Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1906-07-14

down the kind of balls which the diff
ferent batters found most difficult
Then before l pitched | looked into
this book and refreshed my memory
concerning the men | was to pitch
against. | do this now on new players,
but | have in my memory the falings
of the old timers.
When | face batter new to me of
course | must try to find his weak
point. l usually first shoot one in
high and close, then one low and to
the outer side of the plate. These give
me pretty good line on what kind of
bah he will try for and which one
bOtherS him. | then go on to find the
exact place where II is the most diff
cult for him to hit and after that try
to put them there constantly. | throw
the ball fast and nearly straight to this
weak point, putting in an occasional
curve, so he will not get on to my
tactics entirely. OF course accuracy Is
necessary for this.
My best ball is n fast inShOOt which
breaks when close to the batSman and
is very hard to Judge. If all young
pitchers would use n fast ball they
would find it much easier on the arm.
In order to make the fast ball eff
fective it is necessary to conceal the
prcdelivcry motions. A pitcher alter
Mating with the fast and slow ball will
gradually acquire an identical motion,
which dcCeiveS the batSmun as to the
speed of the incoming pellet and makes
either more effective.
Left handed bntterS are usually con-
sidercd less likely to hit n left handed
pitcher. | suppose this is largely be-
cause successful left handed pitching
is less common than right, but | think
there is another reason. The most eff
fective ball against left handed bat
ter is one close to him and high. To
throw this right handed pitcher Is
likely to use an OutCurvc, which is
much easier to throw and broader than
an inShOot Thus the batter with the
ball coming to him has time to step
back and swing With us left handlers
our outCurve is away from left
handed batter. Thus the left handed
batter is driven away from the plate to
cStipt btlllS MI anu IL III II pun IOSl-
ton to swing with the bah going away
from him. seldom try much of
curve myself on left handlers, however,
depending on high straight ball close
TO the corner of the plate nearest the
batter
have often been asked why south
paws" are more erratic and more like
ly to have bad Innings and bad days
than right handlers. | don't know, but
it is Il fact as we'll that left handlers do
not last as long in the business as right
handed pitchers. | hold to the theory
often advanced that ii is because the
left arm is nearest the heart and the
muscles of the heart are thus sub
jected to strain.
Often after a game all the muscles
in the breast and near my heart have
been sore, although | have never felt
any trouble with my heart itself
Now, | have been so wild that have
had to be taken out of the box at
times, and again it has seemed as IL
every ball | pitched the opposing team
could hit, yet | hold the strike-out
record of the National league In recent
years. | made this against Chicago
while playing with Louisville in 1890.
Fourteen of Burns men famed in that
game, and the papers all thought was
a great fellow. Then when you lose
you are dub" That's baseball.