San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-04
THE BASE HIT.

New York, April 4.-If a battcd
ball goes between the first and Sec
and baseman and neither of them is
able to stop it, both of them seeming
ly trying their best TO do so, it is
called a base hit. Any hit which
cannot be fielded is base hit, il the
ball is fair, and many hits on which
an attempt is made to field the ball
should 60 as base hits. There are
some hits which fielder cannot stop
successfully unless he is made of a
combination Of steel. and glue. steel
to stop the ball and glue to hold it.
There need be no hesitancy about
crediting any ground hit as a base
hit which goes out of the reach OF
the infielders and is not touched by
them, with one exception. And be-
fore We go further it is well enough
to state that there are likely TO be
several exceptions to hard and fast
rules about scoring. This first ex
ception has to do with a ground hit
which skins along the ground and
which travels about as fast as q
limited train down grade. The short
stop bends over to stop it because il
is going directly to him and just as
he seems about TO put his 'snds on
it, the ball Jumps like a scared Texas
pullet (Which is the most scarceful
bird on earth because Of the perils
by which she is constantly surround
ed and shoots to the Outfield.
Error" says the multitude at once.
mi tc al
that is where the discrimination of
the scorer must come in. First of
all. it is the scorers business to
Keep his eyes on that hit because he
is supposed to follow the ball, as
the fielder is supposed to follow it.
Often, however. the scorers gaze is
diverted to the player who is on
third with the tying run and he for
gets to keep his eye on the ball. He
looks up hastily, secs the ball back
of the shortstop and puts down
error. If the scorer had been watch
ing the ball more closely he might
have seen it take hop over the
hands of the shortstop. That might
either have been due TO the accumu-
lated speed with which the ball was
travelling or it might have been the
result of an unseen surface. The
ball took the top of a little rise and
shot straight ahead. II that were
the case the batter should have had
base hit no matter if the ball did
20 between the players legs. 1t was
one of those hits that fielder couldn't
have stopped with an old-fashioned
noon skirt.
If the shortstop on such a grounder
shows laziness in getting down for
the ball or seems 10 be confused be-
cause of the fact that there are base
runners on the bases who may score.
the fault is probably his that he did
not make any play on the ball. and
in that case, therefore. it should be
charged against him MS an error.
1t is not good policy to score errors
because You think that player DIDN'T
think. We will get more of that
later. In world series game the
scorers gave an error to a second
baseman because he came in too fast
trying for a double play" and the
ball hit his shins. How did the
scorers know that he came in too
fast? How could they tell whether
it was his fault or the fault Of the
ground that the ball bounded up and
hit him in the shins. He may have
had n perfect line on the bali from
his angle and the fact that it struck |
him in the leg was not because he |
played the ball too fast.