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As for the former class, a half hour's practice on sawdust or soft earth will show them how easily it is learned, and as for the latter, they should be made to slide, even if it be found necessary to persuade them through their pockets. Sliding, as an art, is of recent growth, though it has long been the practice of base-runners to drop to avoid being touched.
Now Tug came to the bat; and while he was gathering his strength for a death-dealing blow at the ball, the two base-runners made ready to take advantage of anything he should hit. The right-fielder played off too far, and, to Tug's despair, was caught by a quick throw from the pitcher to the first baseman.
Succeeding base-runners should have private signals so that they may communicate their intentions without apprising the opposing players. A runner on first who intends to steal second should inform the batter, so that the batter may hit the ball, or at least strike at it.
"Now if I'm any good on earth, I'll bring Greg in and perhaps Dick, too." Though Dave was excited, he kept the fact to himself, facing Ted Teall with steely composure. Two strikes and three balls were called. The two base-runners, full of confidence in Darry, were edging off daringly. "If I dared," throbbed Dave inwardly, "I'd refuse and walk to first on a called ball.
The average spectator is not sport enough to feel sorry for the pitcher when a home run has been knocked over the fence, or to feel sorry for a fielder who lets a ball through his fingers and sends the base-runners on their way rejoicing. To your thorough sport, though, a scientific, well-balanced game is the most interesting.
Indeed, they will often serve only as traps to lead him into difficulty. By its very nature a quick perception is an inborn faculty of the mind, and while it may be developed by constant use, no amount of coaching can create it. There are some players who are no more capable of becoming good base-runners than of living under water, so unfitted are they by nature.
He was saved the chagrin of striking out to his deadly rival, but the hit he knocked was only a little fly that the pitcher caught. The two base-runners, however, had not had great expectations of Reddy's batting prowess, so they did not stray far from their bases, and were not caught napping.
It should be added that the game would have been won again in the eighth inning but for the unpardonable stupidity of one of the Providence base-runners. By far the most difficult catch on a ball field is that of a ball hit high to the in-field, because of the great "twist" to the ball.
He struck with greatest force just barely below the center of the sphere. It was a fearful crack, aimed right and full of steam and speed. "Wow!" Three base-runners, at the first sound had started running for all they were worth. Dick's bat flew like a projectile itself, fortunately hitting no one, and Prescott was running like Greek of old on the Olympic field. One man in!
We only know that a team of base-runners wins game after game in which it is out-batted and out-fielded by its opponents. No system of scoring has been or can be devised by which a full record of this kind of work can be kept. The system now in vogue, crediting the number of bases stolen, is all right so far as it goes, but it covers only a small part of the ground.
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