SACRIFICE HITTING.
There is one thing about the point of play in batting known, as "sacrifice hitting" which is not as thoroughly understood as it should be. A majority of batsmen seem to be of the impression that when they are called upon to forward a base runner by a "sacrifice hit," all they have to do is to go to the bat and have themselves put out, so that the base runner at first base may be able to reach second base on the play which puts the batsmen out. This is a very erroneous idea of the true intent of a sacrifice hit. No skilful batsmen ever goes to the bat purposely to hit the ball so as to have himself put out; that would be a very silly move. On the contrary, he takes his bat in hand every time, with the primary object of making a base hit if he possibly can; but in trying for this strongest point in batting, he proposes, to make the desired hit in such a way that if he fails to make the base hit he will at least hit the ball in that direction in the field which will oblige the fielders to throw him out at first base. With this object in view he will always strive for a safe hit to right field, especially by means of a hard "bounder" in that direction, so as to force the second baseman to run to right short to field the ball, in which case the runner at first base will be able to steal to second on the hit in nine cases out of ten. Another good effort for a sacrifice hit is to bunt the ball so that it may roll towards third base, out of reach of the baseman or pitcher. A third sacrifice hit is that of a long high ball to the outfield, which admits of a chance for a catch, but so far out in the field that the runner will have an opportunity to steal a base on the catch. This latter point won't work, of course, when two men are out; moreover, it should be the last point aimed at.
A great deal of bosh has been written—mostly by the admirers of "fungo" hitting—about sacrifice hitting being something that should not be in the game, just as these fungo-hitting-advocates try to write down bunt hitting—the most difficult place hit known to the game. This class of writers think that the very acme of batting skill is the home run hit, a hit which any muscular novice in batting on amateur fields can accomplish without difficulty, and where more home runs are made in a single season than in two seasons by the best managed professional teams. The effort to make home runs leads to more chances for catches by outfielders in one game than there are home runs made in fifty. The exhaustion which follows a home run hit, with its sprinting run of 120 yards at full speed, is entirely lost sight of by the class of patrons of the game who favor home runs. One season, a few years ago, the tail-end team of the League excelled all its rivals in scoring home runs, while the pennant-winning team took the honors and the prize solely on account of its excellence in team-work at the bat. The mere record of the best averages in scoring base hits in batting seems to be regarded by the majority of "cranks" in base ball as the only sound criterion of good batting. This is one of the fallacies of the game, as such a record is unreliable. The only true criterion of good batting is the record which shows the players who excel in the batting which forwards runners; and this record the existing scoring rules, up to 1895, did not admit of, the champion batsman being regarded as the one who excels in his base-hit average, without regard to the runners his base hits forwarded. For instance, one batsman in a game will make three three-baggers, and forward but a single runner by his three hits, while another batsman by a single base hit, a good "bunt" hit and a telling "sacrifice hit," will forward four runners; and yet by the existing scoring rules the record batsman carries off all the honors in the score, and the team-worker at the bat does not get the slightest credit for the effective batting he has done.
SACRIFICE HIT RECORD.
The following is the record of the players in the League teams of 1894 who led in sacrifice hits last season. The names are given in the order of bases stolen, as recorded in the official average tables made up by Mr. Young. The percentage figures would, of course, materially change the order.
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Sacrifice
PLAYERS. CLUBS. Games. Hits.
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Donovan Pittsburgh 129 24
Brodie Baltimore 129 24
Beckley Pittsburgh 132 22
Bierbauer Pittsburgh 131 20
Ward New York 136 20
Kelley Baltimore 129 19
Buckley Philadelphia 67 18
Boyle Philadelphia 116 18
Brouthers Baltimore 123 18
Jennings Baltimore 128 18
Shindle Brooklyn 117 17
Cross Philadelphia 120 16
Keeler Baltimore 128 16
Pfeffer Louisville 104 15
Mack Pittsburgh 63 14
McGraw Baltimore 123 14
Brown Louisville 130 14
Wilmot Chicago 135 14
Shugart St. Louis 33 13
Glasscock Pittsburgh 86 13
Quinn St. Louis 106 13
Ely St. Louis 127 13
Abbey Washington 129 13
Van Haltren New York 139 13
Frank St. Louis 80 12
Weaver Pittsburgh 90 12
Tredway Brooklyn 122 12
Lyons Pittsburgh 72 11
G. Tebeau Cleveland 105 11
Robinson Baltimore 106 11
Hay Cincinnati 128 11
Latham Cincinnati 130 11
McKean Cleveland 130 11
Menafee Pittsburgh 37 10
Ehret Pittsburgh 41 10
Blake Cleveland 73 10
Hassamer Washington 116 10
Dahlen Chicago 121 10
Duffy Boston 124 10
Burkett Cleveland 124 10
E. Smith Pittsburgh 125 10
Corcoran Brooklyn 129 10
Burke New York 138 10
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According to the above table Pittsburgh led with a total of 146 sacrifice hits, Baltimore being next with 120, followed by Philadelphia with 52, New York 43, Cleveland 42, Brooklyn 39, St. Louis 38, Louisville 29, Chicago 24, Washington 23, Cincinnati 22 and Boston 10.
