Show how to 4 win games some general rules that all players both on the field and in the grandstand should understand by hugh S fullerton U chapman detroit lost a worlds championship bv doing one little thing wrong achl cago threw away two by wrong selecting pittsburgh with the highest honor within grasp chose wrong just once and was beaten philadelphian Phila delphias great athletics came near defeat at the hands of a much weaker team by two bits of faulty play not one of these vital things that affected great series was an error that showed in the scores they were examples of bow the wisest of players and man agers will make the wrong choice when one of two things must be done the plays conal dered here are those that are played over and when the club Is in session for given a situation and the stage of the game ninety nine out of a hundred major league players can tell you exactly how that play should be made it Is the purpose of this article not so much to show how plays should be made as when A perfectly executed play may be correct at one time and entirely wrong a moment later I 1 am going on the assumption that every boy in america knows how to play baseball and understands the rules which are the baseball primer this tells how the primer is interpreted and applied by major league players As regards offensive baseball the making of runs there are two great types of teams the teams that play tor one run at a time a class now heavily handicapped and those that play for runs in bunches inside the last two years a change in conditions has forced a revolution in play and has brought a period of systematic attack with a view of making a bunch of runs at one time roughly speak ing it may be said that tor five years the american league has been devel this system while most of the national league teams were one run at a time clubs the exceptions were the naw york giants in the na which played the bunched runs game and the chicago white sox a team that being strong in pitchers and weak in hitters played for one run the team that plays tor one run at a time must have supreme confidence in its pitchers the entire system Is based on the supposition that the pitcher Is strong enough to bold the opposing team to a low score I 1 have seen connie macks athlea acs ics three runs behind perhaps in the fourth or fifth inning supreme in their confidence in their pitcher make the one run safe and crawling up run by run tie and then win out the achl cago white sox under fielder jones and the chicago cubs during the time that chance possessed pitchers upon whom he could rely played the same of ball and won but as condl of the game change the style of play to meet them must also bange there are three ways of reaching first base A base on balls by ang hit by a pitched ball by hitting the ball the first two methods are so closely allied as to be one and they form by far the most important part of the system or attack of any club no team ever won a pennant that was not a waiting team that Is one that could compel the opposing pitch er to put em over in the groove it does not necessarily follow that to be a good waiting team a team must draw many tree passes to first the object Is not so much to force the pitcher to serve tour wide pitches as robbers Rob beri force him to use his lull strength and to get him in the bole which n baseball means to force him into a where to avoid giving a pass ie must pitch the ball over the plate f the count is two and no strikes the atter Is morally certain the next ball ill be over the plate whether it Is or a curve and he also that in his anxiety to make ertain of throwing the ball over the lato the pitcher will not dare put much on the ball as be would do there were two strikes and one or balla called therefore he Is practically certain that the next ball will be a good one to hit and he will set himself grab a toe hold and double his chances of a base hit ordinarily both the detroit team and the athletics are good waiting teams teams that have opposing pitch era in distress perhaps as often as any clubs yet detroit threw away a world s championship that looked easy and the athletics came near the same fate by lapses in their system in the worlds series between pitts burg and detroit it looked as if the pirated did not have curve pitchers enough or of sufficient quality to prevent detroit from slugging its way to victory fred dark was forced to fall back upon adams a fairly good but not sensational curve ball pitcher who was young and inexperienced in the opening game adams was nervous and shaken as any pitcher ever was he was trembling and white from nervousness and the strain he passed the first batter without getting a ball over the plate and with bush one ot the best waiters and one of the hardest men in the business to pitch to at bat adams seemed in dire straits there jennings made the greatest mistake of his career he manager dark of pittsburgh signaled bush to on the first ball pitched there was a groan from a dozen baseball men who realized that jennings practically waa retus ing to let adams throw away bis own game bush bunted detroit scored but had dush been permitted to wait detroit probably would have won that game in the first inning driven adams off the slab and bad they done that adams never would have