The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-26
TEST OF A STAR TEAM

Having been asked to give an opinion as to what department Of baseball comes nearer showing the difference between a star ball cluo and an ordinary one my answer ls' the running and stealing of bases.
 There is quite difference between running bases and stealing bases. IL is a different art. Among ball play CTS to run the bases means to get every possible advantage out Of a hit. To steal beses means to get every possible advantage on the base paths without a hit.
 I notice that fans and even expert writers often make the mistake of referring to player as great base runner when they really mean great base stealer. There are many marvellous base runners who rarely ever steal base. On the other hand there are some men who seem to have a gift for stealing bases but who often fall down in running out their hits.
 To my mind the art of base steal ing has declined a whole lot in the last few years due mostly to the lively ball. Managers, figuring the percentage of chances, seem to have decided that there is less chance in trying for a steal than in waiting for the batter to get hit. With a lively ball he has more chances of knocking a grounder through the tn- field than formerly. That makes the hit and run the outstanding play be- cause 1t gives the runner double chance. If the batter fails to hit the runner may have the base stolen anyway. If the ball Is hit through the infield the runner takes an extra base, That is why most smart man agers use 1t ahead of all other plays.
 The oldest and most amusing-to the spectators--base' running stunt l ever saw happened with the Pirates in game in Chicago. IL was not funny to me.
 It was the beginning of the ninth inning and the Cubs had us four to three. Suddenly there came II break. The first man got on: Then came a couple of lucky breaks in the infield and we got the bases full with none out. l was next at bat. This looked like cinch. hit, a fly -anything-would score one run and tie the score. A hit or two would break up the game.
 o O O
 They Fall Without Blow.
 I never felt surer of winning a ball game in my life. As l stood there l would have bet thousand to one that we would win.
 King was catching-and. by the way, there was great catcher. The whole Chicago infleld suddenly went into q conference. King ran out to the pitcher and after lot of nodding of heads he came back be hind the bat. Taylor was pitching
 I crowded up to the plate but the pitch was far out to one side. They had decided on wasting one.
 In a flash King, who had figured the situation out right. whipped the ban down to second and the run tal C caught flatfooted. Seeing he couldn't get back to second the runneC start cd for third. 4 the same moment the runner on third started for home.
 The Cubs then switched the play and caught the third base runner In a chase between third and home. He finally slid back to third safely and the play shifted again the second base runner being caught going back to second again. This kept up for fully five minutes. Again the man was caught off third. By this time every man on both clubs, including substitutes was out on the lines tell ing the runners what to do. The spectators were also shouting advice. I was simply standing there with the bat in my hand.
 They ran those players up and down the lines for fully 10 minutes with everybody confused, the whole game in a jam.
 Finally they nailed the man at the plate when King turned and again caught the runner between third and second. After a long chase they ran him down. Just as he slid into second to be touched out the Cubs looked up and there was the other runner tearing down from first to second. In time they got him.
 All this time the crowd didn't know what was going on. Neither