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