The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1910-08-19
By Johnny Evers and Hugh Fullerton

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curves and varieties of curves, aud
to tell how these things are done it is
necessary to tell who does them, and
how.
Cy Young and kid" Nichols were
!, the leading pitchers of fast balls, al
1 though both used curves while de-
pending upon the straight" one for
their greatest success. They pitched
the ball alike, throwing directly over
hand, with the hand held as straight
\ as possible and, at the instant of re-
: leasing the ball each gripped it tight
ly with the finger tips and loosely
with the thumb. The finger pressure
increased the speed of the natural
revolution of the ball and caused it to
Jump more.
The curve pitchers are a host. Ev-
cry one has a different curve, faster.
sharper, slower, with heavier twist, or
, some individual popularity to distin-
gush it. The first curves pitched were
of the variety now known as the
"barrel hoop" 1t was a slow curve,
pitched underhand, with the hand
o"uH6 ACoJly ~ IuS lcS6l Ul lie huOC,
fingers downward and hand held al.
most at right angles with the wrist.
As the hand was swung the wrist was
jerked sharply and the ball, sliding
off the first finger, revolved rapidly
and the air pressure on one side of
the sphere and the partial vacuum on
the other caused by the rotation.
fnrno1 tho hn11 IN ro0x,o g., - ,1ox,, ,,,SJo
arc. All curves are developments of
the barrel hoop" the same principle
entering into each, whether it is Nor
decai Browns marvellous hook"
curve, George Mullins meteoric shoot.
or the wonderful curves of Camnitz.
Overall, Wiltse, Krause. Adams. Fer
guson and others.
Browns "hook" curve is the high
est present development of the fast
overland curve pitch which breaks
sharply down and outward. Brown
probably owes much of his success
to a feed chopper which cut off part
of his right hand, leaving him without
an index finger and with the middle
finger bent at right angles at the first
joint. Brown pitches the hook over
hand. releasing the ball at various
points after his hand swings past his
body. BY the point at which he re.
leases the ball he regulates the poin,
at which it breaks in the air. He can
make the ball either describe a wide,
fast arc, or by jerking his hand at the
proper instant, make the ball go in
almost a straight line, perhaps SO feet.
and hen dart suddenly down and put
ward.
There are many players, however,
among them members of the Detroit
team who faced him in the final game
for the worlds championship in 1908.
who believe Oyerall's curve a more
marvellous one. In that game the Chi
csgo giant had n of the most re-
markable curves eve pitched. At
times the ball darted down two feet
and struck the ground while the bat
ters struck more than e foot over it.
Overall pitches his curve with a
vide, sweeping overland swing. re-
leasing the ball owe the side of the
index finger as his hand turns down.
ward.
The odd thing about pitching is
this-a ball which revoives in the air
appears much smaller to the eye than
one that fails to revolve and the more
rapid the revolution Of the sphere the
smaller 1t appears. The slow ball,
floating in the air and dead" looks
as big as a balloon" as everyone in
the bleachers remarks, and 1t does not
deceive the eye. In fact ii slow balls
of that variety are pitched three or
four times In succession they look SO
large that Hi amateur can hit them
out of the lot. Successful use of that
kind of Il pitched bail consists en-.
tiTely In surprising the batter, fooling
him when he expects something else.
The batter may miss the ball a foot,
yet his eye is not deceived. He saw
.he ball perfectly but was OF balance,
Just as he was for the slow pitch.
On one occasion a team playing in
Washington called on President Cleve-
land. and the chief executive laughingly
declared he could pick out the pitch.
srs among his visitors BY their grip.
The discovery of. another kind Of
slow bali. and the most successful
pitched ball eve used, arose from the
fact that to deceive the eye the ball
must be made to appear small and
that revolution, %and-rapid revolution
at that, is necessary to deceive the
eye into the idea of smallness and
speed when 1t Is slow. "Hoss" Rad
,kbourne, working or that theory. began
to develop a slow ball that revolved
rapidly. It seemed impossible, be-
cause q ball that ~revolves rapidly
usually has great speed, the greater
the speed. the greater the revolution.
But. Radbourne. pitching for Provi-
dence. kept practising until he found
his slow ball. He had been a good
pitcher before that, and after his dis
covery he became one Of the greatest
the game has ever known.
No n could understand his sue.
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