Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1918 — BUNTING AN ACQUIRED TRICK [ARTICLE]

BUNTING AN ACQUIRED TRICK

Players Who Can Lay Down the Ball Don’t Do It Naturally—ls Sacrificial Rite. It may be true that the hitter in baseball is born, not made, but not so with the. bunter, says a baseball wise man. The successful bunt hitter is a manufactured article. Here the mind plays an important part. Instead of going up to the plate with the sole idea of taking a healthy, untrammeled swing at the old apple, the artistic bunter must choke his bat, bold it so it will give, make a quick, but accurate, stab into the pathway of the ball and let the ball do the rest There is still more. Bunting is primarily a sacrificial rite, so to speak, and the batter with orders to bunt must make his desire to beat out the hit secondary to the proper advancement of the base runner. The trouble with most players who essay to bunt is their tendency to start running before they hit the*ball. As a consequence, they either foul off, miss altogether or drive it directly at the pitcher. They have no chance at all to place the globule where the infielders least expect it l