A record connected with the batting of each season is that showing the number of victories and defeats, marked by single and double figure scores. This data shows, to a considerable extent, how the pitching stands in relation to the batting, as to whether the one or the other dominates too much in the efforts of the rulemakers to equal the powers of attack and defence. If the pitching has the best of it than we have a predominance of the undesirable class of pitchers' games, in which the minority of the fielders only bear the brunt of the contest. On the other hand, if the batting rules the roost, then we have too much of the old slugging style of play, in which the outfielders are mostly brought into play, and but little chance to see skilful base running or splendid infielding is afforded. Here are some records which show what was done in 1894 in this respect:
The three leading teams in the pennant race of 1894 scored a total of 198 single figure games to 194 double figure games. The record in detail being as follows:
SINGLE FIGURE. —————————————————————- Baltimore single figure victories 40 Baltimore single figure defeats 18 New York single figure victories 59 New York single figure defeats 25 Boston single figure victories 34 Boston single figure defeats 22 —- Totals 198 —————————————————————-
DOUBLE FIGURE. —————————————————————- Baltimore double figure victories 49 Baltimore double figure defeats 21 New York double figure victories 29 New York double figure defeats 19 Boston double figure victories 49 Boston double figure defeats 27 —- Totals 194 —————————————————————-
This record includes games counted out or forfeited.
The full record of the twelve clubs in single and double figure victories and defeats in 1894 is appended.
RECORD OF SINGLE AND DOUBLE FIGURE GAMES.
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SINGLE FIGURE. DOUBLE FIGURE.
CLUBS. Victories. Defeats. Totals. Victories. Defeats. Totals.
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Baltimore 40 18 58 49 21 70
New York 59 25 84 29 19 48
Boston 34 22 56 49 27 76
Philadelphia 28 22 50 43 30 73
Brooklyn 34 27 61 36 35 71
Cleveland 39 36 75 29 25 54
Pittsburgh 35 35 70 30 20 50
Chicago 20 40 60 38 35 73
St. Louis 35 45 80 21 31 52
Cincinnati 36 37 73 20 38 58
Washington 28 34 62 17 53 70
Louisville 24 61 85 12 34 46
Totals 412 402 814 373 368 741
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It will be seen that the Boston club, which was third in the race, is first in scoring the most total double figures in their contests, the "Phillies" being second and the Chicagos third. In total single figure scores New York takes a decided lead, while the Louisville club is second and St. Louis third. In single figure victories, however, New York is first, Baltimore second and Cleveland third; while in double figure victories Baltimore and Boston are tied and Philadelphia is third. The totals of 814 single figure games against 741 double figure contests shows that the pitching is not yet overpowered by the batting, though the use of the big mitts in infield work had much to do with the scoring of single figure games. As far as these records show, it would appear that the New York team really did the best batting of the season.
The Batting Averages.
We give below a record, taken from the official averages of the League, giving the batting figure, which shows the base hit percentage and the total sacrifice hits of those who have played in a majority of the scheduled games of the season of 1894, the limit being not less than 70 games. The names of the clubs are given in pennant-race order, beginning with Baltimore and ending with Louisville. The record is not of much account, except in the showing of the comparative base hit and sacrifice hit batting, the larger total of the latter giving the palm in case of a tie in the base hit averages. It also shows, as far as sacrifice hit figures can show, which batsman did the best team-work batting. But the one thing wanting in the record of batting averages is the data showing the runners forwarded by base hits, and until the scoring rules give such data there can be no correct data useful as a criterion of skilful batting. Another record needed in the score summary of each game is that of the number of chances given for catches off the bat, thus showing the carelessness of the batting in the averaged number of chances for catches offered off the bat.
