Clipping:Defining a sacrifice hit; scoring; RBIs
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| Date | Monday, May 13, 1889 |
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| Text | [quoting Chadwick from an unidentified source] ...what is a real sacrifice hit? and the answer is that it is a hit which obliges the fielder fielding the hit ball to put the runner out at first base, thereby enabling the runner on first or second to secure a base on the hit or to score a run if on third base. There are hits made to the field which result in putting the striker out on which runners on base are forwarded, which are not sacrifice hits, and should not be recorded as such; and these include hits to the infield, which but for errors of judgment in throwing to first, would have resulted in putting the runner out whom the hit had forced off, as in the case of a ball hit to short field when no man is out, or only one man, and the ball is sent to the first baseman either through lack of judgment or from the fact hat the second base was not properly covered at the time. Also in the case of a lunge hit to short outfield, which, while putting the striker out, allowed the runner to steal a base on the catch. These are not sacrifice hits, but hits no batsman should be given any form of credit for. But when a batsman, when he goes to the bat, finds a runner on a base with no one out, and one run in the game is likely to decide I, and he goes in with the effort to make a safe hit—a tap to short right field for instance—and in trying for the hit gives a chance for a throw-out from right short, he has made a creditable effort in batting—done team work, in fact—and merits a record for the effort. Also in the case of two or three men on bases, with but one man out, he tries to sent them all in by a hard hit ball to the outfield, which gives a fine outfielder a chance for a splendid catch and affords no opportunity for a long throwin [sic] to cut off a runner at the home plate, such a hit is a creditable sacrifice, and deserves records as team work at the bat. … Though the official rule governing the record of sacrifice hits is not to my liking, still I am glad to see it there, if only as an entering wedge to a scoring system which will give due credit to team workers at the bat and take off the premium now offered for record batting. What does a batsman see when he looks at a newspaper score this season? 'Two-base hits—Jones, 1; Brown, 2. Three-base hits—Robinson, 1; White, 1,' etc. Is there any record showing how many runners a batsman forwarded by clean hits, or how many runs he similarly batted in? Not a record. All the credit is given to the slugger, who reaches third base by his hits three times in a game, and neither forwards a single runner or bats in a single run. |
| Source | Pittsburgh Dispatch |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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