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Show It BY BILLY MURPHY. "Arresting the advanco of K r-y fcase runner. as he. surges around' the sacks. Is ono of the prettiest , - r plays In baseball." , . The speaker was Jimmy Archer, the great catcher of the .Chicago Cubs. " . k "And for arresting the pilferer, ; -. f there Is nothing In the. world that " nan it on the squat throw." con- HI Unued the Pniie ci me vVinuy Oiry. "To .begin with, .let me say -that this trjck of winging the- runner from' a squatted position Is not 011-ly 011-ly a mighty difficult thing tv ac-complish. ac-complish. but it Is as well a. hard , thing to describe In such a way as. to bring about a .full and reason-able reason-able understanding about it. 'That.lt Is a great trick there is little doubt, because 1 have had and am having at the present time. ' a lot of imitators, but to far I have yet to sec ' a .catcher who can do well with "When a, . catcher is squatted down. -my favorite- position intaic-Hj intaic-Hj ing a jdtch, he must balance Him- self carefully on the forward' fTaft of tho feet. "His balance must ue perfect, be-cause be-cause the ball comes to him 'with great force usually and he must re-tain re-tain his equilibrium or else the crash of the ball against the mitt is liable to ruin Just what he" wants to do be in position to let- the bajl Co without rising to lull standing position. "First of all. lo. me explain that I had to Jnvcnt or devise thi-mcth- od of throwing with' a" irnap. "bo- cause my 'throwing drill, w'asbadly crippled by. being ' scalded' from finger to shoulder. .an Occident that -drew 'up' the cords of the. elbow, fn such a way that after I recovered 1 found that 1 could aot straighten Hj my 'This hammered what is called a' free throw with a full swing of the arm,' and then, after a lot 'of prac--tlce. 1 devised this snap of tho wrist, that Is called ch; squat throw. "1 used to have u side-arm throw that 1 considered pretty good, but I had fn discontln c that after -my . arm was .crippled. "As 1 rasp the hall to throw, L snap the ,forearm" sliarply.yith, all, , the power possible centered in ' the wrist. Then, just before tho hall leaves my fingers' I bring 'both of my crouched lrg& Into a cp'rt of short swing toward my left side. FIVE-STEP A DV: NTAGK rou archek'S throw.. "This for:e of the letf.a Is brought . right "I through the 'bodV,. Whlt;'h . alj swings' slightly Into myvUrma -A-merica, and th.cn..)s' centered' in the .wrist, as the ball slips away from me. "The way 1 can - illustrate. Is to say that . this throw !s made, and the force "behind It- developed in much the same manner that a boxer box-er stiffens his cntlro frame Just as he lands' a short blow, on his opponent. op-ponent. "There is no 'give' to tho boxers arm, shoulder or'- bod, the -whoje being rJgld.. Hence thy object of ' the attack must give, "It's the same - 1th this throw ns far as getting force behind tho. ball s concerned. 'When tho knack of g ttlng this power from the heels up Is learned, there is nothing more (o bo known' of the squat throw. . ."1'ye been asked many times what advantage r think that this has over the. the o'd . method, of. heaving to second on steals. J'l figure that the catcher has a five-step, 'advantage -over the. runner run-ner with it. I'll show you In-do-tail. . ' - 'From the. time the pitcher winds up and lets the pitch go' to the time. that the catcher gets" tho 'ball tho base runner 'Has a 'three-stop 'three-stop -lead on you. "He :alns two more while- the patchor Is rising steadily, arid draw-' draw-' ing his arm back to 'make' tho throw,. ""Two more strides he. gains on you whilo you are taking.'a .step forward to throw, and-then well he usually' has your throw beaten ea'8ny: "The squat, throw saves the tlmo that; it takes to arise and my method of throwing with a snap of the legs . and;-wrlpt, saves (ho -time, t,hat It takes , the ordinary - cutcliqr to fin-' lf" n. fitting the ball, off' to his baseman.. . .' .' . "In aiming at soco'ml, base;-1 throw ,rl,.lc.vhall directly at the top of tho pitcher's, head. '. ' '''. I'l nover try fo throw at th6 bono itself, excepting in" this wav. "It the pitcher will remain 'still , without- stopping to, either sldo ' .after :he has delivered the' bail, be a.w0J-'s-presents tho target I. want. . . Tho", iitcher of .'courso ' -'knows what he wants and does it. ' "Hence you obtain accuracy, with the help of your battery male," concluded con-cluded Archer; Desperate base running has so Increased In-creased the hazards of tho catcher's Job that now, defensively, he must combine the skill of the boxer, tho swordsman and tho football player. play-er. imiSSXAUAX lNTJtODCCES ' FAMOUS SIUNGUARDS. It is not enough that he is a skilled recelvor, that ho has a good head and knows how to steady a' pitcher, nor that he is a slugging hitter. if he cannot put the tag on base runners, there la no place lor the backstop In fast company. And lo discharge this important duty, he must have a quick eye. be nimble on his fqct and know how to dodge. Also he must have all the protection protec-tion afforded by the modern shin-guards shin-guards and baseball armor. When Roger Bresnahan firat Introduced In-troduced shlnguards with the idea of protecting himself when figuring figur-ing in close playo at the plate, ho was ridiculed. Memories were Invoked of tho great catchers of the past who stood back of the plate with nothing but fragile masks, having neither chest protectors, - nor shlnguards and boasting only In the way of gloves a little affair with a pahu, but no lingers, such as would not even suffice suf-fice for an. Outfielder, nowadays. Kwlnjr. Kelly. Flint, Snyder. Bushon? and