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Show I SIGNAL CODE OF ' AMERICAN GAME H (By Rube Marquard, the Giants' Great Sj ' Pitcher.) 31 Because of the Tact that It Is abso- d lutely necessary for baseball players 7lj to have thorough understanding on H plans of attack and defense, as well L as to hide the same from the oppos-II oppos-II iaS side, it has been found necessary I It .to omploy a. secret, silent language jf for baseball purposes. Fantlom be-I be-I Mevcs Itself reasonably familiar with I the "signal" system of baseball. Yet very few outside the profession have I more than a hazy Idea of what it Implies. Im-plies. I think a great deal of charm would be added if the spectator knew -what was being attempted in every case. How ofter the unsophisticated judge plays wrongly. "What kind of basoball is that, vou bonehead?'' they rave, mistaking a hit and run play for an attempted i BtoaL The poor catcher Is roasted for 1 pegging to centerfield when it is the r fault of the second baseman or short- f stop In "muffing" the sign to cover The pitcher is execrated for an "al- R leged" wild pitch when probablv the 5 catcher has "crossed" him on slg- Ifl nals. Some Inside Stuff. ; There would be less misplaced crit- fcism if it were possible for the crowd 1 to be in on the "inside stuff." That, oi course, is impossible, for a signal ByBtem has to be so mysterious as to j fool an opposing team well versed in the art of the sign language. It wouldn't go very far to doing this if it didn't fool the fans. There 1b nothing terribly complicated compli-cated in major league baseball signals I Of course a great deal of responsibility responsibil-ity for tbelr proper application rests with the battery. The signals are divided di-vided into two general classes defensive de-fensive and offensive. The pitcher and catcher are most personally concerned con-cerned in the defensive signs. The catcher shoulders the gravest responsibility on the team when his side is on the defensive Ho not only supports the pitcher, but the en-tiro en-tiro cast as well. He haB the field of play' laid right out before biin and he has to watch that entire field for himself, him-self, and for the pitcher, too. If three men are on base, say, the catcher has to watch every basq, so that If a fielder can sneak In behind some one napping a throw may be made in time ; to catch him off his guard. We'll talk first about the battery 1 signals. On them depends the defensive defen-sive strength of a toam. They mask battery efficiency and at the same t.me coach the supporting cast In f proper defenulvo formation. 1 0 Instance, I am pitching to a left-handed batter. If I throw my fast ball to him he will naturally hit late at It. Consequently, If it goes to fair territory, it will go to the loft field side. Now every one know that tbo general tendency of a left-handed left-handed hitter Is to "pull" the ball into right field. Consequently, to cross this follow wo give him the "smoke" ball in the pinch. If we give him Bomethlng ho likes and trust to luck when nothing 16 at stake the fielders all know what the pitch will bo and they plant themselves accordingly. accord-ingly. It Is as natural for a right-handed hitter to hit toward loft field and for a left-handed hitter to hit toward right field as It Is for a duck to take to the water. There are some few notable exceptions, excep-tions, of course. Hans Wagner, a right-banded swatter, is as likely to push a ball toward right as he Is 10 pull it to left. Cobb, a left-handed hitter? can place his hits on most any ort of delivery. Following the general laws of hitting hit-ting ethics, the fielders Rtatlon them-Bclvos them-Bclvos accordingly. Every man on the team knows Just what sort of ball la going to be served the- batsman. When the battery agrees one of the inflelders down around second catches catch-es the sign from the backstop. He flashes it to the rest of the Infield and to the outfield. Sometimes you will see the Infield or outfield switch suddenly after the pitcher assumes a pitching position. It Is because such n pitch Is forthcoming that if the player play-er connects the ball is almost bouud to travel In a certain direction. In other words, the pitcher Is playing for a batter's weakness. Have Absolute Confidence. The pitcher and catcher must have absolute confidence In ono another. Each depends upon the other like a building on Its foundation. The catcher, catch-er, having the play always- before his eyes, must keep the pitcher