The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-26
Famous SIugger Says Every Batter Has His SIumpS And There Is No Way To Ex- plain Them

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 tCopyrigli 1928 In United states and Great Britain, Cuba. Japan and South Alliance for The Age-Herald. All rights
 By HANS WAGNER
 The pitcher l found the hardest to ! hit n all my years of baseball was Jack Baylor, of the Chicago Cubs. That is an answer to dozen questions l have received and I feel the writers who have been kind enough to suggest these subjects and who inqu5red about the toughest pitcher. Invariably asked if he were Mathewsaon. Alexander, Cy Young, AIordecai Brown and so on. Not one thought ot Jack Taylor.
 Just the same l had more diff culty in getting safe hits off Taylor than any other man l have ever faced. He was not a wonderful r pitcher. al that. He did not have anything Ike tht stuff of those have mentioned. Somehow, though, ] simply couldn't do q thing with him. : l would size up the ball exactly and : know juSS what was coming but tt didn't get me anything.
 One season ] went for two months or more without getting single hit off Tayior. 1 hit many of them squareiy on the nose and got line
  straign- ins0 the hands of some out fielde~. X thing like that gets hitter's goat
 In one game at Pittsburg 1 hao been up twice without touching Tay- Tor The piayers on our club had begun to kid me about it.
 Hey Honuss" Claude Ritchey call cd to ma in a joke. Maybe his weak l, ness is left-handed hitting. Why i4xion't you LII n Sround2' This got a good laugh from the slplayers as has never batted left handed in my life. Never could swing a bat well that way.
 That might be a good idea" said Nto myself, walking up to the plate. Being thoroughly disgusted and | taking the whole thinG as 8 joke l walked up there azs1 took the op- { posite side of the plate. There was a murmer of surprises from the fans. Z Even the umpire looked as If he r.thought me crazy.
 You know where you are stand | mgr" he asked. ( = Just then Taylor laid one over and ! I punched at the ball with my : awkward lefthanded swing-swuns the bat like woman.
 The Left-Handed Swws.
 I'll be dog-goned if I didn't hit the ball right on the nose and whipped it down the right foul line for two bases. Everybody, includ- ing the players roared with laughter. Taylor called me lots of names But that had turned the tide For the rest of the season ] hit as well of Taylor as the rest of the pitchers. &ad ] never did bat left-handed gain, either.
 A batting slump is the most pug zlina thing ia all baseball It hits every batter al some time or other and once the blisnI raIl3 on a fel- 2 low he has no mental rest until it is uYer. Nothing he tries seems to go fright. As 6 result he gets to press ing. trying to kill the ball. That Naturally makes him worse.
 There $ no explanation of how than ;he eye and the muscles.
 IL might interest you to know that a majority of the ball players who received my request to submit sug- gestions for subjects In this auto biography asked for an explanation of the batting slump and how to get over #.
 In the first place I believe a bat ter, afsrr failing two or three times ir succession, gets oyer-anxious. In . ny case ] found it all in the step. ] world either take too long stop 7nt3 me pail 100 snort, LOO laJes too vfuick too slow. too straight and a tendency to pull away. As a result l sT ried tU hit everything and could mexer get the pitcher in the hole. sfhen l found myself unable to wait and became hopelessiy confused This, in a way, applies to driving in solf. Lots of them tell me they get in sl1mps like that. It also ap- plies to everyday business and to life in general Once fellow gets mixed up, goes off his routine, he starts plunging around and IS completely s off balance.
 My suggestion Tor a way to get out of the batting slump is the one ev- cry body tells you, but you can not 6o-forget it. That is easier said than done. How can man forget ahing that is the only thing in his 8mind?
 Start All Over Again. .e As 1 have just said I ovecame my batting slump against Taylor by bat ting left-handed. That might help others. The main thing, though, is a1o look yourself over and start right from the bottom as if you were learn ing all over. Bat in a careless way, as ii you didn't give hang what Happened.
 e A batter should start in by taking "a short tsep and an easy swing, as it be simply wanted 10 tap the ball. Time the ball and don't be over anx- long as you can. If you get two or GNnH< ga4 A 6@@ F'e