Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-10


Superstitions are not confined to
managers by any means: all ball
players have them in some degree.
1 believe that ball players are the
most SuperStitious people in the world.
A load of empty barrels, a load of
hay and a hunchback carry certain
omens of good or bad luck. a player
may put superstition into the most
innocent objects and happenings.
Is Not Superstitious.
Personally 1 do not disappr of
this superstition. One of the great
things in base ball, rather one Of
the most necessary. is confidence.
Without confidence no player ever
succeeded. He must have complete
faith in himself to reach the top. If
anything like a load of hay or load
Of empty barrels, or one of the thou
sand and one things to which super
stition is attached, is going to help
develop confidence in a man, why, let
him believe in it. The end juSti-
fes the means. 1t may be ridiculous
to the layman and seem extremely
silly, but it is invaluable to the bail
player.
One of base balls most dignitied
personages was Harry Wright.
brother of George Wright. the great
Boston shortstop. Harry Wright
managed Philadelphia and he could
look further into ii ball game than
any man ! ever met. Before the
game started he had every inning
figured out and he expected the play
to go precisely along the lines he
planned.
One time Ed Delahanty came TO
bat with a man on first. Wright
told Delahanty to bunt, but Della
hanty swung instead and hit two
Dagger. When Delahanty returned
to the bench Wright said to him:
Edward, did l not tell you to
bunt?"
Yes, but what of it? Amt two.
bigger better than any bunt? If l
hunted, he'd only gone to second with
one out. BY hittin' a twohagger l
acore him and get to second myself.
wen none out" answered Delahanty,
but that did not satisfy Wright. He
had other ideals, as his reply to Della
hanty shows:
Sticks to System.
No, Edward. you are wrong. Your
two-base hit was not better than
bunt Your failure to bunt Will
change this entire game. Had you
hunted, then in the eighth inning you
would have come to bat with two or
three men on bases and then you
could have hit the ball for two bases
and scored two or three runs and won
the game for us. AS 1t is, the two,
Dagger that you just made is wasted
and will probably cause us to lose by
changing the entire course of the
game"
Wright never varied from his plan
or system He had everything worked
out in advance and everything must
go precisely as he had planned.
change in the situation never altered
his plans for a succeeding inning.
1t Is different in this base ball age.
The manager regards the game today
as the game to win. If he can win it
by using a pitcher that he is saving
for tomorrow, then he uses that
pitcher, for the same chance may not
come tomorrow. With him there are
no tomorrows, only todays. If he does
not make use of a chance to win today
and loses, then he may also lose to-
morrow, and there will be two defeats
where otherwise there would be only
one.
Ted Sullivan managed the Atlanta
club after he left the big leagues. The
Atlanta park had the Srandstand
screened in all sections where white
people sat, but there was no screen in
front of the first-base stands, where
the colored people were assigned to
sit. The Atlanta first baseman was a
poor fielder and many high throws got
away from him and hit colored spec
tators behind first. A committee of
negro rooters waited on Sullivan one
day and asked him to build a screen in
front of their section to protect them
from wild throws. Sullivan said he
could do nothing until the following
Spring, but he would have a screen
built in April before another season
opened.