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Show KBNSI WOT LUCKY PLAYERS I Monte Cross Says Heroes of Game Not Creatures of Chance. Monte Cross, who played hall for man' years with the Athletics and with St. Louis clubs and was a star in jH his day, says there is no such thing as luck in baseball. Monte is positive that all good ball clubs, the ones that are always higher up in the race year after year, make a study of the game and players, and that by thoroughly maB-tering maB-tering every point, they have little troublo in ripping off victories. Cross says that to become perfect in baseball as m anything else, one must devote considerable time to the study of the game. That explains the reason, ac-cording ac-cording to Cross, for the continued sue-cess sue-cess of Manager Mack, and the Phila-delpbia Phila-delpbia Athletics. Having a system of signals is one of IH Mack's great secrets. Another is in IH 'doping out what the other fellows are going to pull off. Mack and his play-ers, play-ers, says Cross, never fail to catch tho signals of an opposing team, and when onco they do,, everything is easy sail-ing. sail-ing. Says Cross: ''When the first man on the Ath-letics Ath-letics steps up to the plate, he hag in-structions in-structions to watch closely every move that his opponents make in the field, and especially tho pitcher. Lots of times a batter can telK what a twirlcr is 'going to shoot over tho plate by watching his foot. Then many fingers have certain little habits not noticed by the fans, perhaps, by which a smart ball tosser can tell just what kind of a curve is going to come over. IB This trick of telling what kind of a ball is to bo thrown is done by closely observing the pitcher and also how he holds tho sphere. Give Secrets Awaj "Many pitchers fail to learn how to cover up when delivering a ball. I have noticed this at tho spring train-ing train-ing camps. Very few of the young pitchers know how to conceal what they are going to throw, and none of tho pitchers can conceal the fact when they intend tossing the ball to first trying to nip a baso runner. Most young pitchers will plainly showt in throwing to the initial sack some little habit that should be easy for a baso runner quickly to solve- The fault of the youngsters here, and it is tho lamo with" every recruit that comes up from the smaller loamies, is that when thov aro about to throw to first they will invariably drag their foot on tho ground in making the quarter turn. When thoy are going to pitch to the batter thoy lift their foot. "T want to tell you something of jH considerable interest that perhaps few of the fans have thought of. When a vounc bush leaguo pitcher is brousrht JM up for trial and by his wonderru! speed and great curves tho manager decides to retain him, that docs not necessarily mean that he is a good fiinger. Just because a recruit hap-pens hap-pens to have a grand physique, speed and curves, that is not by any means all that is required. Ho must also IH have brains. jH Brains Are Necessary. 1 "And now we are getting down to the real interesting point that I "want tM ed to tell vou about. Perhaps this youngster will go along for two or jH three reasons and twirl fairly t good ball. All the while this particular IH man will be working as hard, as he Jm knows, in fact, almost throv.-ing his lm arm off evcrv timo ho goes to tho mound. This" sort of pitching is an awful strain on a man, and it soon begins to have its effect. Suddenly, s i 1-1 4.1. n mlitnai. by constant naru iauur, tuc. Hu. one day strains his arm, his speed IH and curves aro gone and tho fans hg- ure that he is through. But such is far from being true. "When a big, strong fellow sudden-ly sudden-ly awakens to the fact that bis arm is sono he becomes a real clover pitcher, and by that I mean a smart, heady JM twirler. Ho then has to rely sololy upon the headwork to fool the opposing hittors, and instead of merely using his once wonderful arm. he falls back on his brain to hold his job. Remember JM quite a few years ago Christy lthew-son lthew-son hurt his arm, and many of the wise ones had it that this fellow wa through. Well, what did Matty do? Ho simplv developed a new curve ball, and today is still considered ono ot the H grandest pitchers m the game. Thote are many other cases quite similar to that of Mathewson's. How to Get Control. "Thero is another thing I wanted to say about bush league pitchers who get a chance in the big league, but are turned back because they lack control. If these same men would only practice hard under some man-age'r man-age'r or coach who know just what to do under such conditions not halt the men would be sont back. taice the credit for developing Jack Coombs into a clever twirler. as I worked with him constantly and helped him to gam control. When Jack broke in he was as wild as anv pitcher that I have ever seen. He didn't seem to have any control, and what's more, it, was easy to- bo seen that Jack had no idea as to how evor to become perfect. "I took Coombs in hand and. worked with him every day. I.WfrnlK H him that in order to gain control to try always to aim for some certain snot in the person of the catcher wher he throw a ball. For instance, if he wanted a low ball cm the inside, to H throw at the catcher's knee. If he wanted a ball, high nd one on the H outsida, to aim at the catcher a shoulder. By hard piaebee and I lot H of it Coombs acquired control, wjian Jack : throws a ball now he H fictlv where it is going, and that is more than a good many f lingers can H say." iH |