The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-21
CLAMSHELl THE START
Back In oos Oasoball piensse Neaved
osashere ~. Product and Watched
u oyrate, Thsrsfrem osdueiWs that
Dali Would Oeeak.

There have been other claimants Of
the honor, but Cummings has tho sup
port Of most Of the recognised au-
thorities. Among them are George
Wright, John c. Chapman. A. q.
Spaiding. Douglas Allison. N. d
Young. A. c. Anson, Weston Fisler.
Thomas Pratt and James White. ~
Of whom made baseball history in the
'70s. Hero - Cummings own story
Of the discovery Of the curve ball;
1T was In the sos that discov-
cred the curve ball. And, strange to
say, Il was the Idle throwing Of half
. ciamshell that gave birth to such
an idea. As I watched the shells sail
through their irregular course the
theory developed in my mind that ]
might apply Il In baseball.
AFTER watching the shells follow
their snaky course decided that
would try to see u could throw .
bali In q similar manner. was
laughed at by scientific men and base.
ball experts. but I finally proved TO
them that the stunt could be done,
and for long time was known -
the boy wonder.
my first experience In club Of
any note was with an organisation
called the CAROLS. after Carroll park
in Brooklyn. In the following spring
l Joined the star Juniors. which won
81 out OF 80 games played. No reg
ular suits were worn at that time. II
was while I was with the Stars that
Joseph Leggett of. the Excelsior club
got mo to Join his team.
hl0
leagues. The Excelsior was consid.
cred one Of the strongest clubs in
New York. I participated In these
games during part Of '66 and pitched
In a few of them.
Il remember the first game !
pitched. Brainhard. who held . ma
tional reputation a. q boxman. failed
to show up. and ! was substituted. I
only weighed III pounds and my OPP
ponents-the Eurckas Of Newark, N.
J.. strong nine-expected an easy
victory. but they went home with .
defeat Of ~ to ~.
"It was while I was with the Ex-
celsiors that went to Washington
to play the annual game with the Ma
tiOnals. We won.
Tho following year went to Bos.
ton and played with such teams a.
the Lowclls. Tri- Mountains and Har-
ward college. 1t was in q game with
the latter that first used the curve
ball effectively before experts and
spectators OF note. This game was
played in 1867. At this time, with
the secret practice. l found that I had
perfect control OF either the drop or
raise. which came to me before the
out or inshoot. because tho pitching
I'm the Harvard game Archie Bush
was at the bat. feared him for his
powerful hitting. Bush swung at the
first curve ball pitched. but came
within q foot of connecting. tried
II again and found he was really at
my mercy. and knew had sue
ceedcd. The curves were hard TO
pitch at that time on account OF the
rules. which required pitcher to
keep both feet on the ground and not
raise either until the ball left the
hand.
"The arm also had to be kept near
the side and the delivery was made
with q perpendicular swing. BY fol-
lowing these instructions II was .
hard strain. AZ the wrist and second
finger had to do all the work.
Il snapped the ball away from me
like a whip and this caused my wrist
bone to get out OF place quito often.
! was compelled to wear supporter
on my wrist all one season on account
Of this strain.
II Joined the famous Star club of
Brooklyn in 1868 and was with It for
four years. The club did not lose a
time won the championship Of Amer
lea and Canada. In 1870 the Stars
defeated the crack Mutual team OF
New York. ~ to l2 and In 1871. when
the New Yorks won the champion
ship. the Stars beat them ~ to ;.
In 1879 I Joined the Mutual team Of
New York and pitched every game but
one that season.
I'm 1873 went to Baltimore and
was the only pitcher until August
when we got Brainhard to help. In
1874 went to Philadelphia and
pitched every game except one and we
finished fourth. In 1856 was with
the Hartford team and we had Tommy
BOND to help out In the pitching f0s
awhile. but he soon left us.
I'VE stood second In the race In
1875 and In 1875 second. These gained
were bf the Importance Of the Amer
lean and National games OF today.
next went TO Lynn and was sent a. q
delegate to tho baseball convention II
Pittsburgh. where we formed the Inter
ntional association. finished the sea-
aOn with Cinrinnnti Eat
II secured my release from Lynn
in July and finished the season Will
Cincinnati. In 1878 played In Al
bany. and It was at this time thai
my health gave out and retired from
the diamond.
II think the baseball player Of to-
day has quite an easy time compared
with tho player OF my time. When
WAS on the diamond the ball contained
two ounces Of rubber. was . ltttlt
larger, came with tremendous torc'