Clipping:The grounds in Baltimore
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| Date | Saturday, April 24, 1880 |
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| Text | The Baltimore Athletic Club has control of the old ground at Newington Park, and refuses to rent it for less than $10 per day, with free admission for their 223 members—a matter of $50 more a day, although they pay only $350 for the entire year. The Baltimores offered them $500 for Monday,s Wednesdays and Fridays during the baseball season, but the Athletic Club rejected these terms. The Baltimores do no intend jeopardizing their chances of financial success by acceding to these extortionate demands, and have been offered the site for a new ground on the Bellaire road, about twenty minutes' ride from the city. The new location is easy of access by three street-railway lines. The grounds can be fixed up at a small outlay, and it will be much cheaper to make the needed improvements than to pay the Athletic Club about $1,000 for six months. New York Clipper April 24, 1880 scoring convention; batting average versus slugging percentage; discounting runs scored; separating pitching from fielding stats Going forward in the course which it has heretofore purposed, The Sunday Times will this year present a scoring records of the league games in a form peculiar to itself, and containing features and points of interest to be found nowhere else. It has persistently refused to follow the form of score adopted by the league, because it was illogical and did not bring out many of the most important items of play, such, for instance, as base running and hitting beyond one base. The official form of the league score is always a matter of convention—a compromise of pet notions—and, as such, must be incomplete and contradictory. This of the present year is perhaps more so than any of its predecessors, leaving out, as it does, the important item of “times reached first base,” and thereby making entirely useless as a record the interpolated column of “total bases run.” The same is true as far as the general reader is concerned, in regard to its column of “chances offered,” because it furnishes no complementary column of “chances accepted.” For these, and other reason, The Sunday Times will present its readers with a form of its own. The intention is to present in the detailed score a record of the individual work at the bat, running the bases, and in the field; in the summary by innings, the same points by team aggregate. The score of last year contained nine columns as was the completest ever published; but it was found to embrace more particulars, more minute divisions that the general reader cared to digest, and , the present year's score, an attempt has been made to give the same information in a form which requires but six columns. In the batting department, for instance, the columns of first base hits has been dropped, as that of total bases on hits includes them. It is an open question as to whether the man who makes frequent hits for one base is more valuable at the bat than the one who makes fewer safe hits, but is addicted to two and three-baggers. Certainly the latter draws more upon the enthusiams of the spectators than the former, and, as the game is for their pleasure, such hitting is worthy of encouragement. Moreover, a heavy hitter is especially valuable when bases are full and there is danger of a double play. A first-base hit, under such circumstances, will ordinarily bring in but one man, while a two-baser is good for three runs. This record, therefore, makes no distinction between the value of two first-base hits and one second-baser. It is generally true that heavy hitters are not as safe hitters as light ones; but this is a matter of natural adaptation, and the hard hitter would not hit safely any oftener if he were to moderate his force. Moreover, both styles are desirable in a team. Three or four safe hitters, followed by a long driver or two, are better than a full strong of short hitters. In the department of base running the column of runs is left out as a matter of no individual important, and is relegated to the innings summary, showing the work of the club as a whole in that line. The theory of the column of total bases run is that runs are made up of bases, and that a man's value as a runner must be gauged by the number of bases reached, regardless of whether they result in runs or not. Here the adage “Take care of the cents and the dollars will take care of themselves” is applicable: if the runner gets a base at every opportunity the runs will be forthcoming. In the fielding department the three columns of put-out, assists, and errors are condensed into chances offered and chances accepted. Chances offered include every play presented to each player during the game, and chances accepted the number which he executes. The difference, naturally, is the number of errors. In this no distinction is made between an assist and a put-out, both being perfect plays and equally meritorious. This method shows at a glance the proportion between the plays offered and those executed. The order of the columns in the score is this: A.B. (times at bat), T. H. (total bases on hits). R.B. (reached first base), T. R. (total bases reached). C.O. (chances offered), and C.A. (chances accepted.) … The pitcher's record, as presented in this score, is an entirely new feature, and the only form which has ever, even approximately recorded the value of the men playing that position. All attempts at such a record heretofore have been based on the proportion of base hits to times at bat, and other things in which the work of the fielders in general was involved, so that they showed nothing; the present method makes his work separate from the fielding work. It is the pitcher's business to offer chances to the fielders to put men out, and, when he has done that, his duty is fulfilled, whether the fielder does his or not. Evidently, therefore, the pitcher—as a pitcher—is the most valuable man who furnishes the most opportunities for put-outs in proportion to the number of strikers faced. As to his value as a fielder, and a batsman, of course his record with the other members of the team will be determined. Lovers of the game who will study the details of this method sufficiently to get a clear understanding of it from top to bottom, will find that it contains all the necessary information as to individuals and teams, without surplusage. Chicago Times April 25, 1880 |
| Source | New York Clipper |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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