The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-05

one game he caught seven men this way.
 Tommy Ramsey, the old Louisville southpaw, probably did the greatest of all strike-out feats when in one game, un- der the four-strike rule, he famed r nien. Lave Cross, who caught the game, says that he had three strikes on not less than 25 men.
 Who pitched the first curved ball? It is a problem that is hotly discussed by the osd-tlmers every year.
 The name of that pioneer" said vet eran not long ago, was Arthur Cum mings, and he was a New York boy-a tall, thin young fellow with hair as blonde as q chorus girls. How he came to dis cover curve pitching I don't know, but 1t was generally believed afterward that he hit on 1t by accident He tried It for the first time in 1851 in game between two scrub teams In Washington.
 The famous Excelsior club of New York WAS then visiting Washington as the guest of the old National club, and the two played series of games on the old White Lot. Toward the end of the series some one suggested that the young New Workers who had come over with the Ex- celsiors make up a scrub nine and play a nine of Washington boys-as a sort of comic interlude.
 The suggestion was adopted and the
 
 Excelsior substitutes and a number of other young fellows, among them Arthur Cummings. The Washington nine was made up, in the main, of players belong ing to the Junior Nationals, the crack amateur team of Washington
 Cummings was rising young pitcherS but no one thought that there was any thing remarkable about him, and the Ju- nior Nationals prepared to knock him out Q a 2f1f mb fha Arof 1, famed out the Washingtonians began to look surprised
 It's the darndest thing I ever saw, said this batsman. struck right out at all three balls and every one of them seemed to jump aside just as it got near the plate. One jumped outward, another inward and the third seemed to rise. May be I'm beginning to see things
 Tt puzzled Jewell, the catcher, too, not to speak of 'Af Mills, the umpire. Jewell caught all of the balls, because it was then the custom for the catcher to stand far back and catch on the first bounce, but 1t mad~ him dizzy.
 ''The second batsman of the Junior Ma tionals went to the bat and walloped the air three times, too. A1' Mills came up close to the plate to see what was wrong It looked to him as if Cummings were wild.
 Just keep your head there,' he said to the third batsman, and you'll get your base on balls
 This third batsman had a steady hand, and, sure enough, he got his base on balls. Cummings pitched the ball and it seemed to be coming straight for the plate, when suddenly, just as it was 10 feet or so away, it curved out and missed the plate by foot. Mills called a ball.
 "The next ball came straight on but the batsman, hoping to hit it and profiting by his experience, swung his bat far out But instead of curving out like the last one, 1t seemed to jump. It crossed the plate on a level with the batsmans eyes.
 That scared him, and he just stood there without making a move until a suc- cession of wild balls sent him to first base. The fourth batsman struck out so easily that it was pathetic.
 Well, sir. Cummings began to get more control over the ball after that first in- hing and Mills had to admit that 1t was coming over the plate. But, except by accident not a single Junior National batsman could touch it. It jumped, it sank, 1t wobbled from side to side Mills thing was done. Cummings merely smiled
 "In the fifth inning one of the Nation els, by dumb luck landed on the sphere and drove 1t into the next county. There were two men on bases at the time, and this home run brought them home That gave the Nationals three runs. So far as I know, they made no other runs in the whole game.
 After it was all over the whole town buzzed about Cummings queer pitching. As for him, he was as silent as the grave.
 |" How do you make the ball curveT asked a hundred persons.
 " Does 1t curve?' Cummings would say, innocent like.
 And then he would shut up and be- come a clam.
 When he got back to New York he was signed by the champion Athletics and became their star pitcher Other pitchers watched him and got onto the trick, but it was three years before any body did it as well as he. During these three years his team kept the cham pionship.
 And that, so far as I know. is the story of the origin of the curved ball"
 In the old days 1t was not uncommon to have throwing or batting matches after a game. The strong armed boys would line up and heave the ball out into the field, and the sluggers would go on 'hc Pidle dHu see II tHey could KNOCK IL over the fence
 "The greatest throwing match in the history of baseball" said the veteran quoted above, was held in New York In the fall of 1872. It was won by John Hatfield of the old New York Athletics. He heaved the sphere 133 yards foot .and 7a inches. and, so far as I know, the record has never been exceeded since.
 '"Three clubs-tte Athletics. the Bostons and the Chicagos-tied for the champion ship that year, and so season of play off games was arranged. The Athletics won out, and after the series, as a sort of crowning attraction, there was a big throwing match.
 '"The men who qualified for the finals were Hatfield, George Wright, Andy Leonard, Cal McVey. Billy Boyd, George Fox and Wes Ffsler, celebrities, all of them. A line was drawn on the ground and the contestants stood back of it.
 "A man could throw the ball in any way he chose and take as long a running start as he wanted. The distance thrown was measured with a steel tape and the measuring was very carefully and ac- curately done
 Hatfield sauntered up to the line with out any start at all drew back his arm and shot the ball into the air. It went so high that a good many of the spectators lost sight of it, and it stayed up so long that some thought 1t had gone to the moon But by and by it came down-far out in the field.
 Then the tape men got busy and in five minutes the distance was measured If