The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-07
Baseball Wisdom Is
Necessary To Success
BY JOHN T. MYERS.
catcher of the New National League Baseball Club

hustlers himself, he wants everybody else
to hustle. He does not like stationary
baseball players. and he makes no bones
in letting you know that fact. I consider
it a great privilege to be selected to work
under such a tutor, and L know it has
done me worlds of good to have the train
ing 1 have had. Then there is Fred Ten
ney, who Is another prince. and he, too,
has taken lot of interest in me- 1t
helps a chap a whole lot when he has
such surroundings. Christy Mathewson,
who, to my way of thinking, is the great
est ever, is another great tutor. 1t GER
tainly is remarkable what he can do. He
knows when, how, and where to pitch the
ball. That is the secret of his success.
He is never timid or ratified; always cool
He sizes up his man with the utmost
GOODNESS and makes as little of the pro-
cess as l do of my morning meal. He
is easy to hold because he knows whers
to pitch the ball, and he lets you know
where 1t is coming, nor does he disap-
point you. A better pitcher, and at the
same time one easier to hold, never lived.
He has certainly done grand work this
year, and is the same great power in
the team that he has been in the past
When in Boston on the last trip of the
New Yorks, I was chatting with Catcher
Street of the Washington club, who was
at the hotel while we were in that city,
and he told me that he preferred to catch
that great young pitcher, Walter johnson,
to any other of the clubs corps, for the
sole reason that Johnson had such mar
Vicious command of the ball.
So much for the man who delivers
the ballet us take a look at the man
who can hit 1t, and here I think tn e
palm must be bestowed upon Honus
Wagner, who undoubtedly ranks as the
greatest man who ever faced pitcher
No balls pitched to Wagner, within
reach, are bad balls to him. He makes
them all good. He is not one of those
batsmen who insists that the ball go
over the rubber. He will hit tn EN- in
side or outside. The pitcher need not
bother himself about putting them
over the rubber for Honus. Just get
them near enough to him to hit and he
will do the rest. The only way to pre-
vent him from hitting the ball is to
keep them away from him entirely, and
all pitchers come very close to being
alike to him. Bugs Raymond was
the only one of our bunch of pitchers
who could make the big fellow lie down
this year, and he was able to do 1t
BECAUSE he ubeo tne splt DILL on MIN.
That kind of delivery will come very
near, being a puzzle to any one. He
famed Wagner twice in one game
will say that I am not at all afraid to
put myself on record in advocati ting the
abolition of the spit ball, and any
catcher will declare the same. 1t is q
most difficult ball to handle. II a man
undertakes to steal a base when the
pitcher is hurting a spit ball, there is
no telling where that ball will go, and
the catcher is up against 1t. Not only
that, but there is no telling how the
ball will break. 1t is nasty and it is
dangerous. 1t is the same thing with
any fielder, and many a time a player
has been charged with misplay, when
this should not have been done, simply
because he was unable to throw a ball
too slippery to handle. IL will be
good thing for baseball when this kind
of delivery is abolished. 1t is q good
thing that so many pitchers have found
1t advisable to do away with it, and
this fact in itself ought to prevail upon
the rule-makers to prevent It entirely