Part 7
When the batsman hits a fair ball, while at the same time that he gives the fielders a chance to put him out, he himself is also given an equal chance of making a base or of scoring a run; but when he hits a foul ball, while he affords the fielders an opportunity to catch him out, no such compensating advantage is given him in the way of earning a base or a run as in the case of a fair hit ball; and it is in this that the working of the foul ball rule becomes so palpably unjust. It is sufficient punishment for hitting a foul ball that he, as batsman, be deprived of making a base, without adding the unjust penalty of an out. This one sided condition of things, too, is increased when a double play is made on the catch of a foul ball, for not only is the batsman unfairly punished, but also the base runner who may have made the base by a clean hit.
It is this latter unfair rule which the committee repealed in getting rid of the foul fly tip; and now a batsman who has earned his base by a safe hit and who runs to the next base on a foul fly tip ball caught by the catcher, can no longer be put out on the double play, as he is now allowed to return to the base he left on the hit, as in the case of a foul ball not caught.
Another step in advance was made by the committee when they officially recognized a sacrifice hit as a factor in team work at the bat. Hitherto far too great stress has been laid upon the alleged skill of the batsman in making extra hits--two and three baggers and home runs--at the cost of giving due credit to the batting which forwards base runners and sends in runs. The work of the slugging batsman who, nearly every time he goes to the bat when no one is on the bases, makes an extra hit, does not compare with that of the team worker who either by a single base hit or a sacrifice hit forwards a runner round the bases, or sends a run in. Here is where the batting averages prove to be complete failures so far as affording a criterion of a batsman's value in team work is concerned; which work, by the way, is neither more nor less than that of forwarding base runners or sending runs in by batting--for one batsman may make four extra base hits in a game without forwarding a runner or sending in a run in a single instance, while another batsman may make but one safe hit and three sacrifice hits, and yet either forward as many runners or send in as many runs.
Probably the best piece of work done by the committee was the amendment they made to the rules governing the umpire, wherein, in defining the powers of an umpire to impose a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $25 for abusive, threatening or improper language to the umpire, an amendment was made as follows:
"A repet.i.tion of the offence shall subject such player to a removal from the game, and the immediate subst.i.tution of another player then in uniform."
Lastly, the rule admitting of an extra subst.i.tute being allowed to play in the game, at the option of the captain of either of the contesting teams, though an experiment, gives promise of being a desirable amendment.
The cla.s.sifying of the code of rules so as to facilitate the finding of any special rule during the hurry of a contest in progress, was also a desirable improvement. Take it altogether, the present committee did excellent work at their Fall meeting of 1888.
OVERRUNNING THE BASES.
Twenty odd years ago George Wright suggested to the Chairman of the old National a.s.sociation's Committee of Rules that it would be a good plan to allow base runners to overrun first base, giving them the privilege to return and touch the base again without being put out, before attempting to make another base. The suggestion was adopted, and the rule went into effect in 1870, and it has been in operation ever since. When the amendment was presented at the convention of 1869, a delegate wanted the rule applied to all bases, but the majority preferred to test the experiment as proposed at first base. The rule of extending the over-running to all the bases was advocated at the last meeting in 1888 of the Joint Committee of Rules, but it was not adopted. The rule is worthy of consideration, in view of the constant sprains and injuries of one kind and another arising from sliding to bases. There has not been a single instance of an injury occurring from the working of the rule of overrunning first base since the rule was adopted, while serious injuries are of daily occurrence in match games, arising from collisions at other bases than first, and these are due entirely to the absence of the overrunning rule. The most irritating disputes caused by questions involved in sliding to bases and in running up against base players, are also due to the same cause. Why not put a stop to these injuries and these disputes by giving the base runner the same privileges in overrunning second, third and home bases that he now has in overrunning first base? In every way will the adoption of the rule suggested be an improvement, and not the least of its advantages will be its gain to base running, which is, next to fielding, the most attractive feature of our game.
THE PATRONS OF BALL GROUNDS.
