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Show ABOLITION OF FREAK HURLING IS PRAISED Has Restored Element of Uncertainty Un-certainty to Game. Batsman Regains Hit Proper Place In Sport Instead of Being Mere Pawn In Hands of Opposing Slabman Pleases Fans. Abolition of frenk pitching has been a great boon to professional baseball becuuso It has restored to tho gumo the clement of uncertainty which was gradually being choked out of It by the expert purveyors of "shlno" balls, "sailors," and other progeny of the "emery ball," writes I. E. Sanborn in tho Chicago Tribune. Tho batsman has been restored to his proper place In the game, Instead of being a mere pawn In the hands of tho opposing slabman, as ho was coming to be before the promoters wised up and tried to re-establish Uio "bnlanco of power" between attack and defense. Tho majority of rooters profer tho action of high score contest, In which tho whistle of tho base hit supplants the groan of the strikeout. They are willing to see their own pitcher pounded pound-ed If tho opposing slabman is getting his, too. There is a negation of action In a I to 0 hurlcrs' battle that can bo appreciated ap-preciated only by tho fan who loves that sort of thing ns vnrlcty. Tho change to a quiescent airtight combat Is something soothing to tho nerves of tho regular patron. But as a regular regu-lar thing, the slab battle, In which only ono or two runs nro scored on a side, becomes as monotonous as shaving shav-ing every morning beforo breakfast. A fow sensons ago a team which climbed on n cold pitcher for four runs In tho first inning had little to worry nbout tho rest of tho game, unless un-less something happened to Us moundsman. For the team that was behind, It usually was a hopeless stern chase, barring the Intervention of Mrs. Fate. Today a lend of four tullles is nothing noth-ing to bunk on. With the present Importance Im-portance of tho batsman, It Is nothing unusual for a team to wipe out that handicap In a single fertile round. That Is what makes tho pames more Interesting. That Is what glues the bugs to their seats until tho last man is out In tho ninth, although there may be a margin of several runs on the scoreboard. Instead In-stead of quitting in tho eight with his team three runs behind, as he used to, tho fan now roots until the finish and, even if It Is "one, two, three," thinks of whnt might have lujen It Fate had smiled |