Batting average

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ The batting averages are more than useless, as they fail to show the only reliable criterion of play there is, and that is, the percentage of runners forwarded around the bases by base hits. The pitching averages are similarly useless, as they fail to give the correct data for judging the percentage of runs earned off the pitching on the basis of runs scored by base hits, and by nothing else ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If a batsman is not allowed to use his legs to prevent the ball hitting the wicket, or has to use a smaller bat, he will find that, though he may have to alter some of his methods, he will nevertheless be able to score quite largely enough. What, I hope, will be impossible is for the inferior player to be able to score 50 when an innings of 10 is about the proper figure—to judge from the real batting ability he possesses. It may be regarded as a certainty that if big scoring by inferior players become a rare exception, drawn matches will not take place unless caused by bad weather. ”

“ The fielder is always on exhibition in the proportion of eleven to one batter, so that his opportunities for the display of either good or bad play are many. If cricketers will bring to their game the excellent qualities displayed upon the diamond, theirs will soon be recognized as the popular game. Greater interest is felt in fine fielding than in brilliant batting by the spectator, though from a cricketers standpoint a finished batsman will always be the favorite. There seems no excuse for poor fielding unless to permit the second-rate bat to score double figures. ”

“ All that we can be sure of is that, since baseball is American, it will change.
To resume the catalogue of contrast. In baseball the batsman must run for every fair hit; in cricket he may choose which hits to run for.
In baseball a man's desire is to hit the ball in the air beyond the fielders; in cricket, though a man would like to do this, his side is better served if he hits every ball along the ground.
In baseball no man can have more than a very small number of hits in a match; in cricket he can be batting for a whole day, and then again before the match is over. ”

“ Then again, such really great batsmen as P. F. Warner and Hayes have not done themselves justice.
“A great many judges of the game attribute the apparent failure of our team to the fact that our men are playing on matting, but I can scarcely agree with them. I have practised a lot on matting wickets, and, judging from my own experience, it should hold no terrors for a really good batsman.
“I can only attribute the defeat of our eleven to inferior play. The fielding has been poor, the bowling only moderate, and the batting, with one or two exceptions, second-rate. ”

“ 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 same holds good with regard to the relative scores in fourth and third innings.
The second consideration that makes it advantageous to bat first is, that runs are harder to make than to save. And the case is this. A run is more difficult to make than to save, because batting is in its nature a far less certain and reliable thing than bowling and fielding. A man who really makes up his mind to bowl or field as well as ever he can, is able to do so with something like certainty, whereas the best bat in the world cannot make sure of scoring a single run. ”

“ For this reason the pitcher, who was really a poor fielder in his position in fielding balls from the bat, but who happened to be fortunate in striking batsmen out by his pitching—thereby getting a big record of pitching assistances—became the leader in the pitcher's fielding averages; while the pitcher who really excelled as a fielder when in the box, but who was not as fortunate in striking out his batting opponents, and therefore could not furnish as good a record of assistances on strikes, was set down in the fielding averages as a tail-ender. ”

“ The best stand that has been made for the last wicket in a first-class match is 230 runs, which was run up by R. W. Nicholls and Roche playing for Middlesex v. Kent at Lord’s in 1899.
The “averages” of individual players for batting and bowling annually excite a good deal of interest, and there is a danger that some players may think too much of their averages and too little of the sporting side of the game. Any comparison of the highest averages during a series of years would be misleading, owing to improvements in grounds, difference of weather, and the variations in the number of innings. ”

“ It is this machine, and the knowledge that comes from experience of the proper sorts of soil and seeds, that has caused the beautiful wickets of the present day, and the corresponding increase in the number of runs scored. The gigantic scoring is an evil. Everything is made easy for the batsman. In no respect, save that of allowing overhand bowling, has the poor bowler had any consideration shown him, and the results are batting made easy and drawn games. The scoring during the season of 1887 reached a pitch that, for the sake of cricket, we hope will never be seen again ”

