Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1911 — Page 2

Outguessing The Pitcher

■' •'i •’ ’ A ‘ '' **' • -,' ' * •W«^ L UMORS had been circulated by me [ “underground" routes of baseball during the season of 1909 that signala wer « being tipped off In New York and Detroit. About this time, '. , I noticed Ira Thomas and "Eddie” Plank working together in a game | against the substitutes one day in i / morning practice. Thomas’s signals | were so ridiculously plain that I < IflQ yelled to him from my position at ’ -JL A second base. "For heaven's sake, Ira,” I called, “what are you trying to do? A blind man in center field could get those signals.” “All right, Eddie,” he answered. “That’s what they’re for. It’s a stall. We open a series In New C York Monday, and they may be tipping signals I there.” i Instead of covering up his signs with his legs ( as any good catcher will, when he crouches behlpd the batter, Thomas was displaying his signals •o that coachers at both first and third base could see them. I learned In due time that the pitchers were giving the real signs, and that Thomas had devised this scheme to throw any observers with spy glasses or other artificial aids off their guards. I might add that, as a result. In the following series four of the New York batters were hit with pitched balls and badly hurt. All this means that, every time a batter faces a pitcher In a game of baseball in the big leagues, there Is a duel of wits. In fact, the batter is pitted against both the pitcher and the catcher, as the Incident related above will show. The acuteness of the duel depends on the amount of wits enlisted on each side. Some are not very keen. But, although In the vernacular of baseball, It is called “outguessing the pitcher,’’ It Is really outwitting the catcher, for the receivers almost universally decide what kind of a diet shall be served to the batter. Occasionally a pitcher disagrees and shakes his head. Successful men behind, the

bat in the big leagues have made a careful study of batters, their “grooves” and mannerisms, and it is on this knowledge that a pitcher depends. Therefore, in the majority of eases, it is the batter outguessing the-

catcher. In only a few instances does the pitcher give the signals. So much faith havo some pitchers in certain catchers that they pitch altogether a different brand of baseball to other men. This is particularly true of Krause, the Philadelphia left hander, who pitched such sensatlotnal ball in the season of 1909, and of Ford, of the New York American league club, who was the thrill of the league last season with his double breaking spitball. Krause had no confidence in any catcher except Ira Thomas, and Ford could not work harmoniously without “Ed” Sweeney. These catchers did all the thinking for the two great twlrlers, and their work in the box was purely mechanical. Krause ranged ten straight victories in a row before he fell, in a ten-inning game with the St. Louis team, then, as usual, in last place. The secret is this. Thomas was catching him for the ten he put on the shelf. Lapp was behind the bat for the

eleventh, and It fell’off and smashed. Krause pitched without confidence in his catcher’s judgment to outguess the batters, and he lost. The same thing was true of Ford in the post-season series with the Giants. In the

early innings of the first game, Sweeney had his hand split open with one of Ford’s eccentric spitters. The Highlander was never the same again. He did not pitch the wonderful ball he is capable of in that series. He had no confidence in the lumbering Mitchell to handle his “spitters,” to think fast; in short, to outguess the batters. Some catchers have a very busy habit of talking all the time to annoy a batter in an effort to distract his attention from his work. John Kling, of the Chicago Cubs, known tn baseball as a bad man with a batter, "chewed” incessantly during the world's series in which we won the championship from the Cubs. He seemed to want to distract attention from the pitcher. A favorite line of his was: “Now, let’s try him on a fast one." It is sort of an unwritten law

of baseball to let the first one go by to get a look at the style. Kling would say: "He liked the looks of that. Let’s try him on another.” Then up would come a curve. A favorite trick of his is to get the batter

Into an argument, and have his pitcher shoot over a fast one. He tried this on me In the first world’s series. “So they say that you are the best base runner in the American league,” was his opening line. “Well, you are not up against American league catchers now, young fellow. Let’s see you steal a base if you get down.” I paid no attention to him. although be evidently hoped that I would turn around and reply, so that I would be caught off my guard. And not In conceit, but, as a historian, I relate the sequel. I did get down to first base, and by pretending I was go Ing to steal, made him signa] to Overall to waste two balls. Then, when he had to put a strike over, I went down. T Sometimes a catcher will overplay his part in this re-

spect, and a remark dropped by him will give a batter the key to the situation which will enable him th. outguess the pitcher. A thing of this sort happened to me in Chicago one day last season, with Walsh pitching and Payne dropped a remark, which set my mind

working and which led me to forecast what was coming. This cue and the resultant conclusion I drew, based on the hasty* hypothesis of Payne’s remark, resulted in a timely base . hit The conditions and circumstances of the

Cobb.

