Strikeout

“ Should a striker stand at the bat without striking at fair balls, for the apparent purpose of delaying the game, or of giving advantage to a player, the umpire, after warning him, shall call one strike, and, if he persists in such action, two, and three strikes. When three strikes are called, and the ball be caught, either before touching the ground or upon the first bound, the striker shall be declared out, provided the balls struck at are not those on which balls or balks have been called, or not those struck at for the purpose of wilfully striking out. ”

“ If he found a player inclined to strike over a low ball, he kept the ball low on him all the time. If he found a man who was inclined to step toward the plate when striking, he kept the ball close to that man, thus making it almost certain that he would hit it close to his fingers if he hit it at all. On the other hand, if a hitter pulled away from the plate, he used an outcurve, keeping the ball over the outside corner or beyond it. If such a batter hit it, the end of the bat was almost certain to be the point of contact, and there is seldom much force in a hit made in such a manner. ”

“ A long, free sweep of the arm, aided by a swing of the body, will give more speed, be more deceiving to the batter, and allow of more work than any possible snap or jerky motion. Facing the striker before pitching, the arm should be swung well back and the body around so as almost to face second base in the act of delivery; this has an intimidating effect on weak-nerved batters; besides, not knowing from what point the ball will start, it seems somehow to get mixed up with the pitcher's arm and body so that it is not possible to get a fair view of it. ”

“ When a baulk is made by the pitcher, every player running the bases is entitled to one base, without being put out.
[The striker cannot take a base, on a baulk, as he is not considered a “player running the bases” until he has made the first base and ceased to be a striker.]
Sec. 9. If a ball, from a stroke of the bat, first touches the ground, the person of a player, or any other object, behind the range of home and the first base, or home and the third base, it shall be termed foul, and must be so declared by the umpire, unasked. ”

“ A Fair batted ball that goes over the fence at a less distance than two hundred and ten feet from Home Base shall entitle the Batsman to two bases and a distinctive line shall be marked on the fence at this point.
STRIKES. RULE 41. A Strike is
SEC. 1. A ball struck at by the Batsman without its touching his bat; or
SEC. 2. A fair ball, legally delivered by the Pitcher, but not struck at by the Batsman.
SEC. 3. Any obvious attempt to make a foul hit.
RULE 42. A foul strike is a ball batted by the Batsman when any part of his person is upon ground outside the lines of the Batsman's position. ”

“ But in the case of the first base being occupied by a base runner, when only one man is out, when the third strike is called, in such case the batsman is out on called strikes, whether the ball on the third called strike is held on the fly or not. The batsman is out too,—under the new rule—if, when the thud strike is called, the pitched ball hits him or touches his clothing. ”

“ A striker has no right to avail himself of the advantage derived from standing back of the line of his position, thereby increasing the distance between himself and the pitcher, and obtaining a better opportunity of judging the ball. Besides which, a poorly hit ball which would strike the ground in front of the home base—if the batsman stood on the line of his base—and lead to his being put out, is changed to a foul ball by his standing back of his base, and he thereby escapes the penalty of his poor batting. ”

“ If he dodged the ball, he kept on running till the den was reached. Some of the players became proficient in ducking, dodging and side-stepping, and others learned to throw the ball with the accuracy of a rifle bullet. No matter how many players were on a side, each and every one had to be put out. And if the last one made three successive home runs, he 'brought in his side,' and the outfielders, pitcher and catcher had to do their work all over again. The boy who could bring in his side was a hero. No victorious general was ever prouder or more lauded. ”

“ The striker-out wins if the server serves two consecutive "faults," which consist in sending the ball to the net or outside the lines; or if the server fail to return the ball in play, the striker-out wins. Either player loses a stroke if the ball touch him in the act of striking, if he touches the ball with his racket more than once, if he touch the net or any of its supports while the ball is in play, or if he "volley" the ball before it has passed the net. ”

“ FEIGNING TO THROW TO A BASE. When the pitcher feigns to throw to a base prior to delivering the ball to the bat, in every such instance after making the feint to throw, he must resume his original position, "facing the batsman," and "holding the ball fairly in front of his body," and "momentarily pause before delivering the ball to the bat." If he makes a feint to throw and then delivers the ball with one apparent motion, without pausing to stand, he commits a balk. ”

“ Put your hands a little farther up and don’t try to ‘kill’ the ball. Just meet it with your bat. There’s force enough in the ball to send it as far as you want it to go if it just strikes the bat—that is, if you keep a good grip.”
“Is that the reason why you made such a long hit?” inquired the player as he left Walter and stepped to the plate in place of the batter, who had popped a little fly directly into the hands of the pitcher. ”

“ The fact is that you’ve got into such a habit of knocking the ball into the right field stands—mighty good habit, too, if you ask me—that the umpires have asked us to paint this line so that they can see whether the hit is fair or foul. The ordinary hit they can tell easy enough. But yours are so far out that they have to have especial help in judging them. It’s the first time it’s had to be done for any hitter in the history of the game. ”

“ The ball shall be considered jerked, in the meaning of the rule, if the pitcher’s arm touches his person when the arm is swung forward to deliver the ball; and it shall be regarded as a throw, if the arm be bent at the elbow, at an angle from the body, or horizontally from the shoulder, when it is swung forward to deliver the ball.
Sec. 4. No player shall be put out on any hit ball on which a balk or a ball has been called; and neither shall a strike or a foul ball be called, or a base run on such a hit ball. ”

