The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-11-20
LITTLE MEN WHO DID
BIG THINGS IN BASEBALL
BysGEORGE R. DEWITT. Editor Who's Who in Baseball"
Copyright by Weekly Letter Bureau

IHe instances OF the pIuWesS u ali
physical sorts and conditions of men on
the diamond have been numerous enough
10 prove beyond shadow o. doubt that
the fine distinctions OF size that govern
boxing have no place in baseball The
pitchers box. the sacks, the Outfeld, or
behind the bat know no distinctions Of
heavy weight, middle-weight. welter-
weight. lightweight, or feather-weight.
From the finished baseball player We
have learned that strength and agility
lie more often in the quality" of muscle
than in the volume Of IT, The
weight of body that tells behind
punch on the football field or behind
discus or 56-pound weight by no means
always holds supreme advantage on the
bali field
Less than a dozen years ago the man
ager Of the st Joseph team IN the West
ern League was badly in need OF q
catcher. He Was told by friend that
there was a chance to get the best anna
teur In Cincinnati for nothing and that
he ought 10 try him out The manager
sent FOR him, and when the catcher re-
ported the manager saw a fraii, rcd
/ headed little chap of such extreme youth
and of so few inches that he let whoop
OF derision out Of him. exclaiming: Why
| my heavens, Kid, IL was catcher /
wanted. not a Jockey" The little fellow
I In shyness and embarrassment, begged
and pleaded for just one trial TO show
what he could do behind the bat. tie
got it, He is to-day one OF the little
men who have done big things in base
ball and is much talked about just now.
/ for his name Is Charles Doom, man
ager of the Philadelphia National League
club better known TO the fans as Red
/ dy Dooin.
! little Pitchers Who Wen Fame.
| In 1868 there was a very little gentle
man who tipped the scales al 115 pounds
| occupying the pitchers box with the
Maryland team. Twenty years later the
same pitcher was finishing his sixth year
with the Athletics Of the American As
! ISOLATION Of major league ball. For
twenty successive years Bobby
/ Matthews pitched glt-edged bah. In 1863
he won a game from the champion Eek
| fords by score Of p TO IS. in ISL,
while pitching for the old Kekiongas. Of
/ Fort Wayne he shut out the famous
/ Forest Citys, ,of Cleveland, with score
: ef 20 D. With Baltimore, Live Oaks. of
| Cincinnati. Stars, OF Syracuse; Mumals.
4 OF New York, and Athletics Matthews
pitched winning ball, using as early as
/ 1853 all the curves and shoots and twists
I that either Cummings or Martin knew,
and then some, this. toe, with a speed
/ that put him IN "A class by himself among
early pitchers 20 say nothing OF the on.
durance that lasted twenty years IN the
days when the star pitcher OF team
pitched nearly all the games Of season,
In our lime when major league pitchers
are eligible. so far as height and size
go. for membership in the famous big
/ PTdssian Guards, the thought OF Bobby
1 Matthews, the pygmy of the pitchers
/ box. and ali that he did in probably the
/ longest pitchers life in major league ball
/ is indeed. strange TO as.
AS the minds eye turns from little
Bobby" TO the race of giants that oc-
cUpy the box to-day in every club. the
thought forces itself i'm that The pitching
I Is 50 different now that no small man
could possibly do effective work as a
twirler. Yet what shall be said in that
regard about little kinlOCh Swami. who
/ on August To- 1906, pitched the only nO-hit
game in the history of the American As
ISOLATION when he shut out the pennant
winners of thai year, the Columbus team.
without a hit OF a run? Not a base on
/ balls did he give twenty-One men were
put out on inheld bounders, and, just 70
show that be stilI had something. he
struck out Friel, the last man up in the
ninth. Ever full of mystery and sur
prises and contradictions. and things
1 that no one can foresee or explain, that
! IS baseball. And that. too. helps explain
I the hold that the greatest of games has
! upon the people Of this nation.
/ Many of the early pitchers If not real
/ ~ small men were al least under the
average build Larry COrcOran, the
/ leading pitcher of 1880 and 1881. with .7NS
and $50 per cent of victories, was a small
man with curves and surprising speed.
/ Cummings, if not the originator of the
curved ball. then at least the first pitcher
! that knew he had curve and could
| curve al will, was OF delicate build. Asa
Brainard. the man who. with Catcher
/ Doug Allison. formed the invincible bat
! terry Of the old Cincinnati Red Stockings,
and who pitched with the Olympics, of
Washington, after the Reds disbanded
4 In 1870. was By no means a big man.
Even the great John G. Garrison, who
Z pitched for Worcester. Chicago. Boston.
and Cleveland. and for whom Boston
paid a fabulous sum. was only Of me-
i dunn size. He led pitchers victories with
/ 790 with Chicago IN lSS5, and with 40
with Boston in 1883, besides leading IN
4 pitchers fielding with .So3 with Chicago
/ in 1855 and with 81 with Chicago in 1881.
/ The Later Small TwirIers
t Some Of tie p1esent-day writer's refer
/ to Clarke Griffith as "a great little man
ager THAT may he only a term Of ad-
miration, yet if he was great li1Jle
manager, he was a greater little pitcher
when ne led American League pitchers
with III per cent of victories while with
Chicago In 1901 and pitchers fielding with
! The same club with $50 in 1902
/ But the top row of pitchers records In
the Southern League for 1904 tells a proud
/ story for any pitcher big or little. in the
record for that year Of a ll5-pOund
pitcheE. name6J. Dygert, who went from
I there td<Ahe Athletics. where has has
( been doing things ever since. In q
games pitched, he won IS and lost 4
and ted /, giving him a per cent of Isl
/ Tor New Orleans, the pennant winners of
that year Connie Mack did not pitch
/ him but games that year and he lost 3
Of them. BE won II and lost Is in 1866.
fielding .s7s. and of his games were
| three-hit games, Of them against De-
| troll. In 1907 Dygert stood third in vic
| tories, winning 20 and losing for $50
per cent In 1908 he won II and lost 10,
dropping to .i23, but the Athletics finished
sixth that year and no pitcher did much
/ for them, and though pygert STRUCK out
/ lG4 men In 23S % innings, ne gave the
/ greatest number of bases on balls. 81 He
was used a lot that year, yet he was not
I in the bunch of Vickers, Schiller, and
I Maxwell off whom Detroit made . hits
on July Il, 1868: and he shut out teams.
/ in lSyJ Dygert won and lost >.