Here, is the record above referred to:
An Analysis of the Batting Averages. ———————————————————
BALTIMORE CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Kelly 129 .391 19
Brodie 129 .369 24
Keeler 128 .367 16
Robinson 106 .348 11
Brouthers 123 .344 18
McGraw 123 .340 14
Jennings 128 .332 18
Reitz 109 .306 7
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NEW YORK CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Doyle 105 .369 4
Davis 124 .345 9
Van Haltren 139 .333 13
Burke 138 .299 10
Fuller 95 .282 0
Tiernan 112 .282 6
Farrell 112 .282 3
Murphy 73 .271 2
Ward 136 .262 20
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BOSTON CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Duffy 124 .438 10
McCarthy 126 .349 9
Lowe 133 .341 9
Bannon 127 .336 6
Tucker 122 .328 2
Long 103 .324 8
Nash 132 .294 3
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PHILADELPHIA CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Turner 77 .423 8
Thompson 102 .403 8
Delahanty 114 .400 5
Hamilton 131 .398 7
Cross 128 .388 16
Hallman 119 .327 22
Boyle 116 .291 18
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BROOKLYN CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Griffin 106 .365 5
Burns 126 .358 9
Daly 123 .338 4
Treadway 122 .336 12
Foutz 73 .310 8
Corcoran 129 .302 10
Shindle 117 .300 17
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CLEVELAND CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Childs 117 .365 4
Burkett 124 .357 10
McKean 130 .354 11
O'Connor 80 .330 4
O. Tebeau 119 .305 9
Blake 73 .286 10
Zimmer 88 .285 2
McGarr 127 .272 5
G. Tebeau 105 .266 11
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PITTSBURGH CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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E. Smith 125 .352 10
Stenzel 131 .351 5
Beckley 132 .344 22
Lyons 72 .311 11
Donovan 133 .306 26
Bierbauer 131 .301 20
Shugart 133 .285 13
Glasscock 86 .283 13
Shiebeck 75 .275 1
Weaver 90 .250 12
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CHICAGO CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Anson 83 .394 7
Dahlen 121 .362 10
Ryan 108 .359 8
Wilmot 105 .331 14
Lange 112 .324 4
Decker 89 .310 2
Irwin 130 .302 4
Schriver 94 .269 5
Parrott 126 .244 9
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ST. LOUIS CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Miller 125 .341 8
Ely 127 .305 13
Peitz 100 .274 7
Quinn 106 .274 13
Dowd 123 .267 9
Frank 80 .246 12
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CINCINNATI CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Holliday 122 .383 4
McPhee 128 .320 6
Latham 130 .313 11
Hoy 128 .312 11
Canavan 100 .293 5
Murphy 76 .268 6
G. Smith 128 .266 3
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WASHINGTON CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Joyce 98 .344 5
Hassamer 116 .326 10
Abbey 129 .318 13
Selbach 96 .309 3
McGuire 102 .304 4
F. Ward 89 .303 5
Cartwright 132 .292 3
Radford 93 .233 1
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LOUISVILLE CLUB.
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Percent. of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Pfeffer 104 .297 15
Grimm 107 .290 8
Clark 76 .275 1
Richardson 116 .255 4
Brown 130 .251 14
Lutenburg 70 .192 3
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The record of the twelve clubs in the League pennant race of 1894 in the total number of sacrifice hits is as follows:
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Sacrifice
BATSMEN. CLUBS. Games. Hits.
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Donovan Pittsburgh 133 26
Brodie Baltimore 129 24
Cross Philadelphia 128 16
Pfeffer Louisville 104 15
Wilmot Chicago 135 14
Quinn St. Louis 106 13
Abbey Washington 129 13
Van Haltren New York 139 13
Tredway Brooklyn 122 12
Hoy Cincinnati 128 11
G. Tebeau Cleveland 105 11
Duffy Boston 124 10
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The first nine in base hit averages were as follows:
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Percent, of Sacrifice
BATSMEN. CLUBS. Games. Base Hits. Hits.
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Duffy Boston 124 .438 10
Turner Philadelphia 77 .423 8
Thompson Philadelphia 102 .403 8
Delahanty Philadelphia 114 .400 5
Hamilton Philadelphia 131 .398 7
Anson Chicago 88 .394 7
Kelly Baltimore 129 .391 19
Cross Philadelphia 128 .388 6
Holliday Cincinnati 122 .383 4
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