There are two cla.s.ses of the patrons of professional baseball grounds which club Presidents and Directors have their choice in catering to for each season, and these are, first, the reputable cla.s.s, who prefer to see the game played scientifically and by gentlemanly exemplars of the beauties of the game; and second, the hoodlum element, who revel in noisy coaching, "dirty ball playing," kicking against the umpires, and exciting disputes and rows in every inning. The Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston Clubs in the League have laid out nearly $200,000 within the past two years in constructing their grounds for the express purpose of eliciting the very best patronage of their respective cities. The Brooklyn Club have excelled in this respect in the American a.s.sociation by constructing their grounds for a similar cla.s.s of patrons. But all of the clubs have not followed this example, the majority committing the blunder of considering only the tastes and requirements of the hoodlum cla.s.s apparently in catering for patronage. This is a great financial mistake. Experience has shown conclusively that it pays best to cater solely for the best cla.s.s of patronage. The work in doing this is so much more satisfactory for one thing, and it is sure to be the most remunerative. If there is any sport which yields a fair equivalent in the special attractions it presents for an admission fee of half a dollar, it is such ball playing as was exhibited during the past season on the grounds of the leading clubs of the National League. A feature of the attendance at the League games of 1888 was the presence of the fair s.e.x in such goodly numbers. Where the ladies congregate as spectators of sports a refining influence is brought to bear which is valuable to the welfare of the game. Besides which, the patronage of ladies improves the character of the a.s.semblages and helps to preserve the order without which first-cla.s.s patronage cannot be obtained.
THE VALUE OF TEAM WORK.
Nothing has been more gratifying to the admirers of the game in the practical experience of improved points of play realized during the season of 1888, than the growing appreciation, by the most intelligent patrons of the game, of the value of team work at the bat, and its great superiority as an element of success in winning pennants, to the old school plan of record batting as shown in the efforts to excel solely in home run hitting and the slugging style of batting.
So intent have been the general cla.s.s of batsmen on making big batting averages that the science of batting and the advantages to be derived from "playing for the side of the bat" have been entirely lost sight of until within the past year. Now, however, the best judges of play in the game have begun to "tumble to" the benefits and to the attractions of team work at the bat, as ill.u.s.trated by skillful sacrifice hits, batting to help base-runners around and to bring runs in, and not that of going to the bat with the sole idea of trying to "hit the ball out of the lot," or "knock the stuffing out of it," in the effort to get in the coveted home run.
with its costly expenditure of physical strength in the 120 yards spurt in running which it involves.
There is one thing the season's experience has shown, and that is that field captains of intelligence and judgment, like Anson, Comiskey, Ward, Irwin, et al. have come to realize the fact that team batting is a very important element in bringing about pennant winning, and by team batting is meant the rule which makes everything secondary in the work of the batsman to the important point to forward men around the bases and to bring runs in. The batsman who excels in the essentials of the art of batting is the true leader, though he may not make a three-bagger or a home run more than half a dozen times in a season's batting. And a part of team work at the bat is sacrifice hitting--sacrifice hits being hits which, while they result in the striker's retirement, nevertheless either forward runners to the bases or bring runs in. After a batsman has become a base-runner, whether by a hit, a fielding error, or a battery error, if he be forwarded to second by a safe bunt or a neat tap of the ball, both being base hits; or by a sacrifice hit, the batsman is equally ent.i.tled to credit if he forward a runner by such hit.
In regard to the slugging tactics which the batsman goes in for extra hits at all costs, it may partly be regarded as a very stupid piece of play at the bat to endeavor to make a home run when there is no one on the bases to benefit by it, and for the reason that it subjects the batsman to a violent sprinting of 120 yards, and professional sprint-runners who enter for runs of that distance, even when in training for the effort, require a half-hour's good rest before making another such effort. And yet there are batsmen who strive to make hits which necessitate a 120 yards run two or three times in a single game. Do field captains who go in for this sluggish style of batting ever think of the wear and tear of a player's physical strength in this slugging business?
EVILS IN THE PROFESSIONAL ARENA.
