Evening star., 1919-03-14

| 1t is Sunday. Detroit is playing at
home. and a crowd of 10000 Tiger
! fans is pulling for victory. The score
is 2 to l against Detroit in the last
half of the ninth. After two have been
retired. base on balls and two-base
hit put runners on second and third.
A glance at the batting order shows
Tyrus Raymond Cobb Is the hitter.
What a situation for the premier hit
ter of the American League to face.
Detroit fans know Cobb loves to hit in
the old pinch. Opposing pitchers like
wise are aware of the fact. a hase hit
by Tyrus means the old ball game and
some finish for the 10000 fans to talk
over. 1t Is due to just that sort of
thing that owner Frank Navin of
the Detroit team pays Cobb a bulky
salary.
AS Cobb approaches the plate there
is short consultation between the
pitcher ard catcher of the team In the
field. They realize that base hii
means the ball game for Detroit. They
also realize Cobb Is liable to produce
such hit They make up their mind
Cobb is far safer resting on first base
than in the batter's box. Two runs
are all the Tigers need to win. so the
passing OF Cobb to first base means
nothing to the ball game. other than
to eliminate the possibility of his
breaking it up. if allowed to hit.
When the pitcher throws the nrst
ball. yards from the plate, it dawns
on the Detroit crowd. just what the
opposition intends to do. Ty Soho
premier hitter of the game. facing a
situation that means tn e oid eal'
game. ia about to be passed. Ine ians
are to be deprived of seeing Coob IN
action at the most critical stage OF
the game. The fans hiss and boo, but
the opposing pitcher merely smiies'
and keeps the balls SO far away from
the plate that Cobb couldn't MT any
Of them with ten-foot plank. ltn
the bases filled there is still nope. out
the next batter sends UP an easy pop
fly to the first baseman. who catches
it. retiring the side. ending the game.
and sending the Detroit fans nome
sore. Most of them wanted to seeCoob
come through or oliver
The situation l have just described
is not at all an uncommon one. Each
year. in every city. I see it happen
over and over again. The star PLAYER
Of the home team the faVorlte OF the
fans, is deprived Of his chance TO
meet some UNUSUAL StludtICH pS DS
ing passed to first base. during the
summer months hundreds OF 1ans
discuss the Intentional pass feature
with me In the winter receive
scores Of letters condemning II. all OF
them requesting me to continue as'-
tation to have it eliminated from the
game Just how to eliminate the in
tentional pass from base ball. il such
elimination is really possible. is
tangle- not properly worked out as
yet.
Any number Of solutions has been
offered Some have considerable
merit There are those who argue
that on all intentional passes. all base
runners be allowed to advance.
whether forced or not, while others
argue the granting of two additional
bases to all runners soon would cause
pitchers to take chance on the bat
ter because an intentional pass would
be as costly as a base hit. The other
day I received a rather novel sugges-
ton from Chicago fan. along the
lines of the intentional pass. which
believe is worth reprinting. Here it
is:
Il am taking the liberty to offer
what / believe is a solution of base
balls worst feature. the Intentional
rass. i would suggest it be left op-
tional with the manager of the team
at bat. when batter draws four
balls, whether the batter go to first
base or the base runner advance one
base and the batter hit over again.
LAS an illustration: Eddie Collins is
on second base and Happy" Feisch
is at bat. Felsch draws four balls.