Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1918 — ERRORS LAID TO WRONG MEN [ARTICLE]

ERRORS LAID TO WRONG MEN

Muffs by Third Baseman Often Blamed on Man Throwing Ball—One Instance Cited. ' • To a man in the press box it seems there is too much of a disposition to give wild throws to players on almost anything that another player falls to hold, says Detroit Free Press. Take a third baseman for instance. He is supposed to stop hard grounders and if he doesn’t he will be charged with an error. Yet very often when a catcher or an outfielder hurls the ball to the third baseman and it gets away from him and the throw is not squarely in his glove, the error is charged to the man throwing the ball when as a matter of fact the third baseman should be penalized with a muff. v It is too often taken for granted that a throw is bad because a baseman doesn’t hold it. The Phils once had the greatest booting third baseman in the world. He was spike shy and afraid to put the ball on the runner. Cravath and Paskert would whip hard accurate throws straight to the third baseman, who would deliberately get out of the way, make a feeble stab, perhaps bit the ball down a little, and the outfielder would get an error that he didn’t deserve. When this player was sent elsewhere, the fielding averages bf Cravath and Paskert leaped forward.