The Washington herald., 1910-12-25


Who was the first pitcher to use a
curve ball? drop ball? These and
other interesting questions pertaining to
the early history of the national game
have been the subject OF much dispute
between Sam Crane and Tim Murnane,
and among other famous baseball writ
ers. Only recently the pair mentioned
broke loose with series OF contradictory
articles
But forgetting the contentious of IIur-
name and Crane. there is man right
here in Baltimore who can throw some
light on the subject, says the Baltimore
Star In his younger days Maj. J. G.
Pangborn, prominent official of the Bal
timore and Ohio Railroad, was a fan,
and Of the variety that eat baseball, talk
baseball, and sleep baseball. When the
national sport was in swaddling clothes,
or just after the civil war. the major
worked on the New York Tribune as
baseball reporter. and thus the game was
a business as well as a pleasure with
him. He followed the best teams from
city to city. studying the dope. and con-
I
sequentIy is able to speak with authority
on who invented the different curves.
Mai. Pangborn says that Arthur Cum
mings. of the Brooklyn Stars. pitched the
first curve ball To this Tim Murnane
agrees, saying that Cummings used the
outcurve as early as 1861. Others say
that Bobby Matthews was the inventor,
but as he only broke in the game at Bal
timors in 1869. there Is very little doubt
as To who discovered the art There Is
not the slightest doubt in the majors
mind, as he saws the papers at that time
all gave the credit 10 Cummings, and no
one disputed IT,
Phonse Martin, in the majors opinion,
is the player who should get credit for
using the first drop ball Martin pitched
for the Haymakers of Troy, and threw
a slow teaser that reached the plate
about shoulder high and dropped while
sim spinning. Martin is sin living in
! Brooklyn.
'Dekey Pierce. says the local veteran
fan, LAS che first man 10 discover the
value of bunting and 20 use IL regularly.
/ He PLAYED on the Atlantics, OF Brooklyn,
and when he first began 70 drop the bah
/ down the line once or twice every game
d Al4t llAlttiTI6 AilNAEIlA II was ny &'AiNA' az
I and not design. After he had won a
number of tight games by the play the
! infielders got wise and played IN for him,
as the present third basemen do.
/ THE catchers used Ito stand away back
/ OF the plate and get the ball on the first
| bounce. Allison, OF the Cincinnati Red
I Sox. was the first catcher to come UP
/ directly behind the batter. He wore
/ neither glove. mask, nor chest protector,
and when the mask was finally intro
/ duced the fans hooted the first catcher
who tried ii out in game. Speaking OF
/ the catcher playing back. II used 10 be
| out II he caught the bali on the first
/ bound. and accomplishing this brought
/ out what was then considered some very
| sldIlful and heady playing. The CatcherS
/ had 10 be good judges OF the bounds and
/ what angles they would take.
! Harry Wright. centerfielder on the
! Cincinnati team, was the first manager in
the present sense Of the word Al first
/ each player did his own bidding when he
went TO the bat. and there were no direc-
/ tons given as 10 when 20 run or not 20
run Wright ran his team, but oh, what
/ a difference between his work and the
wonderful way in which Connie Mack
| directed the attack of the Athletics from
l TIE btHcH IN NntlF recent series Win Afll-
CagO for the worlds championship.
/ In the early days none Of the teams
I carried more than ten men. and il was
nothing unusual for a pitcher to tWiTl
| every day. The bOxmen had 10 throw
| underhand entirely. and while not able 10
/ speed the ball over as fast as the pres
ent-day twirlers. they could shoot 'em
| over right fast"
| Mai PangbOrn was also i'm a wav re-
( spOnSible for giving baseball one of its
most illustrinus characters. When the
! now Baltimore man worked on the Tri-
/ bune. Henry Chadwick was a sporting
reporter on the Mercury An English
man, Chadwick was fond of cricket ant
used 20 get Maj Pangborn cover his
! baseball games for him, and vice versa.
| Every time they met, MAJ, Pangborn sans
| the praises Of the diamond games to the
| Englishman. and finally Chadwick be-
came interested. From interested he be-
came a wild enthusiast. made the sport
/ and its conditions d life study, and die
! So much toward its elevation as a clean
and honest sport that he is now known
the country over as the rather Of base
| ball"
Mai Pangborn did not stay in the
newspaper business very long after Chad.
wick became INTERCEPTED in baseball, but
under the circumstances il might not be
out of place TO call the local man the
''granddaddy of the national sport"