Evening star., 1923-02-19
Lirely Ball Not a Ne,U
Idea-Has Inn0vatiOn
Taken Pep Out Of the
National Game? Thrills
Reduced dWHhBaseR Run.
ming NO,c a Lost Art.

"A /HlLE | have d keen re.
Wv gard and admiration foi
my winning and
world championship club OF 1921
and 1922. | cannot truthfully say
that it has ever given me the thrill
and the glow that | used to get out
OF my speed marveis OF 1911. the
club that was beaten by the .Ath-
lctics.
40 i:v. lhcan 10 say that the 1911
outfit. which practically stole their
". mo .he pennant asuns the base
i.ilt. was more powerful team tnan
the one OF 1872. / simply have a great
love for it largely because Of its
speed On the bases and also because
! developed nearly every man on that
team. Tney were what you might
call hand raised. Other clubs l have
built up by trades and shifts, by using
what ability ] may nave at organiza- :
lion. Those 1911 boys. though. were
my own.
Make-Up OF the Team
ON that old championship team
We're Herzog. Fletcher. Doyle and
Mt.kle in the infield: in the outfiel id
were Murray. Devore and Snodgra -
ILL speedsters. Now think OF this:
That gang stole S41 bases. And the
batting average of the team vas but
rs. The 1921 club had team bat
t.aS average of .2?s. but sto.e only
I31 bases.
over in the American League that
same year Is2D the Washington
team led in base running with total
of III.
1t is not difficult. therefore. TO un-
derstand why I cherish that old club.
All my base ball life ] have dotted on
base running.
Nobody regrets the decline in base
running more than | do. But with the
lively ball being hit all about the lot
the necessity Of taking chances on
The bases has decreased. A manager
would be foolish no; 10 play the game
as IL is. meet the new situation with
new tacti s.
Long Hits Are Factors.
one WAC jumps a. ,OnrlusioEs
would say right off the reel that a
club ave. aging .29S ought to seal
more bases than one batting 27e on
the face o. things that would be OBJ
v;ous, because more men got on bases.
But it is not true at all
The answer lies in the eStrao--
dinary number of long hits Obviously
a man cannot steal second when he
chances Of stealing third when there
are SO many triples. Again. there is
no use in sending men down on a long
chance of stealing bag when there IS
a better chance OF the batter hit
ting the ball for two bases or. maybe,
out Of the lot. The lively ball Is re-
sponsible for all that
! do not like the lively ball. 7 think
the game far more interesting when
the art of making scores lies n scien-
~
am inclined to believe that the public
does not like the lively ball all the
time.
Fans Get Weary of iomers.
say this in full knowledge of the
attendance figures which have stead
iy grown. ! think they would have
grown anyway. 1t is true that the
but there are times when he gets
weary Of il.
In one game at Chicago We go,
hold Of lively ball last year Ce22)
ming that big percentage Of the
crowd walked out of the park
An odd thing about this lively ball
is that no manager that ! ever heard
of was ever consulted as to the advis-
ability of using it. The manufactur-
ers insist that the balls are made just
the same as before: that there was
no intention Of making the ball live
lier. Nevertheless. il is livelier. To
make certain all YOU have to do is
watch hard-hit ball to the infield.
Often the ball goes so fast as to
shoot past the infielder before he has
a chance.
Lively Ball Idea Not New.
This idea Of a lively ball is not
new. Away back in the early eight
les the matter was discussed. They
even went so far as to have some
lively balls made and run into the
games. They were so lively that often
the ball would hit the ground and
bound high over the infie1der's head,