quite de-
moralize an infield and get the defense
up in the air as clever base running
can do.
such base running strikes deep at the
foundation of the defense. 1t DESTROYS
everything is gone. When fast runner
gets to first base and then starts run
ming wild and gets away with 1t he COM
pletely demoralfzes the infield and gets
the pitcher ana catcher up IN the air as
we'll 1nfielders get to throwing the
ball around missing plays, making err
rors and loking like a lot of boobs. They
become completely rattiea and when a
ball player is ratified he is done for the
time being He might just as well take
Off his uniform and go to the club
house.
at is the element Of the unexpected
which makes successful base running so
valuable. The batter at the plate is al
WAYS likely to make a hit. If he does
1t is no surprise to any one. So is an
infielder likely to make an error Those
things are all a part of the game Rut
the good base runner who doesn't follow
any set rule creates opportunities for
himself which are unexpected. For when
he is on the paths no one knows what
he is going to do next, and the yery
uncertainty makes 1t impossible for the
infielders to do their best work
IA stolen base Is looked upon by too
MANY managers as a risky hazard. Thev
are inclined to follow the machine sched.
ule of working for passes. sacrificing
and that, sort of thing. All this is i'm.
nortant, hut If l were manager 1 would
try to develop the unexpected attack
rather than follow the routine form. IF
a thing Is unexpected 1t Is immensely
valuable on that very account. The de-
Tense can't be prepared. They can't
have any set plan. They are swept Off
their feet And the attack wins because
OF It's suddeness and its variation from
the usual schedule.
"Hitting is good and pitching is good
and SO is fielding. You can't get along
without them. But II were a mana
1 would make base running a big part
Of my tactics In winning ball games"