Sportsmanship in Baseball.

Six new rules were added to those which govern college baseball, at the eighth annual convention of the National Athletic Association held last month. The general purpose of the rules is to rid college baseball of unsportsmanlike usages. The new rulings follow.

First: The catcher shall not during actual play speak to the batsman, except where occasion requires a bona-fide word of caution and in speaking to the pitcher he shall not use words reflecting or calculated to reflect upon the batsman or any member of the opposing team.

Second: No members of either team shall call out or shout during the game to any member of the opposing team, except to caution him against some danger, nor behave in any indecorous or unseemly manner.

Third: There shall be no oral coaching from the bench.

Fourth: The so-called "encouragement of the pitcher" from the outfield shall be stopped or at least minimized.

Fifth: The umpire shall warn a player for an infraction of the rules, and then exclude him from the game.

Sixth: The students of the home team must not cheer in such a way as to "rattle" the opposing team.

Shall Coaches Sit on the Bench?

In regard to the question of professional coaching during the game the following comments have appeared in the Transcript:

Opinions of Eastern college baseball captains are divided on the question, "Shall the professional coach be kept from the bench at college baseball games?" The Harvard, Princeton and Amherst captains are not enthusiastic over the adoption of the innovation, while at Yale, Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, and Williams it is favored. Captain Blossom of the Yale nine writes in the Yale Daily News of the movement:

"I am decidedly in favor of this plan of both teams keeping their coaches from the players' bench, for after the game is over the players will all know that the result of the game was due to their efforts and not to help received during the game from the more experienced professional coach. Not only does this plan put an added responsibility on both the captains and the players, but it will mean that more stress will be put on co-operation and team play. With this in view through the early season, the players will learn to depend on themselves and will develop a greater feeling of self-reliance. In addition, the players will, on their own initiative, have put into practice what they have learned of inside baseball. Moreover, if this plan is adopted it will show more clearly just how far advanced college baseball actually is."

Captain Wingate of Harvard says:

"There is no doubt that the coach plays an important part in the games at present, but that part is in actual practice more negative than positive. He takes part in the game more by his steadying influence than by any real part in the playing of the game, although this statement must vary according to the coach considered, and any coach has the opportunity to direct the playing in such a way as to turn the game into a victory.

"The theory of the proposed rule is to put more responsibility upon the players themselves and so to make the game entirely the product of the men on the team. The idea is a good one if it can be practically and fairly worked out. The mere rule that the coach is not allowed on the bench is not sufficient to insure the spirit of the rule against infringement, intentional or non-intentional."