The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-14
OLD-TIME PITCHERS.
Joe Campbell Writes EntertainingIy
of u Few.


Those twirlers in the up-to-date games, who
depend on the lobster" or slow ball for their
most effective point in the strategy of pitch
ing, can find an argument in their favor by
looking backward. Turn back the pages Of
the games history to the June days Of Jimmy
Devlin and Tommy Bond, writes Joe Camp
bell, and behold the achievements Of the by
gone twirlers OF the season Of IT, as they
are recorded in De Wits guide for that
eventful year. for the season of IT contri-
buted the only blot on the scutcheon OF the
game Of fair Columbia. The crime of II in
base ball had Devlin, Crayer and Hall in the
role of heavy villains. They allowed them
selves to be nodded like wax in the itching
palms of gamblers, and by selling their games
and their souls, they were blacklisted after
sensational trial. prosecuted by that purifier of
the game-the lamented Hubert.
Next in point Of Importance that season was
the largest number OF games, model games
as they are termed by Mr.. Chadwick, in
which the clubs of the League and Interna-
tional association participated. Eight games,
all extra innings saving one, were played that
season in which not a run was scored The
most remarkable Of the contests at to
was played by the Harvard and Manchester
teams on May II Of that year. This game,
the longest on record, ran twenty-four in
nings without a base runner making the cir
cult Of the bases.
On May / of that year the Stars Of SYRIA
cuse nlayed the St. Louis Browns to a ff-
teen-inning draw, in which not a base-run-
ner Of either team reached the home plate
by way. Ct the bases. AUBURN ana Roches s.
Columbus, O., played eleven innings with
out run Lowell and Rhode Island and
Rochester and Buffalo played ten ten-nnl ln
draws without run that year. Fifty-seven
games were played by the leading profes-
sional clubs that season. in which the score
stood l to and eight 1 to l games were ere
pitcher to deliver the ball to the batsman
with the arm swinging as nearly perpen-
d.cuar to the side of the body as the method
Of delivery would admit. In all cases Where
the ball was sent on q line with or over the
waist the umpire called foul baik; rms
foul balk came under the illegal delivery
pear a physical irnpossibility to pitch erect
lively under such apparently despot:c ruling
But Devlin, Bradley, Bond and the other
star twirlers of the period held that the Sc
cret Of science in pitching, the very knack
of pitching, was command of the ball and
change of pace. There is nothing in speed
alone.'' said ~ Spaulding to base ball
writer at that time. The speedy ball of that
generation Of pitchers must nave Deen ABOUT
as swift as the ball that the pitcher OF today
would call medium delivery. me overhan9
throw Of the up-to-date twirler has resulted
in the development Of speed that the dig
timers never dreamed of. But the small
scores shown in the games OF 1877 show that
the toss, the below the shoulder motion,
must have appeared just as effective to the
bail fan of generation ago as the lightning
speed Of the Hoosier catapuf, Amos Rusie,
and the puzzling pace change and corner
cutting Of our own Winnie Mercer.
I'm the days OF Bobby Mathews" says
Tom Brown, almost every pitcher had his
own peculiar knack Of gripping the ball
Matthew'S fingers would grasp the ball in
certain position. AL Spauld:ng had his favor
ite way of holding the sphere. Bradley had
his pet grip, and Tommy Bond had his ia
yorite hold. Old Lew Brown used to say
that he could tell what lodge a pitcher be-
longed to by studying the finger marks on the
balls after the game. And there was no
great exaggeration in that pet theory Of
Lewis. One pitcher had habit of covering
the seems OF the ball with his fingers, and
another would grip the sphere in such way
that the fingers and thumb would run across
the seam Of the ball crosswise. have
heard old Joe Start say that he could eX-
anime a ball that wasn't soiled badly, and
tell by the finger marks who pitched that
day. He won a bottle Of wine from George
Wright on the strength of his peculiar meth
of of detecting the finger marks on the
sphere. George produced a ball that had
been used in a game between the Boston
team and the Mutuals Of Troy. The sphere
wasn't soied 50 badly that the finger marks
were indistinct Old Joe examined the ball
carefully and found, according to his theory,
that Tommy Bond and Bobby Matthews had
opposed each other in a game IN which that
particular ball was used. George Wright
raid for the wine Thoagh the pitchers of
those days may not have been so scientific,
they made just as much Of a study of the
game, and there were just many stu
dents among them The close score games
during the season Of II were due to great
extent 10 the dead ball in that year. but
as an offset to that advantage the twirler
was handicapped by the below hip movement.
The leading batsman Of that eventful year
Of II was Jim Deacon White. Of the Boston
team, with an average of 1873. Jim o Rourke
was second. and So points separted him from
the Deacon, and Johnnie Morrill,, of the
Boston team, was 38 points behind ORouTke,
with average OF 305. player who bat
ted out an average of $50 in those days was
std cd 1ynr mr.