"A player who can run fifty yards in six seconds ought, with a lead of eight feet off first base, run to second base, 82 feet away, in three and one-half seconds. A pitched ball will travel from the pitcher's slab 68 feet to the catcher's glove (fast ball with catcher standing nine feet back of the plate, timed from the start of the pitcher's motion), in seven-eights of a second. The catcher, if he handles the pitch perfectly and gets the ball away fast, will start the ball towards second in one and a quarter seconds after it hits his hands and his throw from nine feet back of the plate, if perfect, ought to reach the second baseman in one second, and be caught and the ball be ready to apply to the runner in one-quarter of a second additional. Perfectly handled in that time, the ball ought to beat the runner to second base by from one-eighth to one-quarter of a second, or by 3 1/3 from to 6 1/4 feet and result in an easy out.

— from Touching Second: The Science of Baseball,  John J. Evers & Hugh S. Fullerton (Reilly & Britton Co., Chicago)

So much of it I hadn’t a bull’s notion of

     — "Tagging the Stealer" Selected Delanty

Suddenly behind the pinch hitter’s back he signaled
the pitcher. Seconds later the catcher fireballed
the potato to the first baseman, tagging
the stealer.

                     — "Tagging the Stealer" Selected Delanty