Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-08-28

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tAll Rights Reserved By United Fea-
ture Syndicatc.)
Chapter vi.
There's one thing in baseball that
always gets my goat. and that's the
intentional pass.
II isn't fair to the batter. ii isn't
fair 10 his club. It's raw deal for
the fans and IL Isn't baseball. By
baseball" / mean good. square
American sportsmanship. because
baseball represents America in snort.
IL we get down to unfair aivan-
tages in our national game. we arc
putting out mighty bad adver-
tisement.
This year the rule makers gave
us a new law which was intended
to prevent pitchers from intention
ally passing heavy hitters in order
TO get to the next batter for an
out or. perhaps, double play. But
the rule hasn't worked, because the
umpires. being human. cannot tell
beyond a doubt whether the pitcher
is merely wild or is heaving the
ball wide with the clear intention Of
passing the sluggcr.
During this season. when II was
seen that pitchers were continuing
20 pass the heavy hittcrs when there
were men on bases. many other rules
were suggested. Some of them will
be considered. I suppose. when the
big guns Of the game meet next
winter to make another try at clean
Ing up the game. But 1 don't know
it seems TO me that the whole
thing will depend on the umpire's
ability to tell what's in the pitch
er's bean. The best suggestion that
I've heard Is this: that all passes
be for two bases instead Of one.
Get this situation; there are men
on second and third and heavy
hitter is up. Under this seasons
rule, the pitcher is in an easy posi-
ton, because all he's got TO 10 Is
20 make disgusted face as he sends
each wide one up the lane 10 give
the umpire the impression that he's
trying TO cut corner off the pan.
The batter walks and the next man
up. who may not be SO strong with
the old pick handle. pops to the in
FIELD. He may hit into Iouble play,
perhaps retiring the side without
run. And there you are.
Fans Want ClourtnE.
The heavy swattcr has oecn about
as useful as cork leg TO Broad
way chorus girl- II he'd had a
chance to clout the ball. he might
have won eae game. And that's
what the fans came there 10 see
him try. Do you wonder they razz
the twirlers every now and then?
Every time batter faces a pitch
or the natural odds are about seven
TO three against him. You can prove
this by taking look at the bat
ting averages. which show that the
hitter with percentage OF 900 for
more than ten games Is an excep-
tional man with the stick. Scouts
go wild over 300 hitters. 4 team
OF 300 slugsers would be good
bet TO win pennant fielding with
one arm tied. However you look at
II the pitcher has ii on the batter
by more than two to one. Why
should he look for n bigger cinch
than that: what more does he want?
The victim OF the intentional pass
hasn't Chinaman's chance to hit.
But il YOU give him two bases. or
if you advance all runners two bases
instead of ono. you've got your
pitcher in a box: he's got 10 pitch,
Just TO show you how this pass
business works, ! was walked -ol
times in the season of 1919. And
this season they're doing even worse.
Do you think the intentional pass
rule is working overtime this year?
Neither do /. In our recent series
in ST. Louis came up with two
men on bases. and the ball game
was in my bat. always feel like
a home run, so I felt as though
could knock in three runs and the
ball out into Grand Avenue. What
happened? | walked. Three raZzing