OCR Text |
Show Seeing Big League j BASEBALL By BILLY EVANS Spocuwrinr, Big Lugue Umpiie mod General Mnugw of the ClmUnd Iacliaii That luck plays Its part in mure ways than one In baseball Is well Illustrated Il-lustrated In a battlng-out-oforder play In which the late Frank Chance once figured. A "bone" play made it possible pos-sible for hi m to bat out. of order, thereby winning the ball game, because be-cause no one discovered the mistake In time. Chance drew praise for hitting hit-ting safely twice In the same inning, was credited with batting out of order purposely and made to look the part of the hero. Had the mistake been discovered by the opposition he in all likelihood would have been the "goat" Chance, then munaglng New York, wna playing St. Louis In that city. Ills club apparently badly beaten. Chance went In as pinch bitter In the first of the eighth, more as a formality formal-ity than with hopes of winning. He hit snfely, starting a rally. With seven sev-en runs needed to win, five across the plute uoil two on the bases. It was the shortstop's turn to bat He was a weak Utter. Chance, who had batted for the pitcher, after singling to start the Inning and scoring, went to third to coach. It was the shortstop's short-stop's turn to bat as he hit Just ahead of the pitcher, but Chance was told he was up again. On his second appearance appear-ance he again hit safely, driving in two runs and winning the ball game. After the Inning was over the mistake was discovered, but too late. Chance bad won a ball game by batting out of turn. It so happened he reully had no pinch hitter to replace re-place the shortstop, having used op all his reserve strength, aud the experts ex-perts made a good story out of It by crediting Chance with purposely batting bat-ting out of order, hoping he would get away witb It It sounded fine. Of 7"' '-"A " '-r.tr - Frank Chance. course he had So such Intention. It was all a terrible mistake, but It won the ball game. Just before the con- tnmt tho noTt rinv. Chance, as ha rave me the batting order, called my attention atten-tion to tbe fact that the shortstop on the previous day waa missing from the lineup. "Any player who cant remember bis turn at bat while bla team is indulging indulg-ing tn a seven-run rally bat no right In the big league. He baa played bis last game for New York. I have asked waivers on blm and told everybody why. He probably has played bla last game In the majors." Sure enough, all the clubs waived, the player waa tent to the minora but only lasted out the season, then apparently ap-parently dropped out of the baseball world. Well do I recall a story Jimmy He-Aleer He-Aleer once told me about the greatest great-est catch he ever made. There were two out, runners on second and third at the time, the last of the ninth and the home team trailing by one run. A base bit meant tbe winning of the ball game. It so happened that McAIeer was breaking In a new glove that day. He would use It In practice but when the game started always went back to hi old favorite. Just before the inning started be noticed the new glove which he had discarded, was standing up, rather than lying flat on the ground, and he thought he could replace it before the ball was sent to the batter. As he started In toward tbe diamond on bis way to do so, the pitcher delivered de-livered the ball, and the batter bit a low line drive to center field McAIeer Mc-AIeer was several steps on bla way In an effort to adjust the glove, and noting tbe ball traveling straight toward him, be put on full speed. The result was a shoe string catch that saved the game. The three step start had made the play possible. Had he not decided to replace the glove he couldn't possibly have reached the ball. Some of the newspaper men had noted McAIeer starting In, prior to the catch, and when he made the seemingly seeming-ly Impossible catch, credited him with sensing where the ball would be hit and taking a long chance. Just the opposite was true. It was the greatest great-est catch McAIeer had ever made. But it was a lucky catch. Base hits, the breaks In luck, are as Important If not more so than tbe Inside In-side stuff. In the future when you see players conferlng or umpires going Into session, you won't be far wrong if you make up your mind they are trying try-ing to dope out the evening meal, or something even less important & 111 Ctll Syndlcttt.) |