Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-06-05
BASEBALL RULES FAULTY
AT TIMES, CORBETT SAYS
Distinction Should BE Made In
Averages Between Home Runs
and Singles, He Thinks.
UNFAIR IN MANY CASES
Cravath's Average for 1915 Stands
at 1856 Despite Fact He Hit 81
Doubles. Triples and ~ Circuit
Swats During Season.
By JAMES j. CoRBETT.

IL
Many baseball rules arc incons!s-
tent
The other day jim Shaw pitching
person. smacked out a fourhase hit
when the sacks were loaded. il was
terrific wallop and won the game.
In the same combat one OF Shaw's
teammates caught a pitch near the
handle OF his bat. The ball caromcd
off and started bouncing along the
third base line. The sack suardtan
thought il might roll foul, but il didn't.
The batter reached first in safety.
Now. where the popularity Of the
rule comes in is in the fact that Shaw;
for four bases. and scored four runs
doesn't count any more in the aver
ages than does the fluky single Of
his teammate.
OF baseball at heart, has felt from
time immemorial that there should be
rating OF batters. I, docsn', seem fair
nor right to credit a man much
for a single as for triple or home
run.
Cravath's Average Only .2s5.
Cactus Cravath. OF the Phtnies, com.
landed him in seventeenth position.
DOYLE. Luderus. Griffith. H;nchman.
Daube-t. Merkle: Snyder. and a group
Of others, topped .Crava,h in the bat
t,ns ladder. And so those persons
OF the next generation, when anybody
mentions the name Of Cravath and his
why. he doesn't seem TO have been
such a great batter. He only hit for
.2S5 in that year"
But C-avath undoubtedly was the
greatest batsman of 1918; certainly the
most valuable clubber in either cir
cult For Cravath. In that single sea
seven triples and the amazing total
OF twenty..four home runs. Yet. be-
cause OF the Inconsistency In figuring
for his twenty-four homers than was
the man who dropped twenty-four
puny singles into the infeld or out OF
Another scoring fault regards pitch
ing: just Few days ago ncinna,,i
tT ri s5 worked etght 1 ms
time and fEuratively. worked his
Credited for One Inning.
In the ninth another pitcher was
sent TO, the mound for the Reds be
cause there had been a change in the
batting order OF the oppo9sition. The
but the Reds did and won the game
by the score OF to- 0. Who got credi:
had t Merk wsi'G erh ,hs man AND hm
worked In superb fashion. lie annexed
70 glory Whatsoever IN the records
worked only in the ninth inning. who
pitched only saven balls while the
other fellow. through eight innings
Certainly there is no justice or no
fairness In awarding win to man
who works one inning and to take it
away from man who works eight in
nings.
On the other hand. Bob Shawkey not
so long ago was jammed into the game
for the Yankees in the ninth when
the score was tied. lie had to go In
practically cold. The opposition team
had just struck batting stride. They
hits before he could settle down. and
those two hits won the game. Shawkcy,
in that case, had no real chance. He
was charged with defeat all because
he had to so in as an emergency pitch
er and was unfortunate enough to be
nicked for run before he could gauge
the artillery work Of the opposition.
Base Stealing Rules Faulty.
Another glaring fault has to do with
base stealing.
Some few days ago two major league
teams were battling. One club swept
into an early lead and had the edge"
on the opponents by about seven runs
team that was Behind. The ti frs man
up, scratched single through the in
field On the first sAil pitnhed he stole
second. There Was,absolutely no eff
for, made TO stop him. Then he prac-
tically walked TO third and was again
created for another stolen base. no
catcher 10 head him off
The records show that the man stole
TWO passes IN thc nlNtn. lie didn't
actually steal them. but was really pre-
scented with them. Yet those two stolen
bases are 10 be found in his record
and will go certain way toward
making him look really formidabl e
base runner. which he isn't
something should be done with the
rules that null an unearned stolen base
And sonnet thing should be done in the
none too distant future so that future
s sseesss,on es, a n lookng up ba:lng
Is really the slugger and which one
gets by more because OF luck than
anything eIse--Copyright 1919, by
KING Features SNndicatc Inc