Baseball team

“ A left-handed thrower will seldom make a success as a ball player except as pitcher or on first base. Left-handed batsmen, however, are a distinct advantage to a team, as nothing will so disconcert a green pitcher as to have batsmen standing first on one side of the plate and then on the other.
Every boy who plays baseball must know the rules thoroughly to be a success. It is in this way that advantage of every fair opportunity can be taken. Nothing is so disheartening to a team as to lose a closely contested game on a technicality of rules. ”

“ In modern baseball a team that plays together frequently has a prearranged code of signals that are understood by each member of the team. It is very important for every player on a side to know whether the pitcher intends to deliver a high or a low ball or one that may either be batted well into the out-field or probably be a grounder that will be taken care of by some one on the in-field. ”

“ Support the team. Come out to every game; let the boys who are playing know that you are behind them. Make a noise when you are there and don't let the players think that the whole crowd is rooting for the other team.
City senior baseball is good and any team that can make good in the league are ball players.
In view of the fact that this is the H.B.C. store's first attempt to field a team in the city league, and all other teams have the rest of the city to choose from, whereas the H.B.C. team is being confined to store boys, we have a very formidable aggregation. ”

“ Football—Our team continues to win and is at the head of the league table, having played four league games and won them all by scores of 4-0, 1-0, 5-0, and 7-0, and there seems to be nothing to stop us from annexing the league championship.
Baseball—The baseball team has played three league games so far, and won them all, so they too are strongly in the running, being the only unbeaten side so far. ”

“ It is well managed and harmonious teams, not picked nines led by special stars, which win in the long run. Now and then—as there are exceptions in all cases—a picked nine will attain a certain degree of success. But for steady struggles for permanent success in the professional championship arena, team work of the very best, and admirably managed teams will alone achieve steady victory. The old Boston teams under Harry Wright, and the Chicago teams under Anson, are a standing proof of this fact. Let the National League magnates ponder these truths earnestly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The narrative deals with the students of a large university and their baseball team, the members of which have names which enable the reader to recognize them as some of the foremost baseball stars of the day before their entrance into the major leagues.
One gains a very clear idea of "inside baseball" stripped of wearisome technicalities. ”

“ Meanwhile May hurried along with sunny skies—and some cloudy ones for variety—and the baseball players began to meet opponents worthy of their skill and the Track Team, imbued with a new enthusiasm, worked their hardest. ”

“ The great record in baseball, with Dick & Co. in the team, was something worth talking about.
Lest there be some who may think that a season of baseball with no defeats is an all but impossible record, the chronicler hastens to add that there are, through the length and breadth of these United States, several High School teams every year that make such a showing.
Yet, in baseball, as in everything else, the record is reached only by nines like the Gridley crowd, where the stiffest training, the best coaches and the best individual nerve and grit among the players are to be found. ”

“ There are many fair ways to steal the signs of the enemy, so many that the smart ball-player is always kept on the alert by them. Baseball geniuses, some almost magicians, are constantly looking for new schemes to find out what the catcher is telling the pitcher, what the batter is tipping the base runner to, or what the coacher’s instructions are. The Athletics have a great [Pg 150] reputation as being a club able to get the other team’s signs if they are obtainable. This is their record all around the American League circuit. ”

“ When a representative major league team is made up of players who represent every section in the Union, engaged for their skill, it seems as if Base Ball has become nearer an ideal and a national pastime than ever before in the history of the sport. ”

“ Since the reconstructed National League began its new life, blundering management of teams has characterized the running of a majority of its twelve clubs, and it will continue to do so while the system of engaging players for their records merely and not for their ability in doing team work and in playing harmoniously together, is continued. Especially, too, is the plan of engaging players whose daily habits of life are at war with their ability to do first-class work in the field. ”

“ The baseball score may show hits and errors against the same member of a winning team. The runner, on the other hand, enters the field alone, fights his brief battle unaided, and either fails his team wholly or makes an individual contribution to its success; he cannot be pushed on to victory by the efforts of another. ”

“ To him baseball meant more than to the average player. From the time when he had seen his first game, as a little chap, our hero had fairly lived, eaten and slept in an atmosphere of the diamond. He had organized a team of lads when he was scarcely nine years old, and played those little chaps in a sort of improvised circuit. ”

“ A few years ago there was a school team in Pennsylvania that won most of its baseball games simply because the pitcher was so much superior to any school pitcher the team ever met, and so much better an all-round player than any school-boy could be, that their opponents had no chance. ”

“ In its first year under the new management the team was not in condition to make a good fight, but the next year it was ready and since then has won four National League championships and one World's Championship.
In the spring of 1911, at the very dawn of the National League season, the grand stand of the New York National League club burned to the ground. A man less determined would have been overcome by such a blow. ”

“ The team was composed of fast men who were brilliant bunters and hard base runners. The soil of the infield was mixed with a form of clay which, when wet and then rolled, was almost as hard as concrete. ”

“ Although the outdoor season for baseball at Yardley never opens until after Spring recess is over, a full fortnight of indoor work precedes it. This indoor work is in charge of the captain, for the coach doesn’t appear until the candidates get out. This year there was an unusually large number of entries for the team, and Captain Millener had his hands full. Luckily, more than half of last year’s team remained in school, and from these fellows Millener obtained assistance. ”

