Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1917 — BILLY EVANS SOLVES BASEBALL PROBLEMS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BILLY EVANS SOLVES BASEBALL PROBLEMS

(Written Especially for This Paper by the Famous American League Umpire.) 1 <

A play that is very simple caused a b'.g dispute between two smalltown teams out West last summer. It all happened at a big county

fair at which baseball was the main attraction. The season in most of the leagues in that section being over, the various small towns enlisted a lot of imported talent In an effort to carry off the baseball honors. Ope of the managers had a crack left-hander and a. right-hander. He desired to fool the rival manager Into thinking that he was going to use his right-handed pitcher, so that the rival would use a goodly number of'bls players who batted left-handed. Two of the left-handed batters were strong against right-handers, but very weak against southpaws. Just before the start of the game, the umpire announced the right-hander as the pitcher for team No. 1, The other manager, noticing the right-hander warming up, had included his left-handers in the

line-up; But when team No. 1 went out to take its place in the field, the crack southpaw was the pitcher instead of the right-hander announced. The rival manager insisted that the manager of team No. 1 had no right to make a shift at that stage, while the latter contended that he could substitute a player anyetime he so dgsired. The umpire, of course, took a hand in the proceedings, the ryle book was referred to, but the game 'was never played. Answer to Problem. The bit of strategy on the part of one of the managers was well conceived, but he desired to carry it too far. Such a plan is often used in the big leagues as well as in the minors. Where the manager was wrong was in believing that he could make the substitution immediately. The rules say that the pitcher announced must pitch until one batter has either been retired or reaches first base. After having his righthander pitch to the first man, under the rules, the manager in question could then have legally substituted his left-hander. He refused to do so, consequently only half an inning of the game was played. (Copyright by the Wheeler Syndicate, Inc.)