The Washington herald., 1919-12-26

and speak only as a fan land an on
locker. But what seems to me the
most distressing feature of this
quarrel is that il has become so
bitter that it is bound to leave deep
scars no matter how 1t is patched
up.
In the heat of some political
fight men frequently say things
shout the others, who formerly mar
have been friends, which often they
don't really mean. But there is a
fight on. and one hot response
brings on another. Usually such
fight are settled on the surface and
old relations are resumed. but the
scars remain. and deep down in the
mans heart is a recollection of
cruel things another said about him.
The affair is outwardly forgiven
but not forgotten. So it is with
this baseball wrangle. l suppose
this thing will have to be patched
up some way or other. but so much
has been said that the wounds will
remain for years to come.
Secs sIugging Game.
The following letter will speak for
itself:
Dear Sir:
At present there is a lot of bunk
being spilled in regard to certain steps
to be taken before the curtain rises
for the 1870 season. / am Just
fan. but one whose ideas don't agree
with those of the magnates. One of
the proposed changes is to have the
splitter. shine ball. emery ball. etc,
canned before next season starts.
All right. take all the power away
from the slabmen and there will be So
much hitting that the game will be-
come little less than a farce If you
could tame the pitchers to such an
extent that the games wouldn't be
turned into a smuggling match. then
would say, go to it. but imagine
sitting up and witnessing slug
fest which results in one team win
ming. say by a score of l2-1O or some
thing like that. How many fans
would stand for that. know 1 sure
wouldn't. There is plenty enough
hitting to suit me. l would much
rather sit up and witness a tight
pitchers battle than to watch a
smuggling match. So let the pitchers
alone. and don't take away their ef-
fectiveness and turn the game into a
burlesque. But I do approve of one
thing. With the score, say one all
in the last OF the ninth and a runner
perched on second base, the batter
slams one over the fence for or
dinarily what would be a home run,
instead he gets credit for only a two
base hit, because the runner who was
on second scored the winning tally.
That Is foolish. The batter should
get credit for his circuit smash, but
in regard to increasing the batting,
l can't agree. Just a fans view
point. and l know there are a good
many that agree with me.
Very truly yours,
LELAND F. JAMES
Need No Camounage,
do not like to take issue with our
friend James but do not agree with
him when he says that the games will
turn into smuggling affairs when the
splitter. etc. have been abolished !
Does the gentleman ever hear of anv /
smuggling going on when such pitchers :
as johnson and Alexander of the |
present-day twirlers who pitch in a |
natural way. or when such old-timers !
as Mathewson. Brown. Lever. Phil |
lpi. Rusie. Meekin and a dozen other
pitchers who never used any thing on /
the ball? When We get back TO those |
days we will see better baseball than |
We do new and I Will venture to say |
not as much hitting. II is the splitter ]
that one pitcher uses that causes the \
other fellow who does not use 1t to be |
hit. for the ball that was spoiled by
the first named cannot be handled by |
the pitcher who does not use any |
thing on the ball He loses control
that causes him to be hit
III Mr. James has followed the game |
as long as ! have he will know that !
IN the older days not so many years
ago. We had better pitched games ana
less hitting than we do now.