Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31

~ ASE BALL today differs II
many ways from base ball o
~ his first 10 years in the bi,
IL show, thinks Walter johnson
longest in professional ranks
of the Nationals and dean OF major
league pitchers.
And all of the changes in the game
that have occurred during the career
of the man who will be signaily
honored in Clark Griffith Stadium mex,
Tuesday at the celebration OF the
twentieth anniversary of his debut as
q major league hurler he does not
consider improvements.
But base ball still Is the greatest
game ever, the veteran believes.
Musing in the dressing room of the
Nationals yesterday, the big fellow
who holds more records than any other
pitcher who has been in the majors,
unburdened himself of these and many
other comments on the game to Whlch
he has given so much of his life, In
discussing the various phases OF base
ball, he weighed his words carefully
and disclosed that he had studied the
game closely since the beginning OF
his career.
Old Attack More Clever.
"To my mind. the most striking diff
ference between the game as / first
knew it and the game today lies in
the attack" Walter began. I'm my
first 10 years with Washington it
seemed most clubs played carefully to
get two or three runs and depended
upon a particularly tight defense to
hold their opponents. It was the day
of the sacrifice and the base stealer,
especially the latter. Speed and
cleverness on the bases were essen
tial to q winning club then.
With a couple of good base runners
just an average club was dangerous
then. Let one of these men get on a.
the start of an inning and a mighty
fine defense was needed to prevent a
score. More often than not he'd steal
second, be sacrificed to third and get
home on almost any kind of drive.
The runners were often good enough
to steal third, too. Those clever run.
ners always worried the opposing
pitcher and his support.
And bunting was fine art then,
Also continued Johnson. They
knew how to lay 'em down, so pitchers
and fielders always had to be on the
alert whenever there was some one on
the paths. As a result, pitchers that
had the knack of holding runners to
their bases were especially valuable to
clubs. In fact, a pitcher who could
not do that very we'll had little chance
To stick in the majors.
Little Stealing Now.
but that's all changed now" said
the big pitcher. I'm my early years
In base ball. runner who didn't steal
so bases in a season wasn't credited
with being a fine base runner. Now
hdays, a fellow stealing 80 bases in a
year is a top-notcher, or close to 1t.
And the sacrifice has lost out to
great extent. too. It isn't used so
still are some good hunters in the
American League, but nothing like
the number there used to be.
Now every one up at the plate is
swinging. generally looking for hard
hit or nothing. It's the day of hitting
behind the runner. Just bang, bang,
and trust to luck that the ball goes to
safe spot while some one is tearing
around the bases. This style Of at
tack to my mind has taken much from
base ball. 1t certainly does not seem
to be the carefully played and smart
game it used to be-"
"How do you account for this
change in offensive?" Walter was
asked.
1.-THE faster ball that was put into
play Sc veral years ago did it," the
pitcher replied promptly. 81 know
1t has been denied by some that the
ball was changed, but I also know
there was a great difference between
the ball that was in use when broke
into the American League and the
rabbit ball that was handed us a few