Evening star., 1918-01-08

tspiIed The speedy little infieldcr, ae-
jcordug 10 reports from his home
town. Bluffton. Ind, has been placed in
class in the draft, this being the de-
ferred classification he claimed by rea-
son of being married and having de-
pendents.
| Owing TO Frank Moran's inability to
/ obtain leave from his duties as boxing
| instructor at the Spartanburg s e.,
training camp, the twenty-round box
1 ing bout scheduled between him 2nd
Fred Fulton at New Orleans January
:, IS has been cancelled. Carl Morris. the
. Okla homa heavyweight, will substitute
!! for Moran on that date. according to
announcements by Promoter Dominick
| Tortorich. Moran has indicated Will
I. insness to fight Fulton on Washing
| tons birthday. February -. and Tor
! torich has agreed TO try to arrange a
match for this date.
The following from a fan. who asks
/ that his name be withheld, is Seif-eN-
J, planatory:
Sporting Editor The Star:
read with much interest. MIR. Evans
article in The Star last Sunday on the
! intentional pass. rcsorted to in base ball
! by managers when Il game hangs on a
possible hit by a star batter. To me II
certainly looks oue-sided to let pltchel
throw four bad balls just to conform
! 10 the rules. also ] do not think the in
! territorial pass should be eliminated en-
tireIy, because it might tend to restrict
other strategic plays. The fans are al J.
ways tickled when the home team IS
, thus favored. especially when the next
one or two batters make hits or get on
the bases through fielding errors. In
( deed. an avalanche of hits is cause TOR
! JOY or heartache to the fans. according
to which team stages the rally: but such
games frequently make the pitcher look
like a bush Lacquer. causing the fans to
call for the derrick. Would it not be
better to equalize the point between the
pitcher and the batter make it neceS-
sary. in all cases. for the pitcher to put
over two strikes before a batter can be
passed. and that, when all the bases
are occupied no batter shall be passed.
so not to force in Il run. This gives
the batter an even chance and increases
the interest in q pitchers battle. and.
! like the foul-strike rule. i believe. 1t
will create a new condition in base ball.
The fans will also get their moneys
worth when they pay to see some mar
vel perform with the willow. for in this
case the batter will have at least two
chances where he now, often, has none
Here is another suggestion. A batter
is often believed to be deliberately foul
ing the ball to wear out the pitcher.
which. / think. can be prevented and the
game shortened by the following rule:
If the batter fouls the first two pitched
balls they are strikes. according to the
present rule. Now. then. if the batter
continues to foul the e-neXt three pitched
balls they shall be called balls. making
it two and three on the batter. and if
the next pitct, after this is fouIed it is
the third strike and the batter is out
This rule is to hold in all cases of called
strikes and balls. and whenever there
are two and three. foul puts the bat
ter out unless he is passed or other
wise disposed of according to the rules
This will. of course. make the pitcher
try to sneak over two strikes and then
three bad ones. and take the chance on
the batter fouling himself out But
then, it seems to me, there will be less
waiting and more efforts to hit.
/ submit this bit in answer to Mr.
Evans request for the opinions of some
who go to see the games. This may in
terest him.