Plank.

Ford.

hit are not likely to occur often in a game with Walsh pitching. He Is a spit ball pitcher entirely. He uses his “spitter” and a* fast ball with no curves. On this occasion, Payne signalled for either a spit ball or a fast one, I don’t know which. Walsh shook his head In reply, and Payne gave him another signal to which he again shook his head. “You don’t want this one?’ Payne mumbled in his mask, but loudly enough for me to hear as he gave another signal. Walsh nodded assent. Now here is what passed through my mind, after listening to the hint carelessly dropped by Payne. Two were out at the time, a man was on third base, who, if he scored, would put us ahead, and the count cm me was two strikes and no balls. My flash of thought must have been instantaneous. I try never to pay any attention to the monologue of a catcher, but Payne is naturally a

reticent man, and his remark surprised me. Walsh had refused to pitch until he had received a certain sign. This made me think that It was not going to be a "spitter” or a fast one, evidently the first two signals given.

by Payne. He can’t intend to waste a ball, I reasoned, because the man is on third, and he doesn’t think he is going to try to steal. Then it struck me. "Can it be a curve?” I asked myself surprised. "But he never throws one,” I argued in my mind. Then I remembered the surprise betrayed in Payne’s “You don’t want this one.” The remark, mumbled in his mask, had supplied the key. I took a chance. It was a curve, and I called the turn. It was the first and last one Walsh ever threw me, and probably he would have slipped it over, had It not been for Payne’s poorly suppressed surprise. That cost Walsh the game. It must be remembered by the reader that all this giving of signals and reasoning took place in about a minute’s time. A ball player must think fast _ Old “Cy” Young, one of the Solons of baseball, crossed me once in almost the same way with re-

verse English on it. It was a case of him outguessing me. The veteran Cleveland pitcher is as different from Walsh, in his style, as white is from black. “Cy” relies on a curve and a fast ball, never using a "spitter.” Young had

two strikes and one ball on me in a game in Cleveland. He walked out of the box and part way to the catcher to receive the ball. Easterly, catching, signed for an offering that did not coincide with "Cy‘B” idea of the exigencies of the situation. The old fellow shook his head twice, which immediately forced me to conclude that it would be neither a curve nor a fast one. Oldring was on first base at the time, and 1 guessed that "Cy” must want to waste one, thinking he was going to try to steal. When the ball came to me about chin high, I at once concluded that my diagnosis was the correct one, and 1 let it go. But, when about two feet in front of me, It broke across my letters, a beautiful strike, and I had not even taken my bat off my shoulder. “Cy” had dished up a. spitter from somewhere in his assortment, and I didn’t even know

that he could throw one. He simply outguessed me and caught me In the arms of Morpheus. He had wet the ball, while walking away from the plate with his back to me, after getting It from Easterly, thus giving no hint that he was going*to throw a ’’spitter.” Young invented this trick and applies it oo

EDDIE COLLINS

o7'‘fAe> VMDRLD’S champions

casionally to great advantage, I have learned since, catching a batter off his guard. But he depends for the most part on a curve and a high, fast ball, relying on his wonderful control to put the ball where he wants it That

“whisker” trimmer of his, which is a high, fast ono in the vicinity of the neck, is a villainous ball. A pitcher of Young’s type would Just as soon tell the batter Where he is going to try to throw the ball, because it is generally known that he is pitching at a batter’s weakness. So batting in the big leagues is largely a game of thought. The man who outguesses the pitchers accumulates the most hits and the largest batting average. Lajole is the only exception to this that I can recall. Of course, self-con-fidence is an absolute necessity to any successful hitter, but the Cleveland second baseman is more chock full of reliance in his own batting ability than any other player I know. It is not conceit, just faith in his eye. He shuffles out to the plate, almost carelessly, and bangs his bat down two or three times as if to say to the pitcher:

“Toss one up here and hurry up about it. I’m not particular.” > He seldom lets the first one go past him. He gets his poise, takes a couple of short tfeps, wades into the ball, and bang!

