Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-28
TWENTIETH CENTURY
PITCHERS NEED HELP
Catchers Can Make and In.
make the Best TwirIers
in the Business.
By Jack Cheshire

Managers who tax the arm az ! ,o,,,,-
pitcher too much must be crazy W. :.
anxious are they to win games for ~.
club that they do It, They take fa.rt,.,
| chances. They really do not caro- nbo,,-
the young star goes to the wal, o. -.
| SO long as he can win games for thew,
SO ambitious are they 10 make a Show
ing mat IL they number a fine Young
pitcher In their roster they win mata
| use of him at every available onnor,,
nifty. IL the young man is robust ,na
| strong he is not so liable to 60 IA Mac.
as a lighter man. but it is taking chance,
! at that.
| l know of young pitcher who did NOT
| weigh more t'ban 10 pounds and lad
| snap delivery who was worked under all
| kinds of conditions, and it was 4 wonder
to me he did not go to pieces Ii ne eyer
| caught cod in his arm working under
| such conditions the chances are his arm
| would be gone forever. Two games =
| week is plenty, and sometimes more than
enough for such d light young pitcher
| 1t is a shame to work him He ought
| to be nursed as much as possible his first
| year. He has not the strength, the power
or the physical resistance to keep up the
| pace. There are some pitchers who can
/ go in about any old time and make
showing-men like Ed Walsh of the Chi
| cago White SoN. Frank Smith, "Cy'
Young or Jack Powell. but look at EN-
they are giants and they are veterans
| Some pitchers are regular Sluttons-
! they seem unable to get too much WORK
! They can go every other day without the
| least trouble. Look at that wonder
| Walsh-he never pitched better ball in his
life than last year. when ne pitched in
sixty-five games, which is far more than
double as many games as most of the
pitchers work nowadays.
The other extreme is A man OF the
type of Joe Doyle OF the New York
Americans. He wants from eight to ten
days between the games Ill which he
works. He is Il slow chap. anyhow. He
claims that his arm needs rest. He Is
one of the greatest pitchers there is. You
never see him throw a ball hard. he
just losses them. He just studies him
self. He knows what it is to be right
and how to keep right.
You will find that it is no easy matter
for a manager to pick out his man 10
work in game. His pitchers will claim
they have everything when they have
nothing. He is lucky. indeed, if he hap
pens to hit on the man who really has
something. 1t seems funny enough that
a man should be seemingly in the best
of shape when he warns up before tire
game, and have everything leave him
| does not know where lie is at.
Lack of Right Catchers.
One of the reasons that pitchers are
| not more effective than is the case is
| that the catchers do not study their man
enough They should give more atten-
ton to the pitchers they handle than 10
| the batsmen of the opposing side. Some
| think that all that is necessary is to work
| on the batSman, while it is highly neces
| sary to work on the pitcher. too. 1t will
not do to handle all pitchers alike. 1t is
! necessary to find out il the fast ball o!
! one man is as effective as that OF an
| other, or il the curve bali Of one is as
| battling as that Of another. Some catch
ers act as If they imagined all they were
in the game for was to receive and throw
and run after foul balls.
When l first started in to play bah
the catcher did rot have the work to do
he has today He had only two or three
pitchers at the outside to handle; now
he is lucky, indeed. il he has less than
a dozen. ard the number seems 10 be
growing each season. Now no TWO pitchers
are alike. and no two pitchers have the
same kind of a ball. one ways Las
something the other chap has rot.
Now there are few pitchers who can
stand the GAIT Look at the number Of
them who start the season, and see how
MANY there are who develop during a
season. Look the lists over III Inc
champion teams of the two big leagues
you find no phencmenons used by Man,
ager Jennings. He had to re'N on 90
material. while on the corps of the flls'
burg team Adams alone proved star.