Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 158, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1911 — Page 3

"Qutguessing" The BATTER by CHRISTY MATHEWSON

-’■r N PITCHING and whining |||| your games,” I have often been asked by devotees of , Ig the American game, "how H? 1 ’ much figure does brain work i|| cut? ” r Many an honest young fanatic * has asked me that ’ question during the ten years 2ai and more that I have been pitching major league baseMp ball, peering at my head meanwhile as though he exa Pocted some such reply as “no SA Iflw headwork whatever.” Many jl*'' - an older and wiser baseball follower, fortified by the

wondrous knowledge that -comes to men after years of squatting in the grand-stand, has asked me the same thing in a modified form. How much figure does brainwork cut? I don’t quite know myself. Ido know that no pitcher, however powerful or agile, can hope to become a great performer without being thoroughly equipped ‘'from the shoulders up.” The steel arm is desirable, the good eye is even more desirable, but, without the little filling •of gray matter that Is popularly supposed to inhabit the skull, a pitcher might just as well pack his suit-case and go back to the quaint little village where he was first discovered, tt isn’t the iron in the arm, because lots of longshoremen could snap a pitcher’s arm in two with a single twist; it’s the combination of brain and body, the perfect co-operation of mind and muscle, that makes a man a successful major league twirler. Most pitchers who break into fast company and stay there by consistently demonstrating their ability, are men that went

ARTHUR DEVLIN.

a baseball. Granting that a pitcher needs something more than a clear head, It must be admitted that the successful pitcher Is always a student. There are a hundred and one little things that every good twirler has in his repertoire, a hundred and one little things that the average baseball lover doesn’t know anything about. I have always made it a practice, before going Into a crucial series, to get some kind of authentic information about the strength or weakness of every batter slated to face

me, and once . I know positively that a batter doesn’t like speed, I feed him oceans of it. If I find that his weakness is a low curve, he gets that for a steady diet. When we met the Athletics in the season of 1905, after having won the National league championship, I realized that a good part of the pitching burden would be on my shoulders, and I began making inquiries about the weak and strong points of the American league champions. Monte Cross, who played on Connie infield In 1905, was known by me to be a dangerous hitter, though his average was not high. He was the kind of a hitter who was always bobbing 'up

with a hit at a time when a hit meant trouble, and just before the series started, I did a little quiet detective work through friends of mine who knew the game and knew Monte. I had been told that Monte’s weakness was a high, fast ball, but when I talked to “Kid” Gleason of the Philadelphia Nationals,

Gleason told me that Cross had fought against and overcome his weakness, and had developed into a murderer of the high, fast delivery. Keeping Gleason’s advice In mind, I gave Cross nothing but low Curves during the series, and had him helpless from the start Had it not been for Gleason’s tip, Monte’s always dangerous bat might have caused trouble In that series, for there were some very close games before It was all over. The greatest strength of a pitcher, aside from his control, is what the players call his “mixture.” That means notnore nor less than what the word Implies—his variety of fast and slow ’balls, his serving of this or that curve. What we call the “change of pace,” the delivering of a fast and then a slow bail with the same preliminary motions, and the mixing of a high

FREQ CLARK, of Pitteberg.

curve Into, the southeastern quarter ot the adjoining section. While a batter may work hard and overcome a certain weakness, that does not necesarily mean that he becomes a great hitter. Jn centering bis energies on overcoming bls weakness

through a long course of sprouts before they got anywhere. They, like hundreds of successful men in other walks of life, were forced to look, listen, and learn before they had anything like an fa- even chance to win their spurs. Many things haw>* been said and about pitchers outguessing batters, and batters outguessing pitchers, and to tell the truth there has always been a question in my mind 4 about the outguessing proposition. have seen so many instances where guesses went wrong—so many hundreds of instances —that I am about the last human being in the world to pose as an oracle on the subject of pitching psychology. Nevertheless, there certainly is a lot of psychology about pitching

