Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-08

wind-up. For some reason the pitcher
was not watching the play and made
no attempt to snap the ball to the back
stop: the latter saw he was NOT gong
to get the ball in time to touch the run.
ner, but he resolved to spoil the play II
possible. He caught the ball high. and
making a purposeful wild stab to tag
| his man, lurched into the batter. knock
ing him of his feet.
According to the ruling Of the Amerf-
umpire to do but send tho runner back
| to third and the batter to frst. The
catcher had prevented the score ana
won for his team. as the next man up
popped up weak ny; .,,
That play resulted In the edict being
issued to the umpires in the circuit to
watch in such instances. and II the In
reference was Intentional to allow the
| runner to score President san Johnson
was appealed to because Of the palpa-
BILE injustice of the play allowed unaer
the ruling.
There is one department of play in
which 1t Is the ability to outreason
the opposing battery more than any
cessful-base running. II player has
not the ability to think. and think
quickly. when he gets on first there
is not much likelihood Of his ever be-
coming anythns s S%s or win the a9a him
nothing unless he is able to Judge
correctly as to the Intentions of the
pitcher and catcher. Suppose the bat
ter reaches first. 1t 10 then the pitcher
and catcher begin to figure every posi-
Bile method Of preventing him from get,
ting to second. from where he could
score on a base hit. The base runner
is at q bigger disadvantage than tho
batter, too as while at bat the battery
must figure to fool him. but on the
bases Just the opposite is true.
II a runner is on first. then the main
problem, in the event he desires to
attain the reputation of being fast
and dangerous man on the bags. Is 20
make his start for second when the
catcher does not signal for pitch out.
at which time he Is not near as likely
to be caught. as In such cases the
catcher must usually throw from
difficult position.
caught stealing is considered In COM
parison to the few times they reach
the bag safely. true idea of the DIFF
flculty experienced in "outguesEing the
backstop may be realized. Some catch
ers almost have an intuition as to
when a player is going to start Tor
second it would seem, but such is not
the case. The headiest men in the
game are generally behind the bat.
and by their system of reasoning arc
able to tell almost just what man
will do given " certain situation.
Suppose a man is on first. ono down.
the batter has one strike and no balls on
him. 1t 10 fairly certain there Will De
no start made for second because the next
ball the pitcher throws is likely to be
wide Of the plate to give the catcher
free throw. Then there Is one and one on
the man at bat and the base runner may
! decide to go, knowing the pitcher will
probably put 1t over the plate, where he
can be aided by a wild swing OF the
batter, or. reasoning adversely, he may
figure that he will be expected to go under
such conditions. and the catcher will
waste another ball. Then he will decide
to start on the next pitch. knowing the
catcher will not dare to get his tWirier
In hole by wasting the third ball. OF
course this reasoning has to take into &C
When q pitcher is unsteady catcher will
seldom waste more than one ball, trusting
to get tho runner no matter where he
catches 1t. but II the man in the box has
perfect control two or three wide ones
are signaled for without hesitation.
That 10 only one OF the many factors q
base runner has to figure on. and on every
base his problem 10 moro or less the same.
He must try to think continuously a. to
what may be done by his opponents in an
effort to catch him mapping.
No matter how fast q man Is. he may
be q poor sort Of base runner. There
are men In the American and National
leagues who arc the fastest In their re-
spective organizations as far as real speed
Is concerned. but whom It comes to run
ming bases they are slower than others
who are not near as speedy. Their legs
accounts for the seeming paradox. There
is one man In the American League who
In exceptionally fast on his fact, but men
whom he could probably beat fve yards
In hundred are much moro feared ~
Taxa an n example the insta nca meme