The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-13
SOME FREAKS OF
SPRING SLABMEN
Each Year Crop Is Large
They All Have Speed but
No Control.
By HUGH S. FULLERTON.

Ihere are four things a veteran ball
player fears-a high sky. a head wind,
home umpire and a spring pitcher-and
Of these he hates the pitcher worst of
all
There is crop of them turned into
big league pastures for tryouts each year.
about one in twenty-five makes good. and
the rest go back for more schooling at
the barrier before they can make a sec
ond attempt.
They come with strong arms and won
dfous lack OF control, and they wound,
MAIN, cripple and terrify good batters
Tor a rev weeks, until the hospital list
Is Iull, and all the real ball players are
suffering from wounds, abrasions and
bruises Then the managers realize that
the youngsters won't do just yet, and
send them back TO the minors.
More batters are hit by pitched balls in
the first month of the season than in
the other five combined. which partially
accounts for the fact that good hitters
seldom fatten their averages on bad
pitchers in the spring. They don't like
to have ribs fractured or abIocl<s knocl5e,I
off, so they don't stand up to the plate
as they do later in the season against
OF the ball and know where they are
pitching.
Donovan a Wild One.
The widest spring pitcher that ever
broke into fast company was Wild Bill
Donovan; now staid, steady old pitch
Washington. He came down from some
country town up in Pennsylvania with
a record OF hitting seven men in two
innings and being arrested for assault
with intent to kill. He had speed to
burn. and sent the ball across the plate
or in a general direction toward the plate
looking like a pee wee marble.
The first game he pitched for Wash
ington he would have been able to go
into the cigar business if he had re
cetved a cigar for every man he hit. In
his first five games not a hit was made
off him, although he lost all his games.
He wounded batters as fast as they faced
him-Or struck them out.
Joe Campbell alleged that the reason
Donovan was released was that he hit
Wagner was sitting in the press stand on
top Of the grand stand.
But after a lapse Donovan came back
He had lost some of his speed. but gained
control, and he at once took his place as
leading pitcher
SouthpaW Eccentriques.
The spring that Eddy Doheny and Cy
seymour, the left-handed eccentriQues,
went south with New York reports Of in
Iured ball players came from all over
Dixie. They were the widest pair that
ever turned out. In one game against Chi
cago Seymour gave eleven bases on balls
hit five men and struck out thirteen bat
terS. Doheny almost eQualed his record
giving thirteen bases. hitting three men
and striking out ten in eight innings.
Chicago Has Marvel.
Chicago turned up spring pitcher who
was a marvel for wildness in Doc Rice
who dropped out of the business after
ward. Doc had speed, he had curves. he
had everything, but no amount of training
could teach him where the plate was. He
was likely to put three over as straight as
a die, and then let the next four or five
men walk, and he kept batters hopping all
around to escape being punctured
Arson finally let him go. Rice was pitch
ing. and the grounds were wet on the day
that he got through" He couldn't han
die the greasy. slippery ball TO any ad-
vantage, so Arson between innings told
him to watch his chance when the ball got
slippery, pretend to let it slip out OF his
hands. and throw il out of the field so as
to get a dry ball. Rice Obeyed instruc-
tons. He let the ball slip. threw it over
the grand stand and got a dry ball, but
the trouble was he did IL with men on
second and third.
Tebeau Has One.
Pat Tebeau used TO tel a story about
spring pitcher he had at Cleveland. He
trained in the spring by standing oak
boards against the grand stand and split
ting them with the baseball. He told me
ne split all the kindling at home that way
so to get control.
I'VE opened against Cincinnati. and as
all the veterans were out of shape and he
had the speed I sent him in TO start the
season. He hit the first four men. and
pulled him out OF the box. He afterward
contended that his control was all right
and he was sore Control good?' I asked
him in establishment. Why. YOU hit four
men in succession 7 know it.. he said.
7 was aiming at them and the idiots
didn't have sense enBueh to get out of the
way.