The two great obstacles in the way of the success of the majority of professional ball players are wine and women. The saloon and the brothel are the evils of the baseball world at the present day; and we see it practically exemplified in the failure of noted players to play up to the standard they are capable of were they to avoid these gross evils. One day it is a noted pitcher who fails to serve his club at a critical period of the campaign. Anon, it is the disgraceful escapade of an equally noted umpire. And so it goes from one season to another, at the cost of the loss of thousands of dollars to clubs who blindly shut their eyes to the costly nature of intemperance and dissipation in their ranks. We tell you, gentlemen of the League and a.s.sociation, the sooner you introduce the prohibition plank in your contracts the sooner you will get rid of the costly evil of drunkenness and dissipation among your players. Club after club have lost championship honors time and again by this evil, and yet they blindly condone these offences season after season. The prohibition rule from April to October is the only practical rule for removing drunkenness in your teams.
PRIVATE SIGNALS IN COACHING.
The coaching of base runners by private signals is an improvement in the game which is bound to come into vogue eventually. The noisy method of coaching which disgraced most of the American a.s.sociation club teams in 1888 is doomed to die out. In the case of the coaching of deaf mutes, like Hoy and others, private signals had to be employed, and it can readily be seen how effective these can be made to be when properly systematized.
There is not a single point in noisy verbal coaching which aids base-runners. In fact, in five cases out of six, it is a detriment to the runner. The fact is, the whole object of rowdy coaching is to annoy and confuse the battery players and not to help base-running. The way to rattle both the catcher and pitcher with the best effect, and to do it legitimately, is by private coaching. In this way a pitcher is more likely to get bothered in his endeavors to interpret the private signals than by the noisiest of verbal coaching.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Brooklyn Grounds.]
THE AMERICAN a.s.sOCIATION.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP CAMPAIGN OF 1888.
The championship campaign of the American a.s.sociation in 1888 proved to be exceptionally interesting in one respect, and that was in the close contest for the lead between the St. Louis, Brooklyn, Athletic and Cincinnati Clubs. Another feature was the fact that the best managed and most ably captained team of the eight clubs deservedly bore off the championship honors of the season; and that, too, against the strong team of picked star players which the Brooklyn Club gathered together at such cost to oppose the champions. The season was also made specially noteworthy by the fact that the St. Louis Club came in victors in the race for the fourth consecutive season, a record no other club except the Boston has ever been able to equal, and in the case of the Boston Club it was done before the organization of the National League. The pennant race was commenced on April 18, on which date the Louisville team began play at St. Louis, and the Cincinnatis at Kansas City in the West; while the Cleveland team opened at Brooklyn, and the Baltimore at Philadelphia in the East, the victors being the St. Louis, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, and Baltimore teams. By the end of April the Cincinnati and Athletic teams led in the West and East, with St. Louis and Brooklyn occupying fourth and fifth positions respectively, in the race. Before the end of May, while Cincinnati stood in the van, St. Louis had pulled up to second place, and Brooklyn had secured third position, the Athletics being fourth. In June Cincinnati fell off and St. Louis went to the front, with Brooklyn a close second, and the Athletics third. In July, Cincinnati rallied well and pushed the Athletics down to fourth place, while St. Louis and Brooklyn still occupied the leading positions. It was during the week ending July 15 that Brooklyn held first place with a percentage of .676 to St. Louis .639; before the month ended, however, St. Louis pulled up to .662, while Brooklyn stood at .641.
August proved to be a fatal month for Brooklyn, they only winning 8 games out of 22 won and lost this month, the result of their tumble being their retirement to fourth place, Cincinnati rallying well this month, while St.
Louis began to look sure for the pennant, the Athletics ending the month a good third in the race. In September the Athletics pressed the Cincinnatis hard, and drove them out of second place, and before the month ended it was made evident that the closing part of the campaign would see a hot fight for the second position in the race between the Athletic and Brooklyn teams, September seeing the St. Louis team a fixture for first place, while Cincinnati was kept back in fourth position. By the close of September, St. Louis held first with a percentage of .691; the Athletics were second, with .615; Brooklyn third with .606, and Cincinnati fourth with .574. October saw a close struggle between the Athletic and Brooklyn teams for second place, and had the former team been kept temperate they would have finished second; but they "boozed" too much in October, and this gave Brooklyn the chance to take the position from them, and when the campaign ended on the 17th of October the record left the eight clubs occupying the following relative positions:
Won.
