Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-02-03
BASE BALL NEWS.
Can a Star Twirler Pitch Three Games
a Week7

Adn q star Writer FltCn tnTce SdmeS
a Week.
John Chesbro, the star pitcher Of the
National league last year, will receive
a salary of s 5000 this season from the
New York American league club. He
is the highest salaried base ball pitch
er in America. and probably earns his
money more easily, his employers be-
lieve. In these days Of modern ball
playing it is considered a positive
hardship for a star pitcher, such as
Chesbro is, to oficiate in more than
two games a week. A twirler who is
asked to do more than that complains
generally Of i'll treatment and unfair
ness at the hands of his manager, and
If pressed into service against his will
is inclined to sulk in the box.
C~hesbro, If he pitches On an average
of two games a week, will receive
s333.33 a game. Averaging six balls,
including fouls, for each batsman, with
thirty-six of them at the plate in nine
innings. Chesbro will receive S1.S5 for
every time he pitches a ball to the
catcher in the game.
With an arm of steel and a physique
of phenomenal power, Chesbro has
demonstrated again and again to the
satisfaction of sharp eyed baseball
cranks that he is capable of pitchlng
every day for W weeks. If he so de-
sires. but such a proceeding would be
impolitic and unprofessional. to say
the least. according to the views OF
the players. Pitchers of renown and
skill. built on Chesbro's lines, believe
that they should save their salary
arms as much as possible. They reel
that the less the number of games they
participate in each year, the longer
hey will be able to step up to the cap
tain's office and collect what is coming
to them. 1t is a habit among them to
complain of the slightest soreness in
the elbow or shoulder and to petition
the indulgent manager to be allowed to
take a rest on the bench, at the same
time drawing pay.
1T is a terrific strain to pitch two
games a week. said a well known Ma
tional league pitcher recently. "The
box is so far away from the home plate
that it requires extraordinary skill and
strength to pitch winning ball. 1t is
not so much great speed that exhausts
ones stamina as the change of pace.
the accurate control one must have
nowadays and the great activity to be
exercised in fielding the position. In a
hard game in which both pitchers keep
the hits and runs down. it becomes an
intense strain on the nerves toward
the close of the contest before a final
result is attained.
What with the excitement of the
crowd, the noisy coaching and the fact
that the whole game depends on him, a
pitcher undergoes an ordeal which
makes il necessary for him to rest sew
eral days before he enters the box
again. Yes, two games a week, say on
Tuesday and Saturday, are quite
enough for any first elias pitcher"
Looking back, however, to the days
when John Clarkson, Tim Keefe, Char
ley R~odbourne, Ed Crane, Charley
Sweeney and other famous box men
were in their prime, one cannot help
feeling that Chesbro and other stars
of modern times are enjoying a com
parative snay. When Radbourne was
a member of the crack Providence
team in the National league he vas
called on to pitch every day. He had
marvellous sped when he wanted to
use it, a wonderful slow ball, great
curves and a head filled to overlooking
with gray matter. The box was only
fifty feet from the plate, to be sure,
but "Old Rad" had the best batters in
America before him day after day.
Day after day Rad" pitched, winning
constantly and 500 creating a furore
in the baseball world. Providence, as
a result, won the National league
championship in 1884, and Radbourne
was famous all over the world.
Clarkson was another wonderful
pitcher. 1t was in 1889 that the Bos-
tons were fighting the New Iorks
tooth and nail for the championship.
The Boston management called on
GARRISON to pitch every day, John re-
sponded and his work in the box was
a revelation. He had sped that was
dazzling and miraculous control. But
the strain told on him, and although he
remained in league company several
years longer, he never recovered his
grip. II was nothing for Keefe, Crane
and the other star box men to pitch
three and even four games a week. 1t
was compulsory, too, for the big lea
que teams did not carry half a dozen
pitchers in those days, but depended
upou two or three.