The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-02-10

Always I have ben interested IN
psychology and used It to advan.
tage before ] knew it to be a par.
ticular scientific study. Often il
has been said in the sporting col.
umns of the newspapers that I TOOK
reckless chances in baseball and sol
away with them through sheer
audacily. In fact, I never did any.
thing Of the kind / rarely took j
chance that had not figured out
carefully IN advance tried to
make It appear. however. that /
WIS acting on sudden impulse and
relying on luck. was able to do
that through. i respect for an op.
ponent S ability rather than through
disregard 70 him
As 4 have previously remarked
] have been 4 close student and
an aiffnirer Of Napoleon. Every
thing that he did interests me. He
AZ WAS. believe, who said i'm
Effect. The secret of success IN
warfare IS to put yourself In the
position Of yOur opponent and de-
eide what Won would do under the
same circumstances. Then do
something else. The chances are
he win think as yon do.
That Is not an accurate quota
tfnn bur IL conveys the idea thai
impressed me. the one that found
Il worth while to follow
For example have often gone
70 bat with 8 desire TO hit at the
first ball. knowing that the pitcher
had control After q mome11t's
thought would realize that the
myself woule expect me to MAKE
movs. ike that. Cons squently he
would decline 10 Lax the first one
over as he had been doing to- other
batters
Instead of hitting I would LET
the first one go by and take q
chance on q later pitch. I recall
doing this twice to Ed Walsh. The
third time up he had decided that
was playing q waiting game and
tried TO Gross me by putting the
first one squarely over That was
exactly the frame of mind that /
was trying to get him In, and when
he turned loose the FAST bail
through the middle Of the plate I
clipped It for a clean hit. have
been able TO out guess RUDE Wad-
dell that way.
plating a steal / use to study the.
naannerisms of the pitcher closely
to see when he intended throwing
TO the plate and TO the base. /
knew he was feeling me out to
see when I intended to start. Two
or three times / would take the
Jump on the second ball pitched,
for example. whether I had any
hopes OF making it or no. I would
then put myself in the pitchers
position. and figure that Cobb has
worked out set system of going
on the second pitch" Then when
critical moment arrived in the
game Il had chance / would start
on the first or third pitch-the
one he didn't expect It is surpfis.
pitcher that way. The scheme sue
ceeded because of my faith in his
intelligence rather than In my con-
sidering him a numbskull.
The real idea is to give the
other fellow credit for brains, and
then decided your own moves &C.
c0rdfngly. IL IL developes that he
really hasn't much intelligence
you are just that much better
off.
This trick of making some move
repeatedly just to throw an op-
posing team off its guard is what
1 always called my threat" It Is
the same idea as an army demon
fratIng its strength in one direc-
ton and then delivering the blow
from another quarter.
Batters often make threat to
bunt when they never intend to
is to draw the infield In closer
and then hit the ball hard That
lis q. very common move. The smart
pitchers get on to 1t and often
cross the batter by signalling the
tnfield to keep back.
That is the time for the batter
to be alert. If he sees that they
are not falling for his bunt threat
he can go right through with it..
II ia a rather dangerous move, but
] have seen batters break up a
bali game by bunting bn the third
strike and taking a chance. OF
course, IL he fouls the ball he
is out, but that lis the chance he
has TO take.
The whole idea is to create a
mental hazard for the opposition
BY continually mixing the players
up as to your plans.
Ito Be Continued Saturday.
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