The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-11-08
HEYDLER TAKES LEAD
IN OPPOSING HIT FOR
ALL FIELDING boobies
BY FRANK G.. MENKE

John Heydler has galloped TO the
fore in opposition to the present day
practice of awarding a hit to a swatter
every time some fielder foozles.
1t was time that somebody high in
the councils of baseball got busy in
that general direction. And there's no
man in the game better qualified than
the prexy of the National League, who
knows technical baseball as well. if
not better, than any man in shoe
leather.
The official scorers have become
lenient toward batsmen to a point
where they should be lacked up de-
clared Heydler 1T is all right to
credit a hit TO a batter when a ball is
driven with bullet like force at an in
fielder-and goes toward him at diff
ficult angle. But there's no sense in
giving the batter hit when the field
ers fail to get ball hit directly at
them.
"a fielder is in the game for the
purpose of getting every ball hit into
his territory. No real excuses can be
made for him if he fails to handle a
ball that goes toward him. If he isn't
able TO handle clearly the drives that
! are sent down his way, then he is not
a really great fielder.
Some Exceptions
of course, there are exceptions
Sometimes balls are driven at an out
fielder with such terrible force that he
can't set himself property to make the
catch, or cannot close his hands fast
enough to grasp the ball when it
strikes his hands. In such cases it is
only fair to credit the batter with the
hit and penalize the fielder with an
error. But such happenings are rare
indeed.
"All during the 1921 regular season
noticed that official scorers displayed
especial leniency to the fielders Again
and again the scorers would give hits
to batsmen when it seemed to me that
the fielders sould have been charged
with error. This condition carried in
to the world series. l think it was
overdone there a bit for on several
occasions batters were given hits on
plays which it seemed to me were in
excusable errors by infielders."
The sentiments of Heydler simply
echo those expressed in this column
month ago anent major league scoring
in general and world series scoring
in particular. 1t was stated then:
What Menke Said.
The excess of swatting in this era
is traceable to many causes-and not
the least is the liberality of official
scorers of baseball combats. Those
boys seem determined to score as few
errors as is possible-and to give hits
on plays that are palpable blunders
1t would seem that scorers of the
present day lose sight of the vital fact
that an error is a lost opportunity
When a ball is hit at a fielder the
opportunity presents itself for him TO
retire the batter. D.. What if the ball is
driven bit fast, or is not driven d.
rectly for his hands? A real player
can grab EN- no matter how hard
they're driven at him-and no matter
how far away they art hit. provided
the distance is within his covering
ability. If the fielder fails to get the
ball, Sfser having his hands on it. or
if he let's it whistle through his legs
he loses an opportunity to retire a
batter and he should be charged with
an error. -. Scoring errors as hits is
an injustice to pitchers -. Some day
the singers will imbibe a bit of vodka,
ponder over the injustice of it all
and shoot a few official scorers even
before sunrise"
Heydler maintains that the practice
Of scorers in crediting the batsmen
with hits on indisputable errors. has
been fattening the averages of all the
players anywhere from four to 10
points yearly. He insists that the bat
ting figures arrived at in this way, are,
therefore, not fair. And he plans to
take up drasti cchange in scoring
at the league conference this winter
The time has come to resume scor-
ing errors as errors-not as hits" he
declared. When this is done the fans
will not have so much trouble under
standing the scoring system as they
have of late when they would discover
that a batsman had officially been
credited with hit on what they were
supremely confident was an error"
Copyright 1921 BY King Features
Syndicate, Incl