Clipping:Scoring total bases
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Date | Sunday, February 10, 1878 |
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Text | At the beginning of 1877 the club and newspaper scorers kept an additional item of play called total bases. This before long fell into disfavor with the papers, because in all telegraphic dispatches it necessitated additional expense. The papers therefore dropped it before the season was half gone, but the official scorer kept it up with regularity until the last game was played. … Following are the figures, arranged in order of merit, as shown by dividing the total bases by the times at bat: … It will be remembered that the intention of the total-base system was to give credit for helping other players along and to award a premium for earnest base-running and taking advantage of the errors of the other side. Let us see how this worked: In the first place it is noticeable that all the Boston players are away up top; that is, that nine of them are among the first twenty-one, though as far as batting alone is concerned, the same nine are not so close to the top by any means. It is well known that it is Harry Wright's eleventh commandment that a man must run on every hit, and it seems as if the wisdom of his course were vindicated by this showing. … it is quite proper to recommend all the players to compare the batting averages with the total base record and see if the latter does not after all indicate who the sharp and earnest base-runners are. It may be that there is something in the total-base plan, and that it may not have been wise to abandon it before it was tried. |
Source | Chicago Tribune |
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Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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