The Washington times., 1905-04-09

All through the country in the winter
there was hull pages in the papers
about new discoveries made by the
pitchers on the big teams in the way of
curves and shoots with which to fool the
batters when the springtime comes. gem
tie Annie There was the spit ball and
the stop ball and the jump ball and
the whirligig ball and the snake ball,
let alone dewdrops that were supposed
to come up to the plate lookin' as big
as freight cars, but which were supposed
to only make foul tips when you hit
EN-
Now a good many people laughed at
these inventions and said that there was
nothin TO 'em and they was only opti-
cal delusions and illusions and all other
kinds of illusions; but to anybody that's
played ball a tall it's subject not to
be fooled with. / know there's a spit
ball: Jack Chesbro, O. the New Yorks,
thinks he discovered it, but he didn't;
it's only the old water ball of Ducky
Has5fins, of the Hayvilles, out here in
the Corndroppers' and he discovered 1t
one rainy day when all the other pitch
ers was gcttin' nit hard and old man
Tapley, the Hayvilles' manager, didn't
have no one to put in to pitch He let
the ball get soppin' wet and passed II
UP slow. with combination out and
drop onto it. an nobody in the whole
NIaizehurst bunch cd hit it. 1t worked
go well that on dry days when the ball
wasn't wet and Eashins had to pitch
he'd take a bucket o. water out into
the box with him and dip the ball IN
before each throw; and he used that bail
SO long that finally his fingers began TO
grow webs between EN- like a duck s
feet, and that got nim his name.
Greatest of All Curves.
But The greatest of all the special
class of curves that ever was made
was that witch Elnathan Enders
broughtsup with him from Chicago the
time he went down there to git a jot
with one o. the big league teams ano
he didn't make good and they turned
him loose. You see. he fell in with one
o. these Observation-Disclosures
physical torture guys and got to be
levin that his Will was stronger'n any
one else's an that II he willed to do {
thing hard enough there wasn't nothin
on this here earth t would stop him
also he developed a mighty interesting
little turn O. hypnotism or mesmerizin
or somethin' like that an when he come
back he signed with the Cloverdale'
and give it out that he had the bal
that had us all beat-the disappearin
drop, he called it-and he ADVERTISED
for a ketcher who was of a serious
minded, deep-thinkin' disposition. t
take up the other end Of the battery an
ketch the disappearin' drop.
The Alfalfas was IN the lead for tn
pennant a. the time, with no prospec
OF their bein' beat out of it unless tn
hull crowd of us fell into a fit to once
We had Reggie an Lamp Hynnes, tw
as likely pitchers as ever threw curve
an Dan Delaney to help 'em out.
ketched. an Pinch Hobbs, a hull min
by himself, was at short. Pete Brow
and the Harrison brothers was on tn
bags. and for fielders we had Tar Pape
Hennessy, Sam Merritt, and Jim Bu1
riIl. This was before doped Jim wit
the horse trainers needle, and befor
we got Pint Billings.
Hit the Water Ball.
Pinch Hobbs had just sent Duck
Haskfns to the woodpile by discoveriT
a method to hit the water ball; 1t wa
uotlafr' else than to cover bat wit
leather an soak the leather soppin' we
It was the old principle o the sucke
that we used to make when we wa
boys. Where that slippery ball had ziI
ned of a dry wood bat and couldn't b
Knocked no distance at all, nor M
straight at all. why. the soaked leatht
bat o. Pinch's 1ugt sucked onto tn
horsehide o. the ball enough to give yo
4 chance 20 paste 1t hard an line it any
where you liked. Usln' that bat ende
Haskins an his web fingers and h
water pail and, as I said. Pinch wa
si9l,!n' for somethin' new to try thi
great brain O. his'n on.
And # came We had no more'n b.
run to win games reg'lar again aft'
disposin' o. the web-fngered pitcht
than stories began to come UP fro
CIoyerdale of the rena arkable pitchin
Elnathan Enders and the disappeari
drop The stories said the ball left h
hand slow an Iookin' as big as puml
kin, but by the time it had got up
the batter 1t was the size o a marb
en- goin' like lightning Some said
really disappeared altogether. an soL
said Il squeezed down to the size
g double b shot; but the majority o u
stories was that 1t STAYED in sig
though very small.
Trouble With Ketcher.
Enders' chief trouble was with
ketcher. who he haid had a gre
worldly mind that didn't stay In t
proper receptive mood or he ed see t
bali through all its flight an have
trouble ketchin it; for the ketci,er h
keen fooled a number o. times, Think
he had ball the size of a marble