“ There is no reason why baseball should interfere at all.”
“Certainly not. If we are to have a winning team this year it will only be with Ray Wendell as captain—and so I told him. I showed him that all the fellows looked to him, and the college reputation rested in his hands. ”

“ The Yeggmen lead the league just now—that team is full of tricks;
They beat the Con Men yesterday by seventeen to six.
The Lifers have an outside chance to win the prison flag;
The Counterfeiters still have hopes, although they seldom brag.
The pitcher for the Grafters, namely, Alderman McGee,
Has bet his good behavior that they’ll finish one, two, three.
Yes, the finest “inside” baseball I have seen in many a day
Is inside the dear old prison, where they like to have me stay.
The game we had last Saturday was sure a corking sight ”

“ In fact, experience has shown that no matter how effective a pitcher may be in a season's work, it will be found that there is always one team which bothers him more than any other he has to face, just as shown in the above quoted instances. ”

“ According to my idea the plan is to first practice until the players become limbered up, say for a week or so, before attempting to play a game. Then get in as many games as possible, without overdoing it, until the regular schedule begins, In the exhibition games the experiments can be tried out, and the men will gradually learn to play together, which means much to a club. Of course, there is more or less luck in base ball, but at the same time luck can't win alone all the time. Team-work and an agreeable manager count a long ways toward winning a pennant. ”

“ Paul's, Garden City, baseball nine promises to be a strong team this year, although, with the exception of four men, it is made up of inexperienced players. Hard training, however, begun in February, has developed strong team play and excellent base-running. Sidney Starr, captain and catcher, is a first-class back-stop and a speedy and accurate thrower. ”

“ The game of baseball originated in the United States of America approximately 150 years ago and quickly became a fixture of community life. Today baseball diamonds dot parks, playgrounds, and schoolyards across the land, and virtually every village, town, and neighborhood has its own team, or teams. ”

“ There is the description of an exciting baseball game, and the stratagem by which the wily coach, Payson, puts some ginger into an overtrained squad and develops from it a winning team will appeal to every boy. ”

“ Under such circumstances is it any wonder that team-work was impossible, while cliques of disappointed players still further weakened the nine in nearly every game, the ultimate result being ninth place in the race, with the added discredit of being beaten out in the race by their old rivals, the St. ”

“ On one of his periodical visits McCrae donated a baseball, and Harris quickly shaped a bat from the trunk of a stout willow he found by the river-bed. They had all outdoors to play in, and it was a simple matter to mow the grass from a stretch of level prairie and turn over the sod at points to mark the bases. Unfortunately, there were not enough men in the community to make two baseball teams, but a species of game was devised in which the players batted in turn, and when not batting or base-running were always on the "out" side. ”

“ Some mysteries are cleared up in a most unexpected way, greatly to the credit of our young friends. A variety of incidents follow fast, one after the other.
Fast Nine; or, a Challenge from Fairfield
They show the same team-work here as when in camp. The description of the final game with the team of a rival town, and the outcome thereof, form a stirring narrative. One of the best baseball stories of recent years.
Great Hike; or, The Pride of The Khaki Troop
After weeks of preparation the scouts start out on their greatest undertaking. ”

“ That’s right! Why, we have enough here for a ball team.”
“That is it, exactly,” smiled Frank. “This is the season when baseball flourishes, and we will be sure to strike some games on our way back East. If there are nine of us, we’ll have a ball team of our own.”
“Mah gracious,” broke in Toots. “Dat am de stuff. If dar am anyfing I leks teh do it am teh play baseball—yes, sar.”
Diamond was satisfied, and he immediately proposed that they organize an athletic club without delay.
CHAPTER X—THE YALE COMBINE “This is as good a place as we can find to do the business,” declared Diamond. ”

“ As actors begin to dread the drudgery of rehearsing, so do baseball men detest the drill of the spring training. The only thing that I can think of right away which is more tiresome and less interesting is signal practice with a college football team. ”

“ The long lines of bleachers, already packed with the familiar mottled crowd, sent forth a merry, rattling hum. Soon a steady stream of well-dressed men and women poured in the gates and up the grand-stand stairs. The soft murmur of many voices in light conversation and laughter filled the air. The peanut venders and score-card sellers kept up their insistent shrill cries. The baseball park was alive now and restless; the atmosphere seemed charged with freedom and pleasure. The players romped like skittish colts, the fans shrieked their witticisms—all sound and movements suggested play. ”

“ They may say baseball is the same in the minor leagues that it is in the big leagues, but any old ball player or manager knows better. Where the difference comes in, however, is in the greater excellence and unity of the major players, a speed, a daring, a finish that can be acquired only in competition with one another.
I thought of this when I led my party into Morrisey's private box in the grand stand of the Chicago American League grounds. We had come to see the Rube's break into fast company. ”

“ The crowd cheers and proclaims McGraw a great manager and the stealer a great base runner. Maybe the next batter comes along with a hit, and the runner scores. It wins the game, and mention is made in the newspapers the next morning of the fast base running of the club. A man has covered ninety feet of ground while the ball is travelling from the pitcher to the catcher and back to the fielder who is guarding second base. It is the most important ninety feet in baseball. From second base just one hit scores the runner. ”