fast ball and a slow curve are the successful pitcher’s best assets. Lovers of baseball have often asked me hoy i deal with a batsman whom I have never faced and about whose batting ability I know nothing. Every seasoned pitcher has been called on often enough to meet battels he never saw before, and In such pinches he must rely largely on luck. When I,am facing a new batsman for the first time, I pay particular attention to two things—<he position he assumes at the plate and the way he holds his bat. If, for instance, he holds his bat well up toward the middle there Isn’t much use of sending him speed. Batters of this type are always ready forspeed and they can meet the fastest ball a man ever threw. A low curve on

the inside will do for a starter, and if such a batter goes after It and falls to connect, you have his “number.” The batter who stands, back from the plate with a long bat and a grip near the end is the one who can send a low

FRANK CHANCE.

Qutguessing The BATTER by CHRISTY MATHEWSON

for a high ball he may lose his strength on low balls because he has been continually fed high ones by opposing pitchers. In that case I would try him on a low ball and if it was found that he could still hit that the only thing left would be a curve ball or change of pace. It is often the case that a. pitcher cannot deceive a batter’s eyesight but he 1 can deceive him mentally. For in- 2 stance, most any batter can hit a slow ball if he knows it is coming. p The same is true in regard to a | B fast ball, but if he is f, «

expecting a fast ball and gets a slow one, a strike out or a weak grounder to the infield will be his best effort Some batters, a few of the chosen, have no weakness that the most studi-

lous pitcher can detect Men like Hans Wagner and Lajoie don’t much what the opposing pitcher has to offer. K I have often been told by my friends that a pitcher is about 90 per cent of the game, and have never failed to assure them that nothing could be further from the truth. A winning pitcher helps a baseball team a whole lot, of course, but there are eight other boys on that team, and nobody knows it better than the winning pitcher. The recent series between the Giants and Yankees will prove my point. In that series I got away with every game in which I participated, but I won because I received magnificent support, both in the field and at the bat. Had George Wiltse been right, *or had McGraw sent in Ames or Crandall, the story would have been the same if the support had been of the same splendid caliber. The wonderful work of Devlin, Devoe and Doyle—the wonderful work of the whole team, for the matter ofthgt—made defeat practically Impossible. With that great machine working behind me and with the greatest manager of them all backing me up, I simply couldn’t lose. That’s how much a pitcher is 90 per cent, of the game. As a matter of fact, it would be Impossible to establish the mathematical relation of the pitchy- to a ball club. Figures in baseball are often misleading. One pitcher* may work brilliantly for 13 innings and have a 1 to 0 defeat marked up against hisrecord, While on the following day another pitcher may luckily

win aloto 8 game. It Is a matter of record that in the season of 1909, Leon Ames of the Giants, in finishing a 17 inning game and participating in two extra inning ties, pitched 80 consecutive innings without allowing a run and yet did not win one of the games; From this it can be seen that the winning power of a team must depend largely upon its run-getting ability. To

that about 30 per cent. oKthe strength of a ball club lies in the pitcher’s box. No matter how effective a pitcher may be in the box he cannot win unless, the team bats in runs behind him. It is true, however, th&t the work of a pitcher can have a very strong Influence upon the work of the rest of the team. Disgruntled fans frequently make the assertion that infielders and outfielders will not support certain pitchers. That idea is erroneous. Ball players always want to win, no

matter who is in the box. It is usually lack of control on the part of the pitcher that disconcerts or demoralizes the infield. Players lose confidence because they are uncertain as to what will happen next. The catcher may call for a “pltoh-out”— that is, a ball thrown wide of the batter, so that the catcher can have a clear throw to second to catch a runner who is about to steal. The Infielders all see this signal and both the shortstop and second baseman leave their positions to assist in making the play. If the pitcher does not pitch-out, as expected, the batter may hit the ball through the spot left vacant and upset the whole team. Once they lose confidence In a pitcher In a game, it Is very difficult to regain it It is not that they will

JOE TINKER.

dude the pitchers. For instance, the Baltimore club, back In the early nineties, won three successive pennants with pitcher* whose names can scarcely be remembered. The hackneyed cry of ’’ What we need is pitchears” could well be changed to “What we need is hitters, base runners and fielders.” Without them there can be no pennants.

