The evening world., 1911-07-22
Pitching of To-Day
and Fifty Years Ago
Function of Box Artist Completely Reversed Since
Early Days of Game-Then Twirler Tossed Ball
So Batter Could Hit II, While Now He Tries
10 Keep Him From Hitting II.

~TvIIs nos interesting discovery in q chas. through the rather Inaccurate.
ton OF the pitcher IA beenc completely reversed. 1t becomes compare
lively Easy therefore. to an'ws tn question:: What is the difference between
tho pitching of to-day and that Of nifty years asor'
The difference il that III JUNCTION Of the pitcher of fifty years aso-Axty-
"x ears to 30 exact-wa' to toss The ball % a . to enable the batter to hit IT,
The function Of tn pitcher to-day is to throw the ball where the batter cannot
hit It.
Though til. ORIGINAL trainers Of tn. rules. w.r. ,snor.n. of tn. fac, at tina.
time. pitching 10 and always has been the pivotal point Of the geat American
game It naturally follows that this branch Of the science has been afforded the
the rules h' been aims o. tn pitcher. The bal. the bah thu distance between
thu bases and ts fundamental rules o the game have stood FOR half a century
while TIT pitching hss gone through . steady grind O. evolution.
tn. history Of pitching science y. b. divided into our d.sne. .r.,
The day Of the und~Aaaa toss
The day II the overland toss o throw.
The day Il the curve bali
tn. DAY II the spa.ssn.
the trainers did nOt realize tina the pitcher IA to be the pivotal mar OF TIT
game They placed him behind = line tat was forty-fNs feet from the bauers
box and he vas instructed to throw tho ball * that hi batter could hit It,
,un ,sr.w,n. -. hn "ws ,n mu.n ...n ~. w. ,oro.. o., n.uv.r - wm, .n
underhand toss That is to Jay n could lot bring his throwing hand above
OF curse. tn. game. in a very crude. stat. at tina. i'm INT tn. fine
played the New YSrm.. .ams In iss ana v'rs defeated % to l. So.".,h.nndns
Under ina r. hose rule. , the pitcher n., As 60 compelled ,Ssm nn ,S deliver s. sn, fair o. ball, s to u IN, bate, M
strikes were called un~s the batter struck at them- An instance of h great
's Aaa",s s'' s%s tn. ss s sSs S%s' Al + s% nit q, on thu thu 'S"s i.' pitched !" ! a ss% S'S ssns
To 'S.ns 'H ns. hat. s' on s' III, .' p GROUNDS Grounds ,o '%.s' "'' '"''' ''A '' '"'f' a
THIS m..Aoa of pitching und.rh.nasd KEEP, Up Tor man years until several
1 Ossan to find means Of ev.dinx the rules. so tina. they could peven. the
Tony oy' BoDa Of Boston and Hartford. He kept ,nchinE u p on M ruler. mill he
was .Ar ra from, 0n, a P ,. . .ss,sa, y a IN. sron ssv to n ssr Ssi, "n h an o,,ssn a S msnss
and put a much speed o N tn bali a h could 1t as then nat the mt Of
That is getting a little ahead OF the story. however. FOL It was In the days
of IN underhand toss that tho curve ball was discovered.
In 1867 pitching became recognized . a science The Chartero Oaks Of Hart
ford. Conn, anne to Brooklyn hat year to play thu Excelsors m tho captonns
grounds nd they were nond for their heavy batting The rxceisbrs had
ySs"s on r, ss1 p "s%ss A ca%~.s SS" Ss :.s ss.;s'' in p"" s." "s Sy s s"i.as,
the ball in thu hand m spinning II 70 It started toward thu batter It wouk
curve in n direction contrary to the la Of raTtaton He waited for the ar
rival Of he Charter Oaks to i've this curve a thorough trial.. nd when h
did start It the heavy hhers were absolutely helpless They could lot under
stand how q man could ause q ball to curve. m several oft them were 8 stub
born overt the matter that they spent thu rest OF heir lives insisting that
could not be don Nevertheless Cummings had opened tho way to mar pitch
ing discoveries ant his name went II ove .rthe country as a wonderful inventor
Some historians have claimed that Bobby Matthews invented the curve ball
but Father Chadwick wo "a q witness to Cummings great performanc
on the I'D CapNoNns grounds, always declared that he the real inventor
Il N oyerhand throw can into VOC in he late seventies, bt thu ptche
n / was sMn hodged around with restrictions In favo of the batter. While he W
d allowed to throw thu ball with great speed, he a compelled to throw It at
n ball. "hw ball." &C.
- r. he eary overland pitchers Aa Branard Of he famous Cincinnati Re
T. stocknss was probably he best exponent lie could throw the ball
~ he point indicated by thu batter and III prevent hard hitting Branar
ad not pitch the curve ball, however, n of his reasons being hat he did nc
IN beueye in It. Asa Brhnard, by IN way must haye been a striking figure as h
i went into the box He wore a long black beard that completely covered his fac
!" and hung dow to thu top button of hi baseball shirt It might occur ITO II
/ baseball far of to-day that Il ~ a good thing hat the old time pitchers d
a not ave to slide to basss A beard full Il dust m grave could rot IA bee
a very pretty or comfortable ansir Rrainard pitched for TIT Cincinnati Reds
did nt pitch every game. but would rest ever once In a while INT give Har
n Wright, hi centre nslder and change pitcher" . chance.
The mex school Of great pitchers which came ~ in HI early eighties WI
made up " Johnny ward, Charley adbourn~ jim whitney and John Clarkso
10 They wersE great pitchers IN svevy way They had speed, curves and PRACTICAL
~ everything tn Is used to-day. Either OF them would have KEN . great pitch
IN on he diamond Of Nn. Many OLD players who still take n active interest
the snms regard John csrksen - the (assst pitcher hat NJ lived TIT on