The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-30
THE CURVED BALL
UT Is STILL AS UNExPLAINABLE
AS WHEN FIRST DIS
! COVERED.
PHOTOGRAPHY IS NO HELP
THE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
WAS MADE ON THE LOUIS
WILLIE GROUNDS.
AN UNDEFINABLE INFLUENCE
Which Forces the Sphere to Almost
Effect a Sharp Angle ON
Shifting.

"A base ball crank Is supposed to
be a man who knows all about the ma
t1ona1 game. He never misses a prom
ising contest, and can interpret every
play as If reading it from a book, says
the Philadelphia Times His chief de-
light Is to boisterously spread his
knowledge in crowd Of fellow-spec-
tators, where he poses as an authority
on errors. and especially knows more
about "outs" than the umpires
But just casually ask him to explain
the curves the crack pitchers conjure
II you want to hear him stutter Try
tiff his untiring, know-it-all COM
mentary annoys you-it's the slickest
conceivable way to calm the roaring"
crank on the great national game.
In such distasteful position, how
ever, the poor squelched crank will
nave plenty of company. Though the
squelching inquiry will undoubtedly
put damper on his effervescing base
ball information. there is ample ex-
cuse for his seeming infantile igno-
rance, for neither the pitchers who
practice the nystefying shoots nor
the umpires who watch them in their
batter's plate have so far been able
to comprehend the spheres strange
actions In space. And to climax the
excuse for his apparent lack of knowl-
edge, this living base ball guide can
manfully relate the vain efforts of
modern science to obtain a lucid ex-
PLANTATION Of the atmospheric phenom-
ena.
Extensive experiments have been
promoted with hope of solving the
principle involved in the peculiar shoots
and curves the ball takes after leay-
ing the pitchers hand Long, obscure
papers have been written on the SUBJ
1ect by the experimenters, but none Of
tnem even attempt to record n solu-
tlon or the mystery. In fact, the COM
mon continuous curve Is the only feat
ure of the pitchers skill that does not
Gerry even a feasible theoretical con-
clusion.
1t doesn't seem so hard to exnIain
how ball may be made to commence
curving the moment it leaves the pitch
ers palm and continue until ii loses
It's force and falls to the ground, but,
Tor instance, not even a convincing
theory as to how the sphere may be
mace TO move In straight line for a
considerable distance and then sud
denly take shoot skyward, as in the
out curve has been advanced. The
urop-bal, which shoots along on a.
straight line until it approaches the
batter and then falls to the ground
without apparently losing It's speed at
the time of the fall, is equally unex-
plainable. Yet such wonderful nhe-
nomena are witnessed on the different
grounds almost daily and have heen
Tor many years
Modern photography was recently
employed for the first time with a
nope of revealing the conundrum. The
test was made on the Louisville
grounds during the last series of the
Grooms and the Colonies, but the ex
pertinent only served to suggest the
presence OF a potent, undefinabIe inf1u-
ence, which forces the sphere to change
It's course so suddenly that it almost
effects a sharp angle at the point of
shifting. 1t has always been supposed
from what could be seen with the eve
that the change of course is of grad
ual development, but here is another
---OS~~~NO(
of the optic in instantaneous obserya-
lions, showing that the retina cannot
record the spheres movement quick
enough to give an accurate impression
of the changing action. Nothing of the
production Of this sudden change of
direction could be learned from the
Photographic negatives obtained; SO
the subject is. now only more involved
than ever.
The conundrum is the pitchers sore
spot. The average artist can, as a rule.
explain his art-the why's and where
fores Of this and that-but to the base
ball twirler, no matter how expert he
may be, the cause of the effect pro-
duced by his eminently skilful work is
as a sealed book of whose mysteries
he is as ignorant as a newborn babe.
He has to be content with the knowl-
edge that if he holds the ball in a
certain position and gives 1t any one of
a number Of peculiar jerks in deliver
ing 1t, particular curve or shoot will
be the result, if given the proper de-
gree of speed. It is accordingly ex-
ceedingly annoying to Inn not to be
able to describe how this or that curve
asked.
There are numerous curves and
shoots of new invention which have
been brought into the game by the
recent Introduction of the eminently
effective left-handed pitchers. The puz-
zling south paws seem to have con-
ceived some new ways Of delivering
the ball, the results of which are gem
orally conceded to be improvements
The most effective of these are tn '.re-
versing curve" the twice raising and
a sort of semi-zigzagging or snake-like
speeding ball. These and the puzzling
"out-shoot" drop ball." tout curve"
'in-shoot," Jump BALI and raise
BALI are the effective twirls now in
USE 1t must not be assumed, how |
ever, that even the star pitchers are
able to practice every one of these |
mystic throws. Some Of them are fav-
orites with some men who are igno-
rant of the formation of others. For
instance, 1t is often remarked, in base
ball circles, that this or that pitcher |
employs certain selected twirls and |
makes a feature of tbs or that, by |
which is meant that he is able to prac- |
tice some more effectively than others.
and his most deceptive delivery is one |
OF the above-named shoots or curves.
The most commonly employed pitch.
without which the average twirler can /
not hope to be effective, is the out /
curve" 1t is most effectively produced |
by holding the ball firmly In the hand !
with the tips of the first and second
fingers tightly pressed to the sphere. |
In being delivered the ball is given a
magic" jerk and slides across the tins /