pitched again in that series as it was be steadied won the game came back stronger and again still stronger and won the championship for pittsburg in spite of that lesson connie mack did exactly the same thing in the world series in 1911 refused to let marquard throw away his game in the first inning and almost lost the game by it one of the mysteries of baseball for many years has been the excessive hitting power of every team connie mack commander of the athletics leads I 1 believe the secret it hia sue cesa lies in this jockeying with pitch ers waiting persistently to get the pitcher out guessed and puzzled and then breaking up the game with long drives I 1 believe that mack has the following system of upsetting appos ing pitchers no matter how effective they may be ills team starts to do one thing in the first inning if it starts to wait on the pitcher it watts consistently every batter doing exactly the same thing perhaps for three innings every batter will wait as long as possible before hitting then just as the opposing pitcher begins to figure that the athletics will take a strike or two and begins shoot ing the first ball over the athletics change and each man swings with full force at the first ball sometimes they do this for two innings until the pitcher changes then they will let the first ball go and every batter will hit the second ball they keep at it un til in bome inning they get the cluster of drives for which they have been playing pound out a bunch of runs and win there Is no way of proving the theory except by the as mack Is about as communicative as a deaf and dumb diplomat but in the scores I 1 analyzed it was remarkable to eee how many of the athletics did the same thing and hit the same ball in certain innings the idea ot the tern seems to to force the pitcher to do the guessing rather than to try to outguess him and such a system persisted in and changed suddenly would explain the hitless fruitless in aings during which some pitcher seemed to have the champions at his mercy and the sudden elam bang onslaught brings victory there is science and skill in the actual bitting of a ball but the real value of hitting lies in advancing run ners who already are on bases the sacrifice bunt the bunt and run the hit and run and hitting as the runner starts as differentiated from the bit and run no club that simply at t rf 2 tempts to drive the ball safe can win consistently the batter must help the base runner and cover his moves just as surely as in war the artillery must cover a cavalry or infantry charge the hit and run consists of the bat ter giving or receiving a signal that both he and the runner know that on the next pitched ball the runner Is going to start for the next base the duty of the batter then is to bit the ball and toward the spot most likely to be vacated by the lelder who goes to take the throw at second base but the hit and run effective as it has proved has been found inferior to the run and hit the difference is that the enemy has no chance to discover in advance what the play Is to be in the bit and run the passing of signals often warns the opposing catcher or pitcher of the intent to make the play the result Is that the pitcher pitches out that Is throws the ball to the catcher so tar from the plate that the batter cannot bit it and the catcher being prepared throws out the base runner besides either the runner or batter may miss the signal with disastrous results still the signal la absolutely absolute jy feces sary when new players are on a team and often between veterans especially when the runner Is a dashing and in player the greatest of teams and players have been tor a number of years abandoning the hit and run and playing run and hit that Is the runner starts when he sees the best opportunity and the batter seeing him going protects him by hitting the ball j or by hitting at it so as to hamper the freedom of the catchers move ments crawford and cobb of the detroit team have used this system with wonderful success and crawford Craw tord sel dom falls to cover cobb s movements the all star team of 1910 which prepared the athletics tor their first championship was composed of about as quick thinking a crowd of players as could be assembled they held a meeting before they went into the first game against the champions and discussed signals the second baseman shortstop and catcher agreed on simple sans to notify the infield whether the shortstop or second baseman would take the throw at second then they decided not to attempt any other signal but to play run and hit not once during the entire series in which they beat the champions decisively ci did any batter fall to see the runner start or neglect to protect him the run and hit Is of course ex difficult for inexperienced players it requires a quick eye a quick wit and a quick awing to bit the ball after catching a fleeting glimpse of the runner moving the run and hit Is the most effect ive style of attack yet devised and es pec lally adapted to the new conditions Us usefulness as a run producer and in advancing runners being greatly increased after the adoption of the livelier ball late in 1910 there Is not nor ever can beany fixed rule regarding base running it Is all a study of the stages of the game when one run Is needed any way to get to