Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-05-21
.BATTERS ARE IN
Great DANCER
BEING HIT BY A PITCHED BALL Is
ANYTHING BUT A JOKE TO
THE SUCKERS.
GA NE IS DANGEROUS
Many Star Base Ball Players Have
Had Their Ability Impaired by
Being Hit BY BalI-FataIi.
ties Are Few.


ties Are Few.
! The hitting of good batter with {
pitched ball Intentionally, by the op
posing twirler, to scare him and U
weaken him at the stick, is an olt
game in baseball, but at that it is
dangerous one. The recent death O
young Louis Menu Of Freeburg, Ill.
shows that the national game Is one
of the most dangerous that young me1
can play. Baseball never has been con
sidered dangerous game, but the re
cent fatality demonstrates that 1t mas
its dangers.
Young Menu, at bat, was looking FOL
an outcurve. He stepped close to the
plate to allow the anticipated bend Of
the ball. The pitcher ''outguessed'
him, as baseball players call 1t, In
stead of an outcurve he threw an IN
shoot, a "fast ball." as professionals
have it. "Fast balls always have
shoots on them. This one hit the bat
ter over the heart and he died.
1t is really tribute to the excel
lence of pitching that so few players
are injured while at the bat. Consider
ing the tremendous speed with which
the ball is thrown, the dullness OF
the eyes that bat but once week,
the necessary proximity of the batter
to the plate, the absolute necessity or
the pitcher putting it over, 1T Will
he seen that batters are very FORUM
ate to escape serious injury while at
the bat.
Oddly enough, the danger of being
hit with a pitched ball is not feared
so much by amateurs as by profession
The amateur instinctively seems 10
close to the plate as the professional.
The sreed he opposes is not so great.
OF course, the control Of the profess
sional pitcher is much superior to that
of the amateur, but his speed and the
width of his shoot are also much SUI
perior, too.
It is when professionals are pitching
against amateurs that they are IN
greatest dread. They fear to hit them.
The amateur instinctively seemss to
depend upon the skilled professional
not to hit him, and Therefore abandons
care of himself.
PItCnerS VINO TIL 0dtICIS'
The marvel of the infrequency of in
Jury from pitched balls is made great
er when it is understood that many
crack professionals will deliberately
throw a ball at a batter's head in or
der to handicap his hitting by driving
him away from the plate. Very few
of the great pitchers have been above
trying this trick when they are hard
pressed. zone at his nut" is the way
ball players put it. To have ball
whizzed by your teeth, Kissing like
snake, is not at all reassuring, espec-
tally If a man has been once "cr1mp-
ed" by pitched ball, as the players
state it.
One Of the famous old pitchers, "Sil-
yer" King of the Browns Of the sos,
was known for his belief in the ef-
fectiveness of q ball thrown at the
batter's head in tight place. If bat
ter had been hitting King with GER
tainty and frequency, old "Silver"
would tip his catcher thus:
81 hat to crimp him; he is entirely
doc confident" For King spoke with a
decided Teutonic accent. A fast one at
the head or in the ribs usually had the
desired effect.
When Rusie JoIted Jennings.
One of the most famous and fearful
of head hitting was that Of Hugh Jen-
nings. now manager of the Detroit
club, by Amos Rusie, the most wonder
full Of all men that ever curved base
ball. Jennings, with Baltimore then.
was noted for his close hugging of
the plate and his willingness to &C
cept a base by being hit by the pitch
err. He relied upon his quickness or
eye to minimize the effect of the blow.
Rusie had fearful curve ball. Jen-
nings was willing to turn his shoulder,
accept DETECTING blow, or let it hit
his shirt front or the slack Of his
knickerbockers. He could do this with
pitchers of average curve, but Rusie's
curve was too sharp in the break and
too fast for him to avoid. Jennings
stood close and got one full in the
head.
He fell fat. Four four days his life
was despaired Of but a powerful con-
stitution pulled him through, though
he never was the same nervy man
again at the plate, and it was months
before he could play
Jennings, by the way. is something
like Katisha, the character woman in
Gilbert e Sullivan's famous opera,
sThe Mikado." He has "caricature
of a face" When coach of Cornell
baseball team, he dived face first
against the concrete bottom Of an
empty swimming tank. 1t Is not easy
to imagine anything more trying on
the face than this. No wonder the
crack hustler Of baseball has a patch
ed, put-together, and made-over visage.
The man is marvel Of vitality and
energy. He sustained two shocks that
would have killAd the average man,
yet he is as full Of energy as dyna-
mo today.
Wallace HE.
Roderick Wallace, the famous in
fielder Of the Browns, had his batting
efficiency seriously and permanently
impaired twelve years ago when he
was hit in the head by ball thrown
by Chick Frazer, who was then with
the Louisville club. Wallace was laid
out for dead, and it was many days be-
fore he went to bat again. A consti-