The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-28
By HANS WAGNER

By HAN . WAONEH
 As this appears colleges all over the country will have begun their preliminary work toward turning out good ball teams. Some of the colleges have provided themselves with ex- perienced professional coaches but most of them have not.
 College baseball is quite different from that of the major leagues be- cause the professional teams can buy men to fill certain gaps. If the posi- tion Is weak they can get capable man to fill it. At any rate, they have chance of doing 1t by trade or pur- chase. The colleges <can not do that. They must get the best out of what they have.
 The colleges. for instance, may have an excellent fielding shortstop a good hitter who is poor infielder. It Is sometimes impossible to get a combination of both.
 As rule the college players do not hit we'll. guess that Is because hitters are scarcer than good fielders and throwers. In the minor leagues, even, there are any number of mar vicious fielders and throwers who can not make the big leagues simply be- cause they are weak hitters.
 While was playing with Pittsburg was employed as coach at Carnegie Tech. l found the college boys eager to learn and willing to attempt any thing that I suggested. It was evil dent though--and naturally so--that they did not appreciate the finer points of the game. Even if they did, they did not have the skill to ex- ecute plays that would be everyday affairs for the majors.
 It therefore occurred to me to teach them Fundamentals. I prepared ,1n,- f..,4 t.1., boys to study. It was of great help.
 ,They forget so many little things In putting together a team.
 In the hope that it may help some college which is unable to engage a big league coach I want to present the first block of five questions that gave my class at Carnegie Tech. The answers to these questions are apparent in most cases, but they are good points to remember. Some of of them are open to discussion. By the discussion of them I think the college players will arrive at many good conclusions. They are intended hitting.
 Five Points For Amaeturs.
 Now, look these over:
 l. Do you use signal on the de- fense to let your infielders and out fielders know what kind of a ball is to be delivered to the batter?
 2. Do you Intentionally pass dan- gerous batter when men are In scor- ing positions?
 3. Do you instruct your pitcher to field as many ground balls as pos sible and not depend entirely upon the infielders?
 4. Does your catcher always give the sign for the kind of ball to be delivered?
 5. Do you have your catcher back ing up first on an infield ball with no outs?
 Those five questions I think worthy of study. If the amateur coach and the amateur captain will see that the men keep those things In mind it will make a great differ ence ill defensive play. I would not give more questions at one time. Too many would tend to confuse rather than help. Later I will present some others.
 The use of signal to let ,infield- CTS and outfielders know what kind of ball is to be pitched Is very es-1 sential. It gives them a definite cue as to where to place themselves for batted balls. Also 1t lets the short stop or second baseman know who will cover second after a man gets on first.
 If. for instance, ball is curved in to left-handed batter the chances are nine out of ten that he will pull it between first and second or into right field. If this Is known in ad- vance the second baseman and right fielder both can shift so as to get in front of the ball. An expert outfield- CT like Iris Speaker can tell almost exactly where a certain batter will ordinarily hit certain kind of pitch.
 On the other hand. if the pitcher intends to pitch a fast ball outside will cut 1t towards left field. It is very difficult for a batter to get hold of that kind of ball, espe cially an amateur.
 The shortstop and second baseman are always in position to see what pitcher. One of them should tip off the others. In case of doubt the catcher can often move the outfield around by merely waving his hand. Think Of The Next Batter.
 As to passing batter in pinch, 1t depends entirely upon how danger ous he is. The next batter also has to be considered. It-4s never advis- able to put man on base who might bring in the winning run unless the succeeding batter Is the weakest man on tne cup. InoSe chances have to be weighed. Remember, that the chances are always against any batter getting hit. If, for example, he Is 300 hitter the chances are that he will get safe hit one time In three. But if there Is man on third ready to score on a long fly, a hit is not necessary.
 As to the third question. certainly, the pitcher should do as much field ing as possible. A pitcher who can field his position perfectly is often more valuable to a team than a great star who can not field at all.
 Tha ansWers t0 the nthers Ire