Omaha daily bee., 1921-05-08

but some of them
enable their teams to draw lot OF
patronage by winning bali games III
ways that the average rooter wots
nothing of.
Eddie Murphy Is Example.
Only philosophers dote on the abb
stract. The base ball fan demands
concrete illustrations as we'll as
grand stands. In the dugout OF
nearly every big league team is
such an individual, and most OF the
time he stays there To select one
of them, most familiar to Chicago
fans, we will tell the world some
thing about Eddie Murphy of the
White Sox.
Never a brilliant performer on the
field, Murphy has made wide repu-
tation as a pinch hitter. That, how
ever, is not his chief value to the
Gleason tribe. Murphy is one of the
closest and most successful students
of inside base ball, particularly in
doping out pitchers.
A couple of springs ago the White
Sox went from Detroit to Cleveland
and found the home papers blazoning
in big type with photos the fact that
George Uhle, unbeaten sand lot re-
cruit from the home town, was going
to pitch for the Indians against the
Gleasons. Uhle's previous work had
put him in line to become the find of
the year.
Find" Uhle in Eighth.
For seven innings the White Sox
got only one soft and tender little
scratch hit off Uhlc the phenomenon.
But in the eighth they suddenly be-
gan to whale the ball all over the
premises, and a relief pitcher had to
be sent in to finish the round.
To the grieving Cleveland fans
that meant only that Uhle had weak
ened under the strain and lost his
cunning. They had not seen one Ed
ward Murphy squatting inconspicu-
ously on the edge OF the Sox coop
or coaching on the third base line.
For those seven innings Murphy
had been studying that young pho
nomenon with his blue eyes, which
have the keeness of an eagle. And
those trained optics discovered that
Uhle did not deliver his fast ball
and his curve with the same motion.
There was a slight difference in
the swing of his arm.
Knew What Was Coming.
The Sox waited and watched until
they were sure of it. Then they
were able to take toe hold and wal
lop anything he put over the plate.
because they not only knew what it
was but whether it would be over the
pan or not.
The same thing happened to Oscar
Fuhr, Cub rookie. and formor
Omaha pitcher, recently in u
game with Pittsburgh. Fuhr finished
a game for Martin and was doing
with his southpaw
stuff until some modest violet on
the Pirate side doped out his deliv- /,
cry, and then--nine runs after two
men were out in the ninth.
But to return to Murphy. He has
llduS ouSii d otuuy VI pitSilSiS tHdl IL
is pastime with him when on the
road to stage an imitation of the
various slabmen before his team
mates, sometimes while they are
dressing in the clubhouse, sometimes
while they are loahng after dinner in
a secluded spot outside or inside
heir hotel.
Knows All Slab Styles.
Eddie (or Mike, as he often is
,alled) can initiate the pitching mo-
lions of scores of slabmen, right or
eft handed, so well that his team
mates will guess 90 per cent of them
And that is why Murphy is good
pinch hitter. If he has seen the pitch
n whom he is facing long enough to
earn his delivery, Edward can make
hat pitcher put the ball over +he
,late for him, or else get base on
,alls, and when he docs swing at
,all he usually knows what's on it.
Even then, no living batsman can
,it II safely always