MATHEWSON.

reach an estimate of value we will say that offensive play is half the game. I think that conservative. That would leave but 50 per cent., and the pitcher could not be all of that. 1 would’ say

not support the pitcher. On the contrary, it is the fault of the pitcher who will not give them a chance. If the pitcher has control everything works smoothly. If it were true that pitching is 90 per cent, of the strength of a ball club, it would be logical to assume that the team having the best staff of pitchers would always win the pen-

nant That is not true. The baseball reader who pays attention to records will notice that the teams which win the penhants always have several players who lead in their respective department*; And this does not necessarily in-

Some, of the best pitchers ever connected with professional baseball have received bumps from sources so humble that any false esteem they may have held for themselves has vanished like the snows of last season. Cy Young, the noblest old Roman of them all, has been beaten by village teams. The best pitchers of the world’s champions, not’ long after they had trimmed the Cubs, were beaten by the unknown Cuban teams they faced during their late barn-storming trip. They pitched good ball, the kind of ball that would defeat any team if it eame to a matter of whole season’s record, but luck, the one thing above all others that makes baseball the thrilling and perfect game it is, decreed otherwise. There are times, you see, when all the science and all the outguessing in the world will not avail.

I shall never forget a trimming I got from a village team in Michigan. Just after we had defeated the Athletics for the world’s championship in. 1905, Frank Bowerman and I went on a hunting trip. As soon as the natives of Frank’s home town, Romeo, Mich., knew that I was his guest, they came and begged us to do the battery work for the Romeo club in a game they were to play with the club representing the adjoining town. We agreed, and lam afraid that our willingness cost a lot of honest Romeo villagers everything except their family plate. The thought of defeat never entered their minds, any mote than it entered ours, but the little rival towns club came over to Romeo and gave Messrs Bowerman and Mathewson, fresh from their big league triumphs, a touch of high life that they never forgot They beat us 5 to 0, and T guess they are celebrating it to this day. I don’t know just how they managed it, because I was in perfect trim at that time.

4 had everything, as we say in professional circles, and they hit everything I had. I didn’t mind it much myself, but I felt sorry for poor Bowerman. He had to keep on living there, and I didn’t The real test of a pitcher’s ability arrives when the opposing team gets men on bases. His responsibility is increased while his freedom of pitching motion is restricted. He must watch the base runner constantly and at the same time must

SHERWOOD MAGEE, of Philadelphia.

▼ent the runner from getting too much of a lead, and when he does start, the ball Js pitched out of reach of the bat* ter so that the catcher can have a clear throw to second. While the pitcher Is watching the base runner he knows that the base runner is also watching him, in an effort to ascertain whether the ball is to be delivered to the plate or to the base. Therefore, no preliminary movement on the part of the pitcher must betray his Intentions. George Van Haltren, the famous base runner of his day, once told me that he could tell to a cer-

tainty when certain pitchers were going to deliver the ball to the batter. This enabled him to get a running start and many times the poor catcher was blamed for allowing a stolen base, when in fact the pitcher was unconsciously at fault John McGraw, manager of the Giants, spends

several weeks each season in teaching his young pitchers to overcome that kind of a weakness. The tremendous popularity of the national game—its popularity is growing every year—means that in the years to come there will be hundreds of baseball stars where there are dozens now. Every healthy boy has it in him to become a good ball player, though he may never care to follow the pastime professionally. Being a professional player myself, I may be over-fond of the game to which I owe so much, But I can think of many other callings and many other pastimes that a hoy might better shun. Base-

ball is always played out In the sunshine, where the air is pure and the grass is green, and there is something about the game, or pt least I have always found It so. which teaches one how to win or lose as a gentleman should, and that is a very fins thing to learn -■'/ 7 . 7?: 77

“HONUS”WAGNER

deliver the ball to the batten with the least possible swing of the arm. In other words, he can’t “wind up.” Some pitchers find it difficult to get as much speed, curve or accuracy with the short arm motion as they do with their usual swing. This affects some pitchers mentally, as the curtailment of physical effort prevents them from concentrating their mind on the man at the bat. At the same time the base runners, and frequently the coachers, are constantly trying to annoy

them. To protect himself the pitcher must try and detect soine action on the part of the base runner which will indicate when he is going to attempt to steal the next base. In this he is materially assisted by the catcher. Once the pitcher or the catcher discovers when the runner is going to start the remedy Is simple. Frequent throws to the base will pre-

SAM CRAWFORD, of Detroit.