posted as to the situations of base runners. If the catcher thinks a runner has strayed too far from his base he signals sig-nals the pitcner. The particular baseman base-man guarding the territory involved must see that sign at the same time. He rushes toward the bag; the pitcher pitch-er after a certain specified wait while he counts three for instance whips the ball blindly to that cushion. cush-ion. If nil three catcher, pitcher nd baseman hare calculated to a fine mathematical precision the. base runner run-ner may be caught napping. If any one fall3 down a most damaging error er-ror is likely to result. "Unless ono fully appreciates the play contemplated it Is Impossible to fix responsibility of many a "bone." The backstop always Is charged with bases stolen by rival clubs, when maybe half the time it Is the pitcher's pitch-er's fault In not holding the men to their stations. The greatest catcher In the world cannot stop a. fast man who gets a good start on a slow doll do-ll verv. Directly upon the cunning of signals sig-nals depends In a great measure the success of "inside" baseball. I'll illustrate il-lustrate with a fow examples. A fast man is on third base with one or none out and one run needed badly, A scientific hitter Is up. Nat-urallj Nat-urallj the Infield Is drawn in for the play. The batter takes a swing at tho ball as If trying for a long fly. That "Morlarlty" may be only a ruse to catch tho infield napping Perhaps tho batter intentionally missed hl swing with the idea of attempting the "squeeze" play on the next pitch. And ho may get away with it, too. The hit and run play Is one that depends for success upon the clever execution of some fixed idea. In this play the runner starts with tho pitch and the batter 13 supposed to hit through the Infield. When the runner run-ner starts one of the guardians of second base naturally races over to take the throw from the catcher. The batter's plan Is to hit through the place where that base guardian should be. It's simple enough If the battery guesses out the hit and run properly. All that is necessary then Is a pitch-out pitch-out that the batter cannot possibly molest, and the runner is flagged. But on the other hand. If It proves a bluff and the runner does not really go, a pitch-out puts tho boxman,ln a bud way. Tho real good catchers are the ones that do not ask for too many pitch-outs, the ones who arc game enough to take a chance of handling a "groove" ball with all the stuff the pitcher can put on it. Hit and Run Play. The team on offense has its strategy strat-egy to offset the defensive side. No hit and run play Is ever attempted without the batter and base runner being in perfect accord. If the batter bat-ter Is a right field hitter he knows that the opposing shortstop will doubtless move over for the throw when the runner breaks for second. Ho gives the opposition credit for enough senso to believe that tho second sec-ond baseman will remain where the ball Is likely to be hlL Now the batter will try to pull or push his grounder through short, the unprotected territory. If the battel y happens to cross him with a pitch-out pitch-out the batter must always protect the base runner, If poBslblo, by fouling foul-ing tho ball, even If he has to" throw-Ills throw-Ills bat at It. provided tho runner has not such a break in his favor as to merit belief that ho will bo able to steal successfully You must not get the Idea that the rlgnal system Involves any great complication of signs. It Is simplicity simplic-ity Itself. Thero are just four battery bat-tery signs one for a curve ball, one for" a fast ball, ono for a pltchout and another for a toss to a baseman to catch a "sleeper " All the signals the stands ever notice no-tice are those employed by the battery bat-tery and they don't got those, for the catcher conceals them always. The offensive signs are given by manager, mana-ger, coacher. batter or base runner in such a clever fashion that no ono but his team mates are a bit the wiser. A player wipes his shirt breast with his knuckles. That may be the office of-fice for a hit and run or any one of half a dozen other plays. Tho same with scratching hla head, uttering some phrase, squatting In a certain position, shifting the hands or feet. The batter taps the plate with his bat a couple of times, puts dust on his hands or drawB a lino in the dirt. These actions may or may not be signals. Tho clever players aro the ones who so mask their signs as to keep the opposition always In doubt. |