“ The pitcher then delivers the ball to the batsman of the opposite nine, who endeavours to send it out of reach of the opposing field party, and far enough into the field to admit of his running round the four bases, in which case he scores one run, provided he is not put out in the interim. He is followed by his companions, one after the other in regular rotation, until three of the batting side are put out, when the field side take the bat and [778] have their innings. Nine innings constitute a full game, and no game is considered as played unless five full innings have been completed. ”

“ The easy wicket has made batting so easy that the proper proportion and balance of the game are lost. It is not only the good batsmen who make hundreds and two hundreds: the inferior batsman, who ought never on his merits to score above 50 runs in an innings, going in ninth or tenth, on perfect wickets, and against fatigued bowlers, finds it easy to hit away all over the place, and the runs come in numbers. The result of such run-getting is in every way pernicious. ”

“ A marked improvement was witnessed in batting in the year 1866. Hardly a week passed without an individual innings of a hundred runs in an innings being recorded in some match or another; and before the season was at an end, 200 runs was exceeded four times. The averages reached a figure undreamt of a few years before, and the once-coveted double figure had become quite common. An aggregate of 1000 runs, which was at one time considered a very exceptional feat, was accomplished by eighteen batsmen, ten of them amateurs; many of the batsmen, however, played few or no first-class matches. ”

“ They have less waiting for their innings, and consequently less of that restless nervousness from which few men are free; they have the best of the wicket; they have often loosish bowling just at first, before the bowlers have warmed to their work; and, last but certainly not least, they are batting a new ball. Few people realise what a difference a new ball makes to the batsman; it goes cleaner and firmer off the bat than an old one, and, what is better than all, a hard new ball is much more difficult to twist than one that has had a hundred runs made off it. ”

“ Batting and base running are two departments of the game where one member of the team is as important as another. A good batsman must have a quick eye and a quick brain. When he decides to strike at a ball he must not change his mind and simply swing at it feebly after it is in the catcher’s hands. The best batters are not those who hit the ball the hardest. Judgment in placing hits is far more important than trying to knock out a home run every time you are at the bat. ”

“ The players of the side "at bat" must occupy the portion of the field allotted them, but must speedily vacate any portion thereof that may be in the way of the ball, or any Fielder attempting to catch or field it. THE BATTING RULES. RULE 38. A Fair Hit is a ball batted by the Batsman, standing in his position, that first touches any part of the person of a player or umpire or falls within the foul lines, that (whether it first touches Foul or Fair Ground) bounds or rolls within the Foul Lines, between Home and First, or Home and Third Bases, without interference by a player. ”

“ Careful record is kept of the batting, fielding, pitching and base-running averages of both professional and amateur players. To find the batting record of a player, divide the number of hits made by the number of times at bat. ”

“ But, in the course of a season, these chances should about equalize one another, and, though fate may seem to be against a man for a half dozen or more games, he will be found finally to have benefited as much by "scratch" hits as he has lost in good, hard drives.
The theory of batting is simplicity itself. All that is necessary is to wait until the ball comes over the plate and then hit it on a line back into the field. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of course there are skilful outfield hits made in team-work, but they are confined to hot, low liners, giving no chance for a catch, or hard hit "daisy cutters," which yield two or three bases; but every ball hit in the air to outfield shows weak batting, and this style of hitting it is which gives so many chances for catches in a game. ”

“ In making up an eleven where the limited area of selection precludes the possibility of getting a first-rater of each class, the aim should be to supply the deficiency in one class or the other by including the best bat who can bowl fairly well in the style that is lacking. By this means the required variety in the attack is secured without weakening the batting of the side too much. ”

“ That fielding, the most important branch of the game, has deteriorated during even the past five or six years may be accepted as a true bill, and we can only look for improvement to those who have the rising generation under their charge. No one can expect to become a good fieldsman without assiduous and often irksome practice, and this, combined with the undue prominence bestowed on batting, may account somewhat for the deterioration. ”