SOME GOOD BASEBALL FACTS

Work of National ent Circuits—Pittsburg Best. which have ncludBrown resent ■ 51908, fames, pretof the jother 38 not ferent i He rg knows that Pittsburg, New York and Chicago have made most of the running in the National league from 1900 on —1900 was the year fpt which the National league was cutfrom 12 to 8 Cities —but he has practically no conception of how many each of these three has won in the entire 11 years. The figures show that the American league clubs have been more evenly matched in strength than those of the National. There have been? individual years in which there was little to choose from in this respect but taking the life of each league as a whole and there is much less difference between the greatest and smallest percentage of the first and last club in the American plan in the NatlonaLTbe highest percentage for the eight- combined years in the American league is .578 and the lowest .433, a difference of 145 points; in the National league the greatest percentage is .622 and the smallest .414, a diffeHHpe of 208 joints.

The Pittsburg have tbnHghest percentage in the National' league—. 622 for the total winnings of 11 yearii. The order of the others is as follows: Chicago, .604; New York, .569; Cincinnati, .480; Philadelphia, .471; Brooklyn, .441; St. Louis, .414; Boston, .399. Only three of the eight clubs have won more than half of their total games—New York, Chicago and Pittsburg. The number of contests won by each club is as follows: Pittsburg, 996; Chicago, 984; New York, 918; Philadelphia, 787; Cincinnati, 781; Brooklyn, 717; St. Louis, 651; Boston, 628. The American league percentages in their order are as follows: Athletics, .578; Chicago, .541; Detroit, .541, Cleveland, .534; New York, .511; Boston, .510; St. Louis, .433; Washington, .355. The Washingtons have the lowest percentage of victories in either league, but there is less difference between the lowest and highest in this--league for the reason that the successful teams have not won as often as. the stronger teams in the National. ’

CANNOT FIGURE ON BALL TEAM

Third Baseman Byrne of the Pittsburg Pirates Says Predictions Are ’; Merely GueOsee. 7*| "No man living can teH how a ball team is going to finish," offers Bobby Byrne, “and if he picks one out right before the season opens he is merely making a good guess. On past performances it is possible to tell whc ought to be Tn the first division and what dubs will probably finish lower than fourth, but even in such a classification there is apt to be come poor guessing. Many things enter into » championship campaign that the spring doplsters as a general rule overlook. They seldom figure on accidents and illness, and they pay little attention to the breaks in baseball luck which cut a big figure in every pennant race. “I notice a so-called eastern expert has placed Pittsburgh! the second division. His' argument is that Clarke, Leach and WagnerV being old players, are bound to slump, and slump badly, and he adds that if G<b

Bobby Byrne."

son meets with an accident the club will be in distress. He’s simply takng undue liberties with the ‘IT deck. Of course, ’if’ the four players he mentions fail to play up to form, or for one reason or another of the game, the Pirates will be seriously crippled; but, on the other hand, ’if* they deliver the goods like they have been doing thus far, the dub that wins the National league' pennant will have to beat the Buccanenfc So there you are. It is pure foil/for anybody to try to pick winners in spring, and it’s absurd for any manager to claim the pennant before the season starts.” \

Long Drive by Murray.

“Home Run” Murray drove pv it th. longest liner recorded thus far at Comiskey's baseball park the other day in the first inning (ifthe St, Louis-White Sox game. The ball carried over the iron fence near* the left field bleachers. Murray contracted the home run habit at St. Pau! ‘ast year, where be won his nhdtißme. j I