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Show It BSLLY EVANS SOLVES BASEBALL PROBLEMS ! 1 1 - .. ? I 4. (Written Especially for This Paper by the Famous American ? J League Umpire.) b t ? A play that is very simple caused a big dispute between two small- $ town teams out West last summer. It all happened at a big county !t -H I ' 1 fair at which baseball was the main attraction. The season in most of the leagues in that section being over, the various small towns enlisted a lot of im- ported talent in an effort to carry off the baseball honors. One of the managers had a crack left-hander and a right-hander. He desired to fool the rival manager into thinking that he was going to use his right-handed pitcher, so that the rival would use a goodly number of his players who batted left-handed. Two of the left-handed batters were strong against right-handers, but very weak against southpaws. Just before the start of the game, the umpire an- nounced the right-hander as the pitcher for team No. 1. The other manager, noticing the right-hander warming up, had included his left-handers in the X 5 line-up. But when team No. 1 went out to take its place in the field, X the crack southpaw was the pitcher instead of the right-hander an- ijj nounced. The rival manager insisted that the manager of team No. 1 had no right to make a shift at that stage, while the latter contended 4, that he could substitute a player any time he so desired. The umpire, . of course, took a hand in the proceedings, the rule book was referred 4, to, but the game was never played. j Answer to Problem. -j. The bit of strategy on the part of one of the managers was well conceived, but he desired to carry it too far. Such a plan is often used -St in the big leagues as well as in the minors. Where the manager was $ wrong was in believing that he could make the substitution immediately. The rules say that the pitcher announced must pitch until one batter 4, has either been retired or reaches first base. After having his right- hander pitch to the first man, under the rules, the manager in question 4, could then have legally substituted his left-hander. He refused to do so, consequently only half an inning of the game was played. -S (Copyright by the Wheeler Syndicate, Inc.) . |