Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-05-17
IN FIELDING GROUND
BALLS ACT QUICKLY
Player Should Come Up on His
Toes and Be Ready to Start
on Every Pitched Ball.
(By CARL LUNDGREN, Baseball Coach.
University Of Illinois.l


believe players should observe six
fundamentals in fielding ground balls;
that is, they should start fast, get
square in front OF all balls that they
can; keep their body lew; watch the
ball go into their hands; use their feet
properly and make every effort to
catch the bali on a long bound or ON
a pickup.
On every pitched ball fielders should
come up Off their heels and onto
their toes ready to start as fast as
they can run In a direction that will
put them In front of the ball. Usual
ly player should be able to tell on
which side of him the bali will be
hit before the batter hits, by watching
the swing Of the bat and the position
of the pitched ball relative to the bat
ter. Oftentimes, II you will watch in
fielders, you will observe that many
will leap forward ana to one side or
the other and often take full step
even though the ball Is not hit. This
means fast start In fielding the ball
If It Is hit and the ability to cover
much more territory. 1t also means
that they may slow up when they
come to the point where they can
take the ball on long bound or
pickup IL 1t is hit eown the infield
with ordinary speed and not to the
limits Of their fielding area. In other
words, they can play the ball and not
allow the ball to play them. You
should get square In front Of all balls,
IL possible, in order to reach as far
as possible to either side II the bali
bounds badly to one side on the last
bound before catching 1t and also to
use your body and feet to keep the ball
in front of you in case 1t cannot be
played with your hands. Many as
front of you that have been stopped
by body and feet. One of the funda-
mentals Of all baseball Is to keep the
ball in front of you. There are balls
at the limits of your fielding area
that you can play only with your
body in front Of them, also slow
hit balls that you must go in as fast
as you can and take In any way that
they come to you In order to get the
putout, also long bounding that you
can play on the side III order to be In
better position to throw, but on or
binary ground balls 1t should be easy
to understand that, II you play them
on the side and they bound a little
farther to that side than you expect
ed you will be unable to knock them
down arr play them. They will go to
the outfield, possibly between them,
and IL 1t is an outfielder playing the
ball, 1t seems an extra base hit.
Keep your body low. No player was
kept too long on ground balls but
rany have been unable to keep low
enough. Many balls have been too
low for a player to reach when he
could have had his body lower and
reached them with ease. It Is much
easier to raise up for a ball than to
stoop lower. A player should prac-
tlce until 1t becomes second nature
to him. Start fast to get In front of
the ball anG when you have 1t played
bring the heeit of both feet together
or very close together: the feet should
point out at an angle Of AS degrees;
head low; body nearly horizontal and
knees bending outward; hands point
ing downward and fairly close to
your feet; allow hands to be carried
back by the ball. Do not fight the
ball by reaching out for 1t. When
you have mastered this position, you
will find that you will take 1t on all
hard-hit and bad-boundng balls on
which you will be able to make plays
that would often get away from you
otherwise.
Probably the most essential thing
In fielding ball is to watch 1t until
you have 1t, so watch 1t go into your
hands. Because IL has been bounding
straight most of the way to you Is
no reason to expect 1t won't bound
crookedly on the last bound nor can
you expect to move your hands and
catch 1t II you do not see it when 1t
bounds crookedly.
Learn to judge the speed Of base
runners and to time your fielding and
throwing accordingly. IL you have
time, play the ball safely, but IL you
have to hurry, be able to Judge how
fast you must make the rlay. Make
all plays that are possible with two
hands-wfich includes hunted and
slow-hit balls. Some Of the latter
Won nav have RI MAY with ono hand
Avoid throwing underhand when
possible to do So 1t Is not as accur
ate, especially on long throws, harder
to handle, hard on fine arm and not
necessary nearly so often as thought
In some cases it Is absolutely neces-
sary, but as usual thing 1t Is bet
ter to throw half over the shouidei
or at least over the wrist.