“You can’t get one by me,” his manner appears to challenge. He 'is simply bulging with confidence. He is the one hitter and the only successful one I ever saw who apparently doesn’t try to guess what the pitcher Is going to throw and really doesn’t care. ’ Pitchers have never been able to discover any “groove” that he is concealing. He simply wades in and hits at any kind ot a ball. He is one bailer in a thousand. Tyrus Cobb, the Detroit star, is the exactly opposite type of hitter. He is thinking all the time he is at the bat, figuring, planning, to outguess the pitcher and the fielders, in baseball parlance “to cross” his opponents, a legitimate procedure. If he thinks that the third baseman expects a bunt, he will hit it out. He never chases a bad ball, and he makes a pitcher work to the last notch. He worries many of the men in the box by his restlessness, and because he is constantly guess-

ing right. He has almost clairvoyant ability to outguess a pitcher. In some games, I have been able to guess right almost every time that the pitcher has thrown the ball to me and yet have not beev

able to get a hit.. There is a great difference in pitchers. Some are easy to outguess, and others are as bad as a Jig saw puzzle, and I never worked out one of those in my life. I know some men who have mannerism* in the box which betray defin-

itely the sort of a ball to be delivered. These little physical eccentricities are true indices and often cost men, who would otherwise be successful pitchers, many games. It may be the twist of the wrist in throwing a curve ball, or some motion of the foot peculiar to a "spitter” that divulges the essential secret This tell-tale sign is fatal to a pitcher, when players get on to it and it usually does not take his opponents long to discover and associate it with a certain kind of balk

Working in combination to outguess the bat ters, a catcher will often help a pitcher out by talking incessantly, hoping in this way to distract a hitter’s attention from his business. Street of the Washington club is one of the worst talkers in the business, and Is called In soma strata of baseball “Gabby." From the

EDWARD TROWBRIDCE COLLINS

time that a catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher until he delivers it again, a batter should never take his eyes off the pitcher. All of the “grooves” of batters are carefully catalogued. Every hitter in baseball, with the possible exception of Lajoie and Wagner, is supposed to have what is known to the profession as a "groove,” a certain real or Imagined weakness. Some pitchers work to fool a batter, and others aim at his “groove.” Young and Powell are of the second type, and -It is this style of pitcher that I always try to make pitch to the limit, as they have to depend absolutely on their control. The catcher is obviously included in the guessing match which always results when a batter faces a pitcher. I recall a funny instance of "Hal” Chase making Ira Thomas look like

Lajoie.

“What are you going to do, Hal," asked Ira, “frame up something here?” Thomas did not expect to find out anything by the question, but wanted to drag Chase Into conversation to get his mind-off his work.

“Sure I am," replied Chase, and he repeated the old sign very de liberately. “What” exclaimed Ira, "you’re not giving, me that sign, thinking I’m not jerry to it?” “That’s right, - Ira,” answered Chase carelessly. “I had forgot ten you knew, but it goes .anyway.” This conversation was carried on while Plank was pawing around -in the box and preparing to pitch. As the tall southpaw ~~wound up, Daniel started in from third base. Plank delivered a perfect strike, and Chase half bunted and half hit the ball, which allowed Daniels to score. “Hal” had beaten Thomas at his own game. He had given a sign that Thomas knew, and which the latter did not for a moment think had been passed out seriously. Therefore Ira did not signal for a pitchout as he would have done if he had guessed the play was

White.

coming. Thus Chase double-crossed Ira. A ball player is trying to outguess the pitcher from the time he leaves the bench until he sits down again. He doesn't terminate his engagement at the plate. As soon as a bats-

Chase.

a sort of instinct which some players have and others never attain. A man seems to do It by intuition and often cannot tell Just what concrete hypothesis leads him to reach a certain conclusion. But believe me, It Is a grfiat art for a ball pMyer to have, a great art, and one to be cultivated.

six nickels in a game last summer. Thomas formerly played on the Yankees, and,'at the time, Chase’s sign for the squeeze play was given by putting his right hand to his nose. Ira had seen him give this many times when they were team mates. But on this occasion, Chase was playing on the New York club, and Thomas was catching on the Philadelphia teajn. It was in the eighth inning with the score tied, and a New York runner on third base, champing on his spikes to get home when Chase stepped to the bat. One was out “Hal” went through the usual preliminaries of knocking the dirt out of his spikes, fixing his hat the firmer, as if he expected to take a long run and didn’t want to be called back to get the cap, and spitting on his hands. Then he put the first digit of his right hand to the side of his nose.

