The Washington times., 1923-06-14

, stances. >;,
The Babe slammed Sherry Smith
for double in the first inning. In
his next four times up he had exactly
one good ball to hit. In the third
inning he did manage to foul off q
low bali. The other four pitches were
called balls. In the fifth, seventh and
ninth. frames Smith. walked Ruth
each time on four consecutive poor
. deliveries.
In last Sundays game Ruth walk.
ed three times, giving him seven
bases on balls in his last ten appear
ances at the plate:
The writer was discussing Ruth
last night with an Englishman,
especially the way the Babe menace
- met by opposing pitchers.
s'They never would permit .
condition like that 70 exist In Eng
land" said the Britisher. why,
you have taken the sporting eQua-
ton cut Of your baseball when such
tactics arc tolerated. A game I'm
which such . condition exists
would. promptly die in n. tho hI'.l British
Isles"
And there is more truth than
poetry In that assertion. Baseball
fans go to Yankee games to see Ruth
match his skill against opposing
pitchers. Ruth's presence on the
Yanhs certainly is one OF. the reasons
for the Tremendous drawing powers
Of that club.
Now, when the opposing pitcher,
directed by his manager, ducks the
issue by walking Ruth, the fans are
cheated out Of somOthinge which
brought them to- the ball park.
Knowing something OF the British
tenperament, we should say q
British crowd would endure such a
situation for about q week.
The baseball fan, Of course. has
been educated into the belief that
walking a dangerous hitter In the
pinch IL good baseball Eyeryhody
does 1t. iris Speaker, one Of the most
popular players who comes 10 New
York, was loudly booed when he
came In from center field IN the
seventh and ordered Ruth walked.
Speaker, however, vas not at
fault. The entire system IL to blame.
Higgins resorts to. the walking q
star hitters AZ much as any other
manager. His ordering Bush to walk
Young in the last game Of the 1927
world series Kicked up q rumpus IN
that contest.
We do net blame Speaker <be-
cause Ruth was walked soyen
times In the last two games.
KPxkI.- .ox.uak1,rzhs. S1,Saua~N vr0aSW lstQRA
New York won tho first. 8 to ],
and Cleveland the next one, to
8. In either Of those games .
Ruthian homer could have
wrought q lot Of damage.
It Is the system which permits
Speaker to employ this method or
annuling Ruth's smuggling powers
which we bitterly condemn The
practice is a knock at the very fun
damentals Of sport. Whether pro.
fessional or amateur. sport Is based
on contest and competition. There
is no contest when a strong bats
man is sent to first on four balls
with the catcher standing five feet
away from the plate.
The writer was n member OF the
rules committee which met In Chi
cago three years ago and made
some, important changes to the
rules, including the abolition OF
freak deliveries. ! - 49,;
The writer then presented quite
IN argument against the inten-
tionaf pass. The Baseball. Writers
Association, through its rules COM
mittee, already had gone on record
against it. We made q suggestion
then that whenever an umpire be
lieves q pitcher is intentionally
walking a man he shall advance
any runner on the bases one base.
The suggestion was well re-
ceived, and but for the pugna-
ciOus attitude Of Hank O'Day,
a member Of the National League
rules committee, probably would
have been adopted. st
Hank waxed eloquent on the
troubles Of the umpires and painted
O gloomy picture of what would
happen II an umpire accused q
pitcher of deliberately walking a
batsman. He said no umpire can
tell whether a batsman is inten-
tionally walked or If a pitcher has
lost control He pictured hordes
of angry fans tearing out of the
stands and rending an umpire limb
from limb II he ever called sucn
q decision on a home pitcher.
He further said that IL such a
rUI.. tl. passed he never would
ohev it, as he was no mind reader
and couldn't tell when a pitcher
IL ;. 4vnally passing a batter.
O'Day failed to take into consij-
Grafton that his entire work is a
matter Of Judgment. There Is no
absolute line OF dernarkation be.
tween strike and ball other
than the judgment Of the umpire.
"v.Ea, the. resolution was de.
feated and another adopted which
sought to curb the evil, 1t pre-.
vented catchers from stepping ont
e. '.,'sfore the bali had left
the pitchers hand, but this rule
was not in effect. a week before II
became evident that 1t had not
solved the problem. It was easy
enough for the catcher to steI
PSI e while the. ball was coming
to the Mate,