Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-07-08
PRINCE OF PITCHERS
Saylor Awards the Crown to Big
 Amos Rusie.
MANY TWIRLERs KNOCKED OUT
How the New Pitching Rule Has Retired
 Numerous stars-The Magnates Intend cd That It Should Make Good Pitchers

cu 1hht At bhouAu 11Ako SOoO HltCherS
 Plentiful and Cheap, but the Plan Failed.
 The unusual spectacle of three National league clubs tied for first place for four | days was seen recently. In all my expe- rience as historian of the American game | have no recollection of this incident hav- ing a precedent. Three clubs have held l similar percentages for a day, but not as | leaders. What makes this feature of the | National league race still moro remark | able is the fact that each of the three clubs | won and lost the same number of games | Under the percentage system clubs ire l Quently tie for position and yet differ in the | number of games won and lost. The posi- | tions held by the Philadelphias, Bostons | and Brooklyns on the 2Sth and 29th of June | and on the succeeding days certainly made awonderful chapter in baseball history.
 The fact that of these three clubs two were of the number which were not at the beginning of the year considered prime factors in the race adds to the interest. Three clubs, on the other hand, which were considered dangerous are well down in the hst-namely, the Clevelands, Pittsburgs and New Yorks The last named team seems to be almost hopelessly beaten al- ready. Ii has been particularly unfortu- nate in pitchers When the season opened, it was thought that with Rusie, Crane and King the New Yorks were better equipped in the pitching line than any other League club. The out and out failure of the last two named was stinging disappointment to the metropolitan ''cranks." Then the club secured Baldwin, who for time pitched great ball and then suddenly went to pieces. He may, however, recover his powers, His weakness may be merely tenn porary.
 This problem of pitchers Is one that is troubling nearly every club in the League. Old tried standbys under the new pitching rules are going down like tenpins. Hutch ison, Clarkson, Stivetts, King, Crane, Paddock, Lovett, Duryea, Ehret and Wey- hing have suffered most. Chamberlain, Rusie, Stratton, Terry, Young, Cuppy, Nichols, Gleason, Carsey and McMahon are the "twirlers" who have done the best work
 under the new conditions, and yet each Oir of them has taken his medicine" at times during the last month.
 The New York, Chicago and Boston clubs are the three which need pitching talent
 most, and they stand ready to shovel out | the shekels to obtain such coveted timber Successful baseball pitchers are just as much in demand now as Il special session of
 congress. They are jewels, precious stones members of the Wonder family.
 When the new pitching rule was framed, | it was announced as the intention of the | maGnates to take away that powerful i'm | portance from the pitcher which made him | so necessary to the men who conduct base
 ball as n business that he could command | almost his own price for his services. The
 intention was no doubt good, but the plan
 miscarried. A good pitcher is now higher priced article than ever, because he is so | rare. Had the rule wiped out the breed | altogether the purpose of the rule makers | would have been served, for then every
 club would have been on an equal footing l and equally content But instead of kill
 ing off the dominance of the pitchers the | rule merely decimated their numbers.
 | While the additional five feet has much | to do with the loss of effectiveness to so | many pitchers, it is not that alone which | has virtually forced out of business stars | who last season were sought after at sal
 aries of S400 and $500 a month. The angle
 has more to do with it than the distance.
 Last year the pitcher had four feet lecway 1 in taking his position. This year he is an | chorcd to a Finch plate. Last season he
 changed from one corner of the box" tC
 the other, according to whether he was | pitching to n right firld hitter or a left
 field hitter. This year he is compelled tC
 use the same angle in facing all manner oi
 batsmen. That seems to be n very little
 matter, does it noti But just ask an in
 telligent pitcher how much power that
 privilege of changing his angle gave him
 anu Stt W ustl AS tO dDOuS It. ut
 angle was very small, but it was enough tC
 handicap the batter materially.
 The college clubs are using the old rule: | with the 55 feet inches distance and tht
 by 5>S feet box. This fact should be borne
 in mind when students of the nationa
 game compare college games with thos'
 played by the National league. Besides
 very few college batsmen could hold ever | a mediocre place among the heavy hitter.
 of the professional League teams. h th,
 recent Yale Harvard games the fsats per
 formed by Carter and Highlands seem al
 most marvellous. Yet men like Rusie ani
 Chamberlain under similar circumstance would probably do as well If not better. II the game at Cambridge, Highlands of liar
 ward struck out 10 of his 9 men, and Car ter did almost as well for his side. HaC
 they been placed back 5 feet and confineC . to a I2-inch plate with the Bostons or Phil | adelphias to face them they would hay, done good work to strike out nine men be tween them
 Young Hawley of the St Louis tean , struck out 21 men in one game at For l Smith last year. Now he can barely hold al { engagement in the National league Rusi , in 1891 struck out IT men in a single game which, considering all the circumstances
 was a most remarkable pitching feat. Rusi
 is probably the best pitcher in the countr
 today, and on June 26 he gave evidence 0
 1t in that remarkable to Trimming gam l at Cincinnati 1 call 1t remarkable an k will go still further and pronounce it tn 8 greatest and most wonderful game of bal = ever played. Considering the pitchin I handicap, it outranks all the former n o markable extra inning games ever played not excepting the to 14-inninG Bostor Cincinnati game of last year, the to 2t = inning game between the Cincinnatis an . Chicagos, nor yet the Harvard -Mancheste 8 o to 9+inning game of 1877, when deai : ball was responsible for the long tie In tn F recent Trimming game the batting was heav ? throughout, but headwork and enduranc on both sides were so equally matched tha
 the equilibrium was not lost for SH hours
 In this contest Rusie must be given th
 palm over Chamberlain. He pitched tn : IT innings for his team and quit as fres as a daisy on a June morning, wherea r Chamberlain weakened in the sixteentl ,. and had to retire. Rusie also struck ou t six batsmen to none by Chamberlain, an !. there was one less run earned off his pitch