Evening star., 1924-04-29

He must be good catcher of
thrown balls, and in that respect is
scrt of an assistant catcher. He has
the advantage of playing with a big
glove, as has the catcher, but he must
also have the ability of holding the
ball in the glove with his bare hand.
Ii takes a knack and it takes pluck
when the runner is right on top Of
the baseman as the ball is coming,
too.
Second Base Is Important.
The second baseman should be a
player on his toes. The second base
man is really the right-GeId shortstop
combined with second base. AS base
ball is played these days Doth short
stop and second baseman play second
base, and one of them is snortstop on
the right-field side and the other
shortstop on the left-fieid side.
The second baseman cannot have
| too good a throwing arm. and he can
not be too quick in starting for a
ball that is batted, thrown poorly or
gets away from another player on
| his team. Alertness and speed must
be possessed by the second baseman.
and he should have the knack of
touching base runners without being &
afraid of them.
Everything that is batted between
second base and the first baseman
comes to him, and he has his hands
full in almost every game in which
he takes part. If he is a good thrower
often he is the relay man who takes
the throws that come from the out
| field
For the shortstop exactly the same
thing may be said as has been for
the second baseman. There was a
time when the shortstop was consid-
cred to be the great back-up player
He was presumed to be all over the
diamond and to assist everybody
| but in these days he is no more a
| back-up player than the second base
man. They divide all the territory
| between them because the second
basemen is not anchored to his base,
as our grandfathers played the posi-
ton. They thought the second base
| man should be right on top of that
base all of the time.
The Shortstop gets everything be-
tween second base and the third
baseman and he plays second fully
as much IS the second baSeman plays
it. In fact their positions are sort
of Siamese twin affairs with differ
ent names.
Good Thrower Needed for Third.
The third baseman must be as good
thrower as you have, and a fielder
who is sure of being able to handle
| hits that come down to him a mile a
minute, and the reason why the third
baseman must be a little better pos
sibly than the first baseman is that
the greater number of batters are
right handed and they keep up a
bonn mbardment against the third base
man which is more severe than that
against the first baseman, as will be
found out easily enough when expe-
, rience is had on the field. The third
baseman must have a good THROWN &
| arm, because he has the long throw
to make almost all of the time. and
he must be able to put speed on the
ball, as there isn't much time to get
| It over.
For the outfelders get boys who
can Judge fly hits. Get just as good
| batters as possible. If boys can judge
long hits and are good batters and
If they can also run fast they are ex-
actly what the big leaguers look for
| when they seek outfielders. Speed is
essential in the outfield. 1t isn't alb
solutely necessary if a boy can catch
pretty we'll and hit. too, but it counts
| for him. When boys are high-claSs
outfielders, and some of them are,
they certainly command attention by
making fine plays. Our college men
in the outfield have been good in re-
cent years and their catches Of fly
hits equal to any.