Mack's pitchers cut their motions down to nothing with men on the bases, microscopic motions, and they watched the runners like hawks. Thomas had been practising to get the men. The first time that Devore made a break to steal, he was caught several feet from the bag. "And you call yourself fast!" commented Collins as he threw the ball back to the pitcher and jogged to his job. "You remind me of a cop on a fixed post," he flung over his shoulder. Pitchers have a great deal to do with the defensive efficiency of the club. If they do not hold the runners up, the best catcher in the world cannot stop them at their destination. That is the reason why so many high-class catchers have been developed by the Chicago Cubs. The team has always had a good pitching staff, and men like Overall, Brown and Reulbach force the runners to stick to the oases of safety. The Giants stole their way to a pennant in 1911, and it wasn't on account of the speedy material, but because McGraw had spent days teaching his men to slide and emphasizing the necessity of getting the jump. Then he picked the stages of the game when the attempts to steal were to be made. But McGraw, with his all-star cast of thieves, was stopped in the world's series by one Cornelius McGillicuddy. XIII Notable Instances Where the "Inside" Game Has Failed _The "Inside" Game is of Little Avail when a Batter Knocks a Home Run with the Bases Full--Many Times the Strategies of Managers have Failed because Opposing Clubs "Doctored" their Grounds--"Rube" Waddell Once Cost the Athletics a Game by Failing to Show up after the Pitcher's Box had been Fixed for Him--But, although the "Inside" Game Sometimes Fails, no Manager Wants a Player who will Steal Second with the Bases Full._ There is an old story about an altercation which took place during a wedding ceremony in the backwoods of the Virginia mountains. The discussion started over the propriety of the best man holding the ring, and by the time that it had been finally settled the bride gazed around on a dead bridegroom, a dead father, and a dead best man, not to mention three or four very dead ushers and a clergyman. "Them new fangled self-cockin' automatic guns has sure raised hell with my prospects," she sighed.