The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-03

George Mullins meteoric shoot, or the
| wonderful curves of Camnitz, Overall,
Wiltse, Krausc, Adams, Ferguson and
others.
Brown s "hook - curve is the highest
present development of the fast over
hand curve pitch which breaks sharply
down and outward Brown probably
| owes much of his success TO feed chop
per which cut of part of his right hand,
leaving him without an index finger and
with the middle fnoer bent at right
angles at the first 'oint, Brown pitches
the "hook' overland, releasing the
ball at various points after his hand
swings past his body. By the point at
which lie releases the ball he REGULATES
tho point AT which it breaks In the air.
He can make the ball either describe
wide fast arc. OF by Jerking his hand at
the proper instant, make the ball go in
| almost straight line, perhaps fifty
feet, and then dart suddenly down and
outward.
There are many players, however.
among them members Of the Detroit
for the World g Championship in 1908,
who believe Overall S curve a more mar
yelous one. In thai game the Chicago
| giant had one of the most remarkable
curves ever pitched. At times the ball
darted down two feet and struck the
ground while the batters struck more
| than a foot over it,
Overall pitches his curve with a wide
sweeping overland swing releasing the
| ball over the side of the index finger as
his hand turns downward His swing
and curve arc u-licates of those used
by Terry. Mccormick and some Of the
great pitchers of the past. and when
his jerk motion at the finish of the
wide swing is sharp, The curve actually
darts downward.
| But speed and curves alone will not
win and pitchers, baseball generations
ago, discovered that there was not
enough of an assortment to long puzzle
batters. The batters guessed correctly
| TOO many times whether the ball would
be curved or fast, and often detected
by the position of the hand that curve
was coming even before it was pitched,
| With the necessity of greater assort
ment came the Hslow ball one of the
paradoxes Of the game. Slow balls are
of three different kinds, with a huge
number of varieties of each kind. The
original slow ball was merely a ball
thrown slowly, the pitcher depending
entirely upon false motion TO deceive
the batter into believing he was pitch
ing fast ball. The pitcher would
swing his arm. check it suddenly and
l"lob' the ball 10 the plate. The bali
did not deceive the batter in the slight
! before that he was thrown of his bal
ance, deceived bv the arm motion, and
was out of position TO lung forward and
hit the ball,
Keefe. o Day and most of the old
| time pitchers used that kind of Il slow
ball. but after batters began TO watch
the motion and shift their feet so as
10 run forward and meet the slow pitch,
they were compelled To find something
uoxy and ha nf tbn claw
ball followed, The dimcuty was 10
pitch a ball with full force and with
the exact motion used in pitching II
fast ball. and yet make the ball travel
slowly. 1t was discovered that If the
ball be held far back in the palm of the
hand. with the little finger and the
thumb clnched on opposite sides of it,
or the little finger and the third finger
on one side and the thumb on the other.
with the third finger on one side and
the thumb on the other, with other fin
gers held so as not to touch the ball
AT all. the result could be attained.
Held that way, and with the arm swung
al full speed and force, the finger and
thumb gripping the ball tightly at the
moment of release, the result is pecu~
liar. Instead of revolving and going
rapidly ih ball wabbcs from side to
side, scarcely turning over, and allow
| ing the full atmospheric pressure 10
strike the forward side with no revolu~
tiou TO lessen the friction. The result
is the air pressure stops the ball and
il loses speed rapidly, obeys the call
Of gravity and drops quickly toward
the earth after cxpending is force. The
harder the ball is thrown and the tight
er the finger pressure al the instant Of
release, the mXc sharply the ball drops.
Expert after 6pert developed the slow
ball, until its perfection was reached
in The hands of Brown, Frank Sparks,
of Philadelphia. and ''Docn White OF
the Chicago Americans,
The odd thing about pitching is this
"a ball which revolvcs in the air ap.
pears much smaller to the eve than one
that fails TO rcvolve and the more rapid
the revolution of the sphere the small
er il appears. The slow ball, floating
in the air and dead looks as "big
as n baIloon,n as everybody in the
bleachcrs remarks, and il does not dc
ceive the eye. 10 fact if slow balls
of that variety are pitched three or four
times In succession they look so large
that an amateur can hit them out of the
lot Successful uso of that kind Of a
pitched ball consists entirely in surpris-
ing the batter. fooling him when no ex-
poets something else. The butter may
miss the ball a foot, yet his eye Is not