second base from first Is the proper way remember that in base j running the more the situation to call tor an effort to steal the less chance to steal Is given the appos ing pitcher knows that with two out and a run desperately needed the runner on first will probably attempt to steal on the first pitched ball therefore he watches the bases more closely the catcher Is expecting the attempt and Is fortified the second baseman and shortstop exchange sig nals and decide which will receive the throw therefore the runner who steals on the wrong ball that is steals when the best authorities declare a steal should not be made is much more likely to accomplish the steal than Is the one who runs at the proper instant in other words when yoa must you seldom can and when you don t need to it Is easy during last season in both the major leagues the runners violated every previously ac cepter rule they stole with none out with one or two out stole on the first second third or fourth ball pitched stole even with the count one strike and three balls the season was a reversion to the baseball of 16 years ago in base running after reaching second base the problem of the steal Is much more comell bated most managers oppose stealing third except in rare cases on the I 1 grounds that the risk does not gustt fy the gain as a hit or a bad error will score a runner from second as easily as it will from third in regard to the stealing of third with a runner on second and no one out the sacrifice bunt even with the new ball seems the play it the score Is close that Is close enough tor one run to tie or put the attacking team in the lead with one out the steal Is justified especially when the fielders around second do not hold up runners or when the pitcher notoriously Is weak in watching bases in that sit I 1 advise attempts to steal at every opportunity provided the team Is abend of only one run behind it more than two runs behind stay at second and wait for hits the chances of scoring on short passed balls wild pitches or fumbles that would not permit scoring from second are too small to be counted on the only justification for stealing third with two out in my mind Is that the runner intends to bump or interfere with the third baseman and strive to force him or scare him into letting the ball go past tar enough to permit scoring this evidently was mcgrawsr mcgraws McG raws idea in at least two cases during the last worlds series either that or his base runners blundered most aston nR home Is justifiable only un der the most desperate conditions or against a pitcher who palpably Is rattled that he Is blind to everything except the man at the plate and allows the runner a flying start then an instant of hesitation by the pitcher may make the steal a success it is good judgment at times for a fleet daring man who Is a good slider to steal when the batter is helpless before a pitcher and when two are out the double steal executed with run ners on first and third ie according to the closest students of the game proper under the following conditions when two men are out and a weak batter or a slow runner Is at the plate and when one run Is needed to win the game the play in the latter case being justifiable with no one out or with two out but not with only one out many judges object to the play unless two are out but last season I 1 saw it worked repeatedly by clever teams with no one out with runners on first and third and a decent catcher working the double steal worked to get a runner over the plate ought not to succeed in more than two cases in seven in the defensive end of the game every situation is study of the bat ter and going beyond the individual batters it is a study of the stage of the game the great problems of the game are when to play the infield close to choose between attempting a double play when runners are on first and third and letting the run count and above all to place the outfielders with regard to the stages ot the game the commonest blunders of really great managers and players are made in the disposition of the outfield A great many captains who arrange their infield carefully pay little atten tion to the second line of defense and really they rely more upon the in brain work of the outfield than they do of the infielders this Is partly because they are more closely in touch with the infield and partly because of the fewer chances for the outfield to get into a vital play the outfield problems really are more vexing than those of the infield the situation mainly Is forced upon the infield with a runner on third and one or none out and the run means a tie or defeat the infield Is compelled to come forward in the early stages of the game the manager is forced to decide whether to allow the run to score or to try to cut it off and must base his judgment on the ability of his pitcher to hold the other team to a low score and of bis own hitters to bat in enough runs to win teams such as detroit and the athletics lard bitting and free scoring teams can afford to let the other team gain a run rather than risk its getting two or three as they can score more later teams such as the old chicago white sox the hitless wonders of the american league could not allow the opposing team a run and had to play the closest inside game many of the better |