The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-03
Copyright, 1910,
by The Reilly Britton
Company.
Ali Rights Reserved


tonishment. Stricklett repeated the
pitch and Immediately every man on the
field was clamoring TO see the ball and
bat at it. suspecting some trick. That
night correspondents sent messages filled
with wild theories regarding the ''spit
ball. - 1t is odd to recall the "call
down" one of the correspondents re-
ceived from the managing editor who
telegraphed.
"'Please confne yourself TO facts. No
such thing az a spit ball is possible and
the expression is vulgar
The managing editor was partly right;
the ball ls not spit ball but thumb
with three) fingers held on one side and
the thumb on the other The ball is
made slippery at the point touched by
the fingers, so that it slides off the fin
gers with the minimum of friction. The
thumb, gripped tightly against the seam
on the opposite side, gives the maximum
OF friction at that point, the result be-
takes freverse English - IT whirls
rapidly for short distance, until the
heavy friction begins TO overcome the
natural rotary motion Of the ball. when
it stops rotating. as IF q struggle be
tween the two forces was going on, then
the thumb English" gains control and
the ball darts just as its would have
done Il curved naturally: shooting in the
direction the heaviest friction was ap.
piled. A "spit ball" when pitched
directly overland. darts almost straight
downward, and when pitched sidearm.
with the thumb toward the body, it
darts as a fast curve does, down and
outward. Immense power and speed are
required to pitch the ball successfully as
the faster it is pitched the faster and
sharper the curve will be.
Tho Ssfhn,,k Lo1 - ,>,toboI 1,t
moisture. was used before Stricklett
found saliva would negative the friction
of the fingers, but the object was TO get
heavy friction on the thumb, rather than
10 decrease friction on the other side.
The principle of the "spit ball - was
used in Griffith s ana Radbourne's slow
balls. Those who saw Griffith pitch will
remember how, he always tapped the
ball upon his heel spikes, and tried to
persuade umpires he was knocking the
dirt out OF the spikes. His object was
TO make small cuts or abrasons on the
surface of the ball, against which to
press his thumb and get more friction at
the desired point. He never thought of
greasing or wetting the ball to lessen
friction on the opposite side.
:. Obtaining tai IN more s friction at one point
rubbed the ball on gritty dirt, others
carried small files to use surreptitiously,
One sharp rasp of the file and the ball
was winged at certain point The
pitcher gripped his fingers against the
winged spot and not only was the
sharpness of the curve accentuated, but
the wings by offering more resls-
tance to the air, caused the ball to make
eccentric shoots in the air
Al Orth used ''thumb ball' and
saliva with astonishing success. but odd
ly enough never hit upon the most sue.
cessful manner of using it. Orth came
nearer pitching an upcurve than any
pitcher ever did. and many think his un-
dcrhand ball really curved upward. He
at least made the unnatural rotation of
the ball overcome gravity to such an ex-
tent that the ball did not drop, whether
it rose or not. In pitching he held his
thumb on top of the ball, pressed tightly
against a seam and two fingers under it.
not touching the seam, and he spat upon
the place where the fingers came III con
tact with the leather Then he pitched
underhand with great force, his hand
swinging almost straight downward at
the level of his knee, His object was to
make the ball angle from the knee to
the batter s shoulder and the false revo"
luton impaired by his thumb was to
make the ball "ride' the air and help
maintain the. angle. In seven years
the number of "popups' hit off Orth g
pitching was one of the wonders of the
game, being almost twice the normal,
batters continually hitting under his
thumb ball. which in reality was n
spit BALI pitched upside down
The overland "spit ball. with its
marvellous shoot, brought an army of
strong armed pitchers into the game,
revived veterans whose careers seemed
over, and ruined many great hitters. Al.
most every pitcher learned to use it
and in the hands of Ed Walsh, the
giant of the Chicago White Stockings,
1t reached its highest stage of devel-
opment and made him the pitching mar
vel OF the decade.
Immediately variations Of the ball
were developed, Slippery elm. talcum
powder crude oil, vascline were used
to lessen the friction Of the fingers
while other pitchers, to get more fric-
ton on the thumb, used gum, pumice
stone, resin or adhesive tape.
Stricklett had founded new school
can control the ball need few other
curves. and the ball, whom it breaks at
the right stop, practically is impossi-
bic TO hit, But 1T was soon found to
have drawbacks. Some pitchers aban"
doucd il because it injured their arms
The cntchers dreaded it because il was
hard TO handle. and harder to throw.
i Ht uFllclS pVIlpSNu IL btCluSf IDc SHIP
perry ball was hard to throw, and ba.
cause, when hit, the ball takes doubly
unnatural English, both from the bat
aud when il strikes the ground, and
darts in weird manner. The batters OBJ
iected, naturally, MS it stopped their
slugglng.
Frank Chance dislked the ball and
during one spring training trip every
team the Cubs played presented "spit
hall mite her ('hgncn Iyonfod huttin ~
practice and was aggravated One day
at Memphis ~iant spit ball pitcher
made his debut. Early IN the game he
pitched "spitter' TO Chance. The
ball failed to break and Chance drove
it back with terrific force. The pitcher
threw up his hands They were driven
against his head, tho ball caromcd on to
center field and Chance. sputterino with
rage, remarked
''There's one blanked spit ball
pitcher | put out of business"
Walsh. master artist of the "spit
ball. pitches it in the most common
way. He uses a trifle of slippery elm
hurl. in b,S mouth and fpo,c.onv , GRO,