n grade to aid the runner in reaching that
station with all possible expedition. Toward second there was a gentle
slope, and it was down hill to third. But coming home from third was
up-hill work. A player had to be a mountain climber to make it. This all
benefited fast men like Keeler, McGraw, Kelley and Jennings whose most
dangerous form of attack was the bunt.

The Orioles did not stop at doctoring the infield. The grass in the
outfield was permitted to grow long and was unkempt. Centre and left
fields were kept level, but in right field there was a sharp down grade to
aid the fast Keeler. He had made an exhaustive study of all the possible
angles at which the ball might bound and had certain paths that he
followed, but which were not marked out by sign posts for visiting
right-fielders. He was sure death on hits to his territory, while usually
wallops got past visiting right-fielders. And so great was the grade that
"Wee Willie" was barely visible from the batter's box. A hitting team
coming to Baltimore would be forced to fall into the bunting game or be
entirely outclassed. And the Orioles did not furnish their guests with
topographical maps of the grounds either.

The habit of doctoring grounds is not so much in vogue now as it once was.
For a long time it was considered fair to arrange the home field to the
best advantage of the team which owned it, for otherwise what was the use
in being home? It was on the same principle that a general builds his
breastworks to best suit the fighting style of his army, for they are his
breastworks.

But lately among the profession, sentiment and baseball legislation have
prevailed against the doctoring of grounds, and it is done very little.
Occasionally a pitching box is raised or lowered to meet the requirements
of a certain man, but they are not altered every day to fit the pitcher,
as they once were. Such tactics often hopelessly upset the plan of battle
of the visiting club unless this exactly coincided with the habits of the
home team. Many strategic plans have been wasted on carefully arranged
grounds, and many "inside" plays have gone by the boards when the field
was fixed so that a bunt was bound to roll foul if the ball followed the
laws of gravitation, as it usually does, because the visiting team was
known to have the bunting habit.

A good story of doctored grounds gone wrong is told of the Philadelphia
Athletics. The eccentric "Rube" Waddell had bundles of spe