The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1949-08-04
BEHIND
HOME PLATE
BY DOUG STEWART


the beginning of the season through
Sundays double header with Sun
bury, and here's what l found out:
The Owls lost total of IS games
by a margin of one run, and they
also won 9 games by the same mar
gin.
According to my record they lost
five of them to Lancaster; four to
Trenton; two to York; one to Allen
town and one to Wilmington. In the
IS games we lost by one run, the
following pitchers were charged with
the losses: Ancherico 4; Pickell 2;
Dickinson 2; Major 2; Wheaton 2,
and Mccullough l.
In the first game of Monday
nights double header with Sunbury.
the Owls increased their games lost
by one run to IA, when Sunbury
beat them 80 in eleven innings.
Wheaton was charged with the loss.
In the win column, the Owls won
9 games by one run, as follows:
four from Lancaster; and one each
from Sunbury, York, Harrisburg,
Allentown and Trenton. The pit
cheers in these one-run margin wins
were: Pickell 3; Bird 2; Mccullough
2; and Wheaton and Major, one each.
Then on Tuesday night, they came
up with their tenth win by a one
run margin, when Major won a SEN
sational victory over Harrisburg, in
II innings, by a score of 4 to 3.
In winning that game on Tuesday
night, Major gave the finest exhibit
ton of pitching courage l have seen
in long, long time, and he was
backed up by superb defensive work
by his team mates. For the story of
the game see my column, Keep
ing Up With The Owls" elsewhere
on this page.
In the many years l have been
writing sports, I've always been
careful to refrain from being
grandstand manager or a second
guesser. But like everyone else in
the press box on Sunday afternoon,
feel very definitely that the Owls
should have won that first game
against Sunbury in the regulation
nine innings, by a score of 7-6, in
stead of losing it in eleven innings,
had it not been for poor coaching at
third
Going into the bottom half of the
ninth, the Owls were trailing by
three runs, but they staged a rally,
and after both Heinbaugh and Hix-
son had scored to put the Owls with
in one run of tying the game. the
following situation developed:
With one man out, Pickell was on
third, Bird on second and Dykes on
first. Chaser, the next man up, sin
gled to right, scoring Pickell with
the tying run. The hit was not too
deep to right, but just the same the
third base coach sent Bird on in,
and he was thrown out on close
play, for the second out of the in
ming. 1t is my contention that with
only one out, the third base. coach
should have definitely held Bird up
at third. This would have left the
bases still loaded with only one out,
and with jim Kelly the next man at
bat In that position a long fly a
passed ball, wild pitch, or even an
infield out, could have resulted in the
winning run crossing tn plate
And although this part of it, of
course, is second guessing, Kelly
did hit long fly ball into center
field, on which Bird iould have trot-
ted home after the catch. Of course,
the game would have been won had
Bird scored instead of being thrown
out at the plate as he was, but I
maintain that the chances would
have been far greater in the Owls
favor had Bird been held up at
third, to leave the bases loaded with
only one man out.
I guess John Caspar was about the
happiest man in seven states when
his Hancock team in the Washing
ton County League knocked Smiths
burg out of the lead when they won
from South End 90, while Gapland
was beating Smithsburg 4-3.
Nice going, John, and I hope you
can keep them up there for the rest
of the season.
The close race in the American
League comes in for plenty of at
tention up in the press box. Whitley
Bachtell, who operates the score
board, is rabid Yankee fan; Dick