Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-27
PLllERS0E TODAY
EASY TO TAG OUT
Modern Base Runners Not So
Fast as Those of Decade
Ago, Eyers Says.

Two Intelligent and able athletes, one
from each lsaguex-John J. Evers Of
the Boston Red Sol and Ray Chapman
ceveaand shortstop' come to the front
with Information as who are the best
base runners on the pajor league CIR
cults. the men who 10 not only the
| fastest, but who are I'll hardest to put
out Naturally Chapmad Wees not have
chance to include mseh in the
group Of scientific sack snatchers, but,
Of course, he does in-lude the well
known Georgia Peach. ry Cobb. He
gives that individual thu place Of honor
on his list
Some Of Evers select ,ns win cause
surprise. John incident ly declares he
had a very hard time tu pick I'VE fast
men who werc hard to tag out
II you wanted a list Of men fast and
hard to stop stealing of ten years ago."
says the Trojan. 81 could give you
twenty-five names for Il. but OF late that
department Of the game has lost luster
| and brilliance
TN the last four or fve years there
have been. and are. IN the National
League five men hard to touch and they
are all fast men. too. The five are Carey
| OF the Pirates, Whitfield of the Phillies.
Meanwhile of the Braves. Long of the
gone from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh
TT is difficult to find even five, and
while there are plenty OF very fast men
In the league. still they are compare
the hve have mentioned compares
| with Bill Dahlen, Jimmy Sheckard,
| Frank Chance. Fred Clarke or many
others OF the past In the old league"
Cobb Leads EN- All.
Chapman has no hesitancy in saying
| that Tyrus Cobb IL the hardest man In
| q base. and gives many reasons for this
expert opinion.
| Reason No. is because Ty is so fast
Reason No. is because Ty is the best
| Reason No. 3 is because Ty thinks
faster than any other player.
Reason No. 4. last but by no means
| least, is because you never know just
how Ty is coming into the bag.
Chapman says that time and again,
II you keep the ball where you receive
it after taking the throw from the
| catcher, you'll probably retire Ty more
often than otherwise Ray insists that
| when he takes a throw from the catcher
/ in front of the bag and whirls around
| expecting Ty to try to come in behind,
the Peach win slide right in where the
| throw originally came. and vice versa
Further remarks by Chappie regard
ing Cobb are that when Ty is trying for
| q bag the catcher naturally hurries
his throw, with the result that often 1t
| isn't as good as it is in the case when
another man is sliding. It'd rather try
steal than do anything else" says the
Cleveland sho rtstop. Cobb worries me
most"
| No. on Chapman.s list OF artful
| sliders is Edward Trowbridge Collins
| of the White Sox, of the same school as
Cobb but not nearly so great in any
respect. Expert Chapman acknowledges
that Columbia's best known graduate
| worries him good deal when he comes
sliding into the keystone sack. Not as
much as Cobb. however" says Ray.
Mike McNally Fools Basemen.
Chapman's third selection Of bard
men to tag is more or less OF . surprise
Michael Joseph Mentally, the Kid
pinch runner of the Boston Red Sox,
ment that also has given to base ball
Steve O'Neil1 Of the Indians and Chuck
Shorten OF the former world champions.
Chapman cannot figure out why Nc
Nally is hard man to touch out when
he hits the dirt. whether It is because
Mike is fast and smart or Just natural
ly clumsy going into the bag. "All ]
do know, says Ray. sis that Mike is a
1 tough bird to touch"
Chapman and Roth probably are the
fourth and fifth hardest men in the
American League to tag when they are
| trying to steal, Ray being the faster of
the two He also is more brittle than
| "Braggo," who goes into a bag with
| the same vigor as he shows when TAX
ing a cut at the ball.
| Cobb may be the hardest man in the
American League to touch out when he
is trying to steal but he annually gets
| touched out oftener than anybody else.
| Last year the Peach was beaten to his
pilfering destination on thirty-four oc-
casions. and as he stole fifty-five bases
his hose-running average was Sill
Schalk, the best pegging baekstop in
| the American League. il not In the
country. tagged Cobb only once in 1917
IN eight attempts Ty apparently beat
Ray in the psychology game A war
he went over his score book once and
| found that 40 per cent of the errors
| made by Detrofts opponents were on
plays in which attempts were maSe 70
get the Peach.
Collins Was .7o6 Base Runner.
Eddie Collins was . .7os base r,,nr.,
In 1917, getting away with fifty-three
steals out of ,seventy-five tries. Seye-
reid turned Comiskey's high-priced ath-
letes back five times Leslie Mana
| maker vetoed three attempts to pilfer.
"Minooka Mike" McNally's percentare
| on the lanes was .429. He got away
| with three steals in seven Opportunities
Ray Chapman had about the same
amount OF success as base runner "a q
Eddie Collins. He stole one less base
and was thrown out once oftener. Civ
stopped the Cleveland shortstop fonr