Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-10-30
REGISTERED
SPEED OF A
THROWN BALL
JOHNSON and FUCKER TESTED
First Experiment Of Its Kind
known

Two of the greatest pitchers in the
the word, Walter Johnson, the prem
Ter slab artist of the Washington AM
orleans. and Nap Rucker, the peerless
southpaw of the Brooklyns, had
speed test yesterday morning in the
test room of the Remington Arms, U.
NJ. c., in Bridgeport, Conn. The two
noted boxmen flung a regular league
ball at the range of five yards, with
Johnson recording the best speed
The white Hope" of Griffith's team
shot the sphere through the air at the
rate of 1872 feet a second. But this
was not Johnson's maximum speed as
he was not warmed up, and threw the
ball with his street clothes on. Ruck-
er's best velocity was 113 feet per Sec
ond.
There has been so much discussion
about Johnson's great speed that F. c.
Lane. of the Baseball Magazine, ar
ranged with Manager Dahlen and Man
ager Griffith to let their stars take a
morning off and make the trip to
Bridgeport, where the Remington Com
pany have an electrical apparatus to
test the speed of their rifle bullets.
The pitchers had to make the trip in
the morning as both had to be back for
the afternoons games. Rucker was up
bright and early and met Johnson.
Lane joined them, and accompanied
by World reporter the party sped to
Bridgeport in an auto.
The two stars were then taken into
the test room of the Remington Com
pany. Off went the hats and coats of
johnson and Rucker and they began to
warm up. Seventy-five thousand dol
lars worth of pitching mater al were
tossing the ball to one another. Neither
put his full strength behind the ball,
as they were without gloves.
Then the two took turns at throwing
the ball against the steel plate of the
electrical recording machine Nap was
the first to take a shot at the p ate.
The ball left his hand with terrific
force and bounded back like a flash.
Then Johnson let one fly The ball fail
ed to hit the plate but caromed off the
corner of the wooden wall with a
crash. BY this time things were in
readiness for the test.
The pitchers had to fire the ball
through a frame of wood about two
feet square. Running from top to bot
tom were ten fine copper wires. These
wires are first broken and record the
time the ball leaves the wooden frame
Five yards away is a steel plate This
records the time the ball lands.
Johnson may have good control on
ball field, but the thin wires proved "a
problem to him at first He had to
thorow the ball five times before he
could break one of the wires HIS first
throw was calculated at 100 feet per
second
Nap thought it was a cinch to break
the wires, but he found out differently
after his first try. The trouble was
that he let go the ball before complet-
ing full swing This vaused the
sphere to go through the wooden frame
about three inches fro mthe outside
wire. Nap took his second chance, but
ia led. On his third attempt he smash
ed two wires and the tester recorded
100 feet per second
Johnson shifted his position for his
second try and thought his gauge was
just right for the wires. But Walter
missed again and had to try three
times before he was able to record his
throw This throw was one foot sec
ond faster than his first.
Rucker then had his second test and
his speed was also faster The record
for Maps second attempt was 109 feet
per second. Then Rucker tried a curve
ball, but this proved too slow to re-
cord.
In his last try Johnson made his
best record, 1872 feet a second. Rucker
also had another chance and he in
creased his speed by four feet, the
ball travelling through the air at the
rate of 113 fet a second.
After the test Rucker sad that
Johnson had not thrown at his full
speed and that if he had he could have
thrown over $50 feet second.
The speed for the new Government
Colt As calibre automatic revolver is
800 feet per second. A high power
hunting rife, .38 calibre, autoloading,
has velocity of 1000 feet per second.
After the throwing contest the two
star pitchers had a hit-and-run lunch
and then were rushed back to New
York.
PUTNAM COUNTY FAIR