Lost.
Per Ct.
----------+------+-------+------- St. Louis
92
43
.681 Brooklyn
88
52
.629 Athletic
81
52
.609 Cincinnati
80
54
.597 Baltimore
57
80
.416 Cleveland
50
82
.378 Louisville
48
87
.355 Kans. City
43
89
.326
In the above record the Athletic Club is credited with one victory and Baltimore with one defeat less than they were given credit for in the records published at the close of the season. The game was taken out of the record by the following order of President Wikoff:
NEW YORK, October 16.
W.S. KAMES, Esq, Secretary Athletic Base Ball Club, Philadelphia:
_Dear Sir:_--I find on examination that the Baltimore Athletic game of June 10, 1888, played at Gloucester, N.J., and won by your club, and which has been counted in the regular championship series as a postponed game of April 21, was irregular, for the reason that the said postponed game of April 21 was played off by your club in Philadelphia as per authority of my official circular No. 36, on May 16, 1888. Therefore, the game won by the Athletic Club on June 10 cannot be counted in the regular championship series. Yours truly, WHEELER C. WIKOFF, Secy.
It will be seen that the St. Louis Club won the championship, and for the fourth consecutive time, thus breaking the record. The Brooklyns, by a liberal expenditure of money toward the close of the season, succeeded in strengthening sufficiently to head off the Athletics for second place, and the latter had to be content with third position. The Cincinnatis did good work toward the close, despite the sale of several valuable players, and almost succeeded in closing the gap between fourth and third places; as it was, they ended a close fourth. Baltimore secured fifth place by a goodly margin over the sixth club, Cleveland. Louisville finished seventh, the lowest position the club ever occupied. Kansas City, though the tail-ender, nevertheless made an excellent first-season record. Neither the St. Louis nor Brooklyn Clubs lost a series. They split even with ten victories each in their games, and Brooklyn stood alone in winning the series from every other club. The Brooklyn Club alone played its full schedule of 140 games.
The following is a full and complete summary of the work done by the eight clubs in the championship arena during 1888:
K
C
L
a
S
I
B
C
o
n
t
B
A
n
a
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.
.
.
.
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Victories
92
88
81
80
57
50
48
43 Defeats
43
52
52
54
80
82
87
89 Drawn Games
2
3
3
3
0
3
4
0 Total Played
137
143
136
137
137
135
139
132 Per Cent. of Victories
.681
.629
.609
.597
.416
.378
.355
.326 Series Won
4
6
4
3
2
0
1
0 Series Lost
0
0
1
1
4
3
5
6 Series Tied
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0 Series Unfinished
2
0
1
2
1
4
1
1 "Chicago" Victories
12
9
13
9
3
5
6
4 "Chicago" Defeats
4
9
5
7
8
12
6
10 Home Victories
60
52
51
56
30
32
26
25 Home Defeats
21
20
20
24
26
27
29
33 Victories Abroad
29
36
30
24
27
18
22
18 Defeats Abroad
22
32
32
50
31
23
58
56 Extra Innings Victories
3
7
5
8
3
1
2
1 Extra Innings Defeats
6
3
7
4
3
1
5
2 Extra Innings Drawn
2
2
2
2
0
1
1
0 Single Figure Victories
73
74
57
56
48
37
37
32 Single Figure Defeats
38
46
46
44
59
58
62
65 Double Figure Victories
19
14
24
24
9
13
11
11 Double Figure Defeats
5
6
6
10
21
24
25
24 Batting Average
.250
.243
.263
.240
.231
.235
.248
.221 Fielding Average
.930
.924
.934
.940
.928
.941
.913
.921 Highest Score in a Game
18
18
28
18
12
23
18
26 Worst Defeat
5-0
7-0
8-0
12-0
14-0
15-0
9-0
14-0 Won by One Run
15
20
11
19
16
14
11
16 Lost by One Run
18
15
15
14
10
19
10
15 Total Runs Scored
790
757
828
734
653
641
.678
578 Total Stolen Bases
526
413
568
464
374
399
368
266
THE CHAMPION CLUB TEAM OF 1888.