man becomes a base runner, his object is advancement Every ball player knows exactly how much of a lead he can take off first base on a certain pitcher and not get caught. There are recognized standards in the big leagues. For instance, I know that I can go fifteen feet away from the bag and get safely back with “Doc” White of Chicago pitching, but if I go a step over ton feet on Walsh of the same dub I will probably get nipped. I can't exactly explain what I mean, but when I once get accustomed to a pitcher's delivery, I know how far to venture. ' In base running, I believe

that the secret of success is the start, absolutely. Speed is a great asset, but the start is every, thing. Outguessing the pitcher and catcher is

BIG PROBLEM IN FUEL

HALF THE COAL IN MINES LEFT THERE INACCESSIBLE. Peat Bogs of Country, However, Contain Billions of Tons That Can Be Utilized In the Future. One of the most serious problems at the present time is due to the fact that on the average nearly 50 per cent of the coal in the mines is left either in or at the mines and is inaccessible for the future generations. For example, according to Cassler’s Magazine, in 1907 approximately 400,000,000 tons of coal were left in or at the same mines from which the 480,000,000 tons were taken. To stimulate the possible use of various grades of fuel and safe and successful methods of mining much material at present left in the mines are some of the problems of the United States bureau of mines? Problems of combustion are being carefully studied, by means of stationary boiler plants, house heating .boilers and a long combustion chamber; proper classification and relative "prices for coals by means of specifications and purchase by contract, and more economical use and utilization of fuels heretofore not regarded as adapted to such purposes by means of briquetting, coking and producer gas plants. Among these fuels is samples of which have been used in the making' of producer gas. The use of peat for domestic purposes in European Countries dates back several hundred years, but the extensive development in methods of mining and utilizing peat has been largely within the last ten years. At the present time in many of the European countries peat is a large source of power develop; ment through the aid of the gas producer and engine, and .the utilization of the peat bogs is becoming general. Some idea of the extent of this development may be had from the statement that Russia alone mines annually over 5,000,000 tons of dry peat. It is estimated by the United States geological survey that the bogs of this country contain approximately 12,888,000,000 tons of dry peat commercially available. At a market value of |3 per ton for machine peat bricks, this represents over $38,600,000,000. The Canadian government is carrying on extensive researches relating to the use of peat, as this fuel is fohnd in very large areas in Canada. The cost of preparing peat for the market is comparatively small. Reliable figures are not available for the United States. For one locality in .Sweden, visited in 1908, coal cost $3.75 per ton, and peat, delivered on the operating floor, 80 cents per ton.

Twice Close to Death.

An unpleasapt adventure recently befell a Bavarian officer who was taking observations above the fortress of Ingolstadt, Germany, from a captive balloon. A sudden and violent gust of wind snapped the mooring cable and carried the aerostat up and away at a dizzy speed. The officer, who was alone in the car, attempted to empty the balloon by means of the ripping cord, but could not get this to work. Meanwhile, he had been carried to an altitude of 1,500 feet and was beginning to feel the exhausting effects of this rapid change of elevation. Realizing that his situation was desperate, he exerted all his powers, and managed to clamber up to the envelope and slash a hole in it, whereupon the balloon descended even more rapidly than it had risen. When near the earth he was again in imminent peril, but he made a jump for it and had the good luck to be caught by the friendly branch of a tree. Relieved of his weight, the balloon shot up into the air again and was soon lost to sight.

Matchless.

“When Edwin Gould took up the manufacture of matches seven years ago,” said a New York banker, “his friends were a good deal amused, and many a joke was » cracked at Mr. Gould’s expense. *T remember one June day, at on open-air luncheon at Tuxedo, a superb four-in-hand dashed round a turn of the road and we all looked up from our strawberries to admire. " ‘That is Mr. Gould’s team,* said some one. 'Who is driving?’ “ 'Mr. Gould himself,* a lady answered. ‘Doesn’t he look striking on the box?”'

Bird’s Remarkable Diet. Ostriches are credited with a peculiar appetite for glass and ladies* batpins, but a woodcock just sold tn a Paris shop has run them closely. The customer who bought three birds asked to have them opened, and to the surprise of the shop assistant one of them had four Lebel cartridges in its stomach. The bird was carried with much precaution to the police station, together with the cartridges, and the authorities are wondering whether they are faced by a new phenomenon that might interest naturalists or whether ft is merely a packer's practical joke.

Her Tact.

Howard —Did she refuse you, old man? Coward —Well, in a delicate, indirect way. She told me she never wanted anything she could get easily. Harper's Bazar.