a host of others stpod gamely back of the plato and took tho speed of the. shorter pitching distance of those days without complaint com-plaint and broken fingera told ar what price. But It Is a question ?helhor in the olden days there were as many dangerous plays at the plate. . For one thing there was more hitting and heavier scoring and as a rule : ono run did' not cut" as "big a figure as It does today. Nowadays It is a hind of super- ' stltion that the team that. gets, tho first run will win and It merely takes . an Investigation of the figures to prove that a great number of contests con-tests nro decided by a .single taily. In the old days a single run didn't ' matter so much for a team would figure on going In and making a. rally for a half a dozen or moro. But the defense had riot "been perfected per-fected to the extent it Is now. pitching was not as good and scoring scor-ing was less difficult. With a run meaning what It does In the baseball gamo of today. It is small wonder, that tho players tako the most desperato chances on the i Dascs, particularly at tho home plate, where every safe arrival means a . run. Let a man got to first, second or third in safety, his circuit Is by no means completed. Thero Is' still a chance that ho will bo nailed or tho side retired, before fie reached the plate, SPIKE DEVELOPMENT INCREASES DANGER. But once ho slides, untagged over the piece of rubber that marks tho goal, tho deed has been accomplished, accom-plished, and the run Is on the way to the president of the league for placing in the official records. Naturally tho runner Is going to spare no moans to make the plate, the catcher Is going to the limit to keep him away and tho result is a conflict that is dangerous for both, hut especially for tho backstop, since ho Is at a standstill and has to bear the impact of an onrushing body. Moreover, the catcher cannot filnch. He has got to stand right up to the plate and take his medicine. If he pulls back the keen-sighted runner la going to make a quick switch and attempt one of the various deft Slides only a part of one leg exposed ex-posed to the tag and even gives him tho chance If the catcher la slow, to swing this out of the way. The development of spikes has increased the danger. Spikes as worn by the diamond stars of. vcar3 ago, were nothing compared to the deadly swords that enable the ball Player of today to keep his foot- The modern spiko Is long .-in.-keen and cuts like a dagger. Woe to tho man who gets a gash with ' one. Not only docs hp have to endure en-dure the. surrering, but his team Is . deprived .of the services of a' valuable val-uable player while his injury ' is mending. The way tho throw comes at a catcher is an added difficulty. Tho base runner has nothing to .do but watch tho plato and the to ? Tv,"Th0 catchcr' 1,1 addition to -ttatching the runner and sceln- front of tho plate, also has to keep his eye on the ball. , rKen tB'-P,ayer and the ball arrive ar-rive together, naturally It is to tho - . - bill the catcher must give his clos-cJt clos-cJt attention, for If ho does not catch Uio sPncl'e. there Is no play $ be made- ! if he oes 'nto the air for the liall. the runner may come Into him it fa" tilU often lntcntlonalIy, for -he pu030 of knocking- tho ball out of Us eras Qnd Giving-tho oth-r oth-r base runners a chance to advance. ' jf the ball comes low and he has ;0 toop for 110 in danger of ieinV fl?1 y tho GvInff. spikes. tiiKb .am3t ticklish situation and catcher wJio can solvo It la the I man who'ls most vnluablc to a manager. man-ager. Many a fan has wondered why weak hitting and only poor throwing throw-ing catchers have been retained on teams, while rifio shot peggcrs and slugging batsmen were returned to the minors, An investigation will show In most cases, that It was a question of ability to put the ball on tho runner that kept tho apparently mediocre man on the team or the lack of that skill that caused tho apparent star lo be discarded. BLOCKING RUNNERS IS PERIXOUS TO CATCHERS. There are various ways of getting get-ting the runner and avoiding In-Jury: In-Jury: in fact, there the catchcr must uso different means for every play varies and In tho methods of the numerous players a host of different dif-ferent tricks and devices Is used. Many catchers, particularly thoso of bulk, prefer to make a barrier of; thclrlLjodies and block the run- ncr off limky main forcQ whcn th6 ' come intothe plate ..JhIS,,S JWSCU1 when a runner slides head-first. It ls.dangeroln certainty that tM 8 almst a retired runnor wl be But it is undeniMLbiv f.,ii Often catchers. 3KL5n!i,. PJlh they have time. SBK , When : bridge of themselvesTK J??," tho plate straddlo "When tho runner comes slldm? in, they let him. go through their J' legs or in case one foot or tho other scorns to bo in peril, they move it out of tho way. vgl This takes a very quick eye. 'i Lighter catchers rr.ak a prac- tico of falling on top of tho runner V to avoid helng kiiocked down by him. In this way the runners get a J. shade the worst of the collision. -( But "Red" Dooln's skill did not f avail him a year 6r so ago in St, jvj. Louis, when "Rehel" Oakes of the l Cardinals, went sliding into him on a hairline play. j Dooln's leg was broken in tho mix-up, and the Philadelphia Na- tionals, deprived of the services of t.' their manager, dropped from first r, to fourth place. But every team has suffered ac- cldents to their crack catchers and tho result is always as obtained in !jj the case of Dooin the team goes , S tumbling. j Without shlnguards it Is doubtful 5 If most catchers could go through t-g tho season. Tho man behind the bat today j j needs all the protection he can get. j |