Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-12
SKEL ROACH TALKS
ABOUT BASEBALL
SEATTLE TWIRLER TELLS OF
ALTERED METHODS
VETERAN is REMINISCENT
Stick Wielder and Slant Artists Ef-
fectiveness Contrasted-How
New Delivery Developed
and Change Wrought

THE style of batting in both the
major and minor leagues said Skel
Roach. Seattle's veteran twirler, yes
terday. has changed completely in the
last twelve years The style of pitch
ing has naturally changed to accom-
modate the altered batting methods,
and the net result has been that the
pitchers have outpaced the batsmen
and are now masters of the situation
Skel Roach, the giant twirler, whose
artistic productions of a mystifying
nature will be served over to aspiring
Seraphic stickers this week. is only a
minor Lacquer, although second rater
of such class that several of the big
moguls desire his services.
Slel is the grand old man of the ST.
wash horde this season, but age has
not dimmed nor custom stalled the
awful effectiveness of ye ancient wor-
thy's salary wing
Roach is one of the most intelligent
pitchers now in the profession and one
of the closest, keenest observers of
DdSeDdll affairs.
II have watched batsmen and pitch
ers." continued Skel, ''for maybe ten
years, and l have talked with veterans
from all the leagues Hence l think
am stating fact when L say that both
batting and pitching have been COM
pletely revolutionized in recent sea-
sons. Up to few years back-say
until Willie Keller first began to get
busy with his toothpick bat-the great
hitters used to grasp the stick way
down at the handle and swing on a
ball like demons. Take a bat, hold it
that way, let some one throw you a
ball, and you will find that you almost
always thwack heaviest on balls waist
high, while you can go up after balls
by the shoulders in effective fashion
Low balls though, are bothersome.
"All the great sluggers of that day.
Anson, Brouthers, Orr. Connor and
Browning, for example, used to swing
nightly on the high balls and on waist
balls.
About dozen years ago came the
bunters and the chopping hitters. AL
most at bound these men changed the
style of batting. OF course, there were
still many of the veteran batters who
slugged or missed the leather to the
last, but the Baltimore batsmen of the
Keeler type proceeded to take posses
sion of the field. And what they did to
the low ball pitchers was caution.
Low Balls Easy
"Choke bat way down the wood, as
Keeler does and as al Ibis admirers do,
and you will suddenly become pos
sessed of a great desire to tap low
balls, push them down on the ground
for bunts or clip them for short, spin
ming singles With this change in the
art of batting came the increased pitch
ing range, and the combination was a
death blow to a lot of clever box men.
THE fellows who had been pitching
drops and low shoots. hard on the arm
at best, now found their curves hitting
the ground, while the extra eXertion to
make drop break further in was aw-
full on their arms. Add to this the
change in batting methods and you will
understand why so many of the great
old pitchers suddenly went to the wall
and why the batting averages began
to grow.
There isn't a club in the country
now which will keep a pitcher who per-
sists in sending them in low. Pitch
'em round their necks' is the call of
every manager. Any time it is seen
that pitcher is sending the ball across
at or below the knee, he can count on
drawing a release envelope in the near
and sudden future.
THE drop ball is gone. 1t has died
the death of all things which are su-
perfluous. While all pitchers learned
in their juvenile days how to throw the
drop, they don't use it. 1t is not only
useless, but it hurts the arm. Once last
summer l SHE'D in a drop just for fun
Dugdale, who was catching me, came
walking out What was that ball?' he
asked A drop, Dug said l. Well
give me some more of them-they can't
hit EN- said he. Nope l answered,
no more, 1 want to stay in the game a
few years more.
Tall pitchers, swinging the arm
above the head, can drive a ball on a
downward slant with terrible speed,
and that slant, passing at the shoulder
and descending, is the modern substi-
tute for the old drop ball A fellow
like Vic Willis can throw that in Won
derful fashion
Pitchers Have Advantage
Control Of course is as great a
point as ever have been told by bat
ters and catchers that Clark Griffith,
when he is feeling right. has control
such as no other man, except Cy
Young. ever dared to have. Grifith's
catchers have told me that they have
held the big glove at the spot where
they wanted the ball. and that Griffith
would invariably hit the big glove at
the spot