“ The rules of the game will continne to shift one way and the other in the eternal duel between pitcher and batter, between attack and defense. For thirty years this effort at adjustment has been like the struggle between big guns and armor-plate. The science of pitching developed much faster than ability to hit the ball. Therefore the pitcher was handicapped in various ways, and the batter permitted to smite the missile freely until the tide swung the other way again. In recent years the 'slab-artist' has been given the advantage, and the complaint grows that there is not batting enough. ”

“ If the striker play with the wrong ball, and his adversary should not discover it, he may reckon all the points gained by the stroke, and the marker is obliged to score them.
42. If the striker, after having made a hazard or carom, move with his hand or stick either of the balls which remain upon the table, the stroke is deemed foul.
43. If a ball be found to have been changed during the game, and it is not known by which player, the game must be played out with the balls as they then are.
44. No one has a right to take up or otherwise move a ball, without permission of the adversary. ”

“ If he can make the distance in fewer jumps than he has bid, the striker, or the striker's side, loses the number of points named in the last bid of the pitcher, and the striker is out.
DUCK ON A ROCK does not require an "it" to start with. As soon as it is decided to try the game, each player hurries to secure a good sized stone, or where this cannot be had, a club or a half brick will do. As each grasps his weapon he shouts, "My Duck." ”

“ If the striker’s ball is struck considerably above its centre, it produces the following stroke. To make the ball jump, it must be struck sharply on the top with a “downward, forward motion,” and this, if carefully done, will cause the ball to jump over a neighbouring and intervening ball. When the ball is struck low, it produces the recoil, and the striker’s ball will return from the object ball to [597] the player. This leads the beginner to the greatest of all modern improvements in the game, the side-stroke. ”

“ The man stood out at a considerable distance from a batter who struck balls high into the air in various directions. Here, as in the infield, the competitors took turn, and returned [74] the ball at once with all their force to a catcher who stood beside the batter.
Meanwhile, on the diamond, Dick Palmer and I held our positions as catcher and pitcher respectively, while all the men came up in groups of four and took turns in batting. This served as practice for Dick and myself, and also enabled us to judge of the batting abilities of the various men. ”

“ Others stand near the base, and when they think it about time for the pitcher to pitch make a start. If they happen to guess aright they get a running start, which is, of course, a great advantage. And if they guess wrong, the pitcher is so taken by surprise that it is always possible to return to the base before he can throw. Of the two methods I prefer the latter. Remaining near the base disarms suspicion, and the runner is not tired out, by repeated feints to throw, on the part of the pitcher. ”

“ There is a kick against these tactics from the other bench, but the damage has been done. The pitcher passes the batter, forgets what he ought to throw to the next man, and cannot get the ball where he wants it. A base hit follows. Then he is gone. The following batter triples, and, before another pitcher can be warmed up, three or four runs are across the plate, and the game is won. That explains why so many wise managers keep a pitcher warming up when the man in the box is going strong. ”

“ The keeping of one's balance is another difficulty. In preparing to strike, the player bends forward a little. In drawing back his club he raises, or should raise, his left heel from the ground, and at the end of the upward swing stands poised on his right foot and the toe or ball of the left foot. At this point there is danger of his losing his balance, and as he brings the club down, falling either forward or backward, and consequently either heeling or toeing the ball, instead of hitting it with the 292 middle of the face. ”

“ All baseball players like to bat, and nothing pleases them so much as base hits; on the other hand, nothing is quite so painful as to send out hard liners only to see them caught. And it seemed as if every man on our team connected with that lanky twirler's fast high ball and hit with the force that made the bat spring only to have one of these rubes get his big hands upon it. ”

“ Deciding that he must rely on himself, he whipped the ball over with savage fierceness, using his high in-shoot for almost every strike-ball pitched. For a time, the surest hitters of the opposing team were as helpless before his speed as back-lot players might have been. The spectators were with him, and up to the eighth inning it looked as if he would get away with it. ”

“ Some men cannot hit a low ball or a high one, some will flinch when the ball comes close to them, giving the pitcher a chance to deliver a straight, swift ball over the inside of the plate, which the umpire will call a strike even though the batsman devotes all of his energy to getting out of the way. ”

“ If in running either of the strikers shall fail to ground his bat, in hand, or some part of his person, over the popping crease, the umpire, for every such failure, shall deduct two runs from the number intended to have been run, because such striker, not having run in the first instance, cannot have started in the second from the proper goal. ”

“ When the striker shall hit the ball, one of his feet must be on the ground behind the popping-crease, otherwise the umpire shall call "no hit."
4. When there shall be less than five players of a side, neither byes nor overthrows shall be allowed, nor shall the striker be caught out behind the wicket, nor stumped out. ”

“ Suddenly his air of restraint vanishes: a shortish ball from the right-hander is cracked between cover and extra-cover with terrific force. Then the fun begins. In spite of two fielders in the country on the on-side, good-length balls outside the off-stump are remorselessly pulled. They travel to taste—some high, some low, but none come to hand—and they travel often. One drops clean over the ropes—a gigantic hit. Square-cuts, off-drives, and placings-to-leg almost jostle one another to the boundary. ”

“ One is that the snap of the wrist with which a baseball is sent on its way would be likely to cause the premature discharge of a percussion grenade, and the second is that the grenades weigh so much—from a pound and a half to ten pounds—that the best arm in the world couldn’t stand the strain of whipping them off as a baseball is thrown. ”