There were fourteen players of the St. Louis team who took part in forty games and over, the first nine being as follows:
King, pitcher, 65 games; Boyle, catcher, 71 games; Comiskey, first baseman, 137 games; Robinson, second baseman, 134 games; Latham, third baseman, 133 games; White, shortstop, 109 games; O'Neill, left field, 130 games; Lyons, center field, 123 games; and McCarthy, right field, 131 games. The other battery players were Hudson, pitcher, 55 games; Milligan, catcher, 63 games; Chamberlain, pitcher, 40 games; Herr, shortstop, 43 games, and McGarr, second base, 35 games. The other players are not named in the official averages. The first nine who played in one hundred games and over, and who led in batting averages, were O'Neill, McCarthy, Comiskey, Latham, Robinson, White, and Lyons; Hudson, Milligan, Boyle, King and Chamberlain, all of whom played in less than one hundred games, following in order.
In fielding averages, Comiskey, Milligan, O'Neill, Boyle, McCarthy, Lyons, Robinson and Latham.
The feature of the work of the team in winning the pennant was the ability shown by Captain Comiskey in his position; the fine infield work, too, of Latham and Robinson, and the outfielding of O'Neill and McCarthy greatly aiding the batteries of the team. The full summary of the team's work is given below:
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c
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e
d
e
y
s
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.
.
.
.
.
.
.
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----++--- Victories
10
10
10
14
16
16
16
92 Defeats
10
7
8
6
4
4
4
43 Drawn Games
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2 Series Won
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
4 Series Tied
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 Series Unfinished
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
2 "Chicago" Victories
3
2
0
2
4
1
0
12 "Chicago" Defeats
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
4 Single Figure Victories
9
10
8
11
13
10
14
75 Single Figure Defeats
9
5
7
6
4
3
4
38 Double Figure Victories
1
0
2
3
4
6
2
18 Double Figure Defeats
1
2
1
0
0
1
0
5 Extra Innings Games
2
2
0
1
0
0
0
5 Victories at Home
6
6
6
8
9
11
14
60 Defeats at Home
4
3
4
3
1
2
3
21 Victories Abroad
4
4
4
6
7
5
2
32 Defeats Abroad
6
4
4
2
3
2
1
22 Won by One Run
2
3
2
0
3
4
1
15 Lost by One Run
5
1
4
4
1
1
2
18 Highest Score in a Game
13-4
8-1
17-5
16-9
14-4
18-1
14-5
Worst Defeat
2-11
0-5
1-10
2-6
2-8
4-10
7-9
The pitching record of the champion team for 1888 is appended:
[**Proofreaders note: Table split into two parts to fit on page]
K
C
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a
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B
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B
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t
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e
y
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.
.
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------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---
W.
L.
W.
L.
W.
L.
W.
L.
W.
L.
W.
L.
W.
L.
------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- King
8
4
6
3
5
4
6
5
1
6
3
6
1
1 Hudson
1
3
3
2
2
0
5
1
7
2
6
0
2
2 Chamberlain
1
1
1
1
3
0
1
0
1
0
2
0
2
0 Devlin
0
1
0
1
0
2
0
0
1
0
1
0
4
1 Knauff
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
1
1
0
2
0 Freeman
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0 ------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- Totals
10
10
10
7
10
8
14
6
16
4
16
4
16
4
Per
Cent
of
Totals.
Victories.
------------+--------------+---------
W.
L.
P.
------------+----+----+----+--------- King
44
21
65
.671 Hudson
26
10
36
.722 Chamberlain
11
2
13
.853 Devlin
6
5
11
.545 Knauff
5
4
9
.555 Freeman
0
1
1
.000 ------------+----+----+----+--------- Totals
92
43
135
