The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-24
DECLARES AMOS RUsIE HAD GREATEST SPEED

-~- z,,.,4.+ 1,azabaI fans throughout the country will agree that Waleer Johnson. the pitching marvel or tllS washington baseball club. IS tne speediesx twirler of the present elnles bfrt fs Johnson speedfer than some or me stars of former days2
 The phenomenal work of Johnson sr1rfrsx 1e12 and also up to the present rfrne this season has made n1En the most talked of ball player in the coun- try. not excepting the wonderful 1y Cobb. and all this xs due to the Tact that Johnson is considered the speeo- fest man in baseball
 There are many baseball fans and critics. however. who declare that Amos Rusie, who was the star or the New York Giants for a number of years had the most speed of any pitch CT that ever delivered a ball. This recalls the story that Heinie Peitz, the comeback catch of the Cardinals. told while in Buffalo last season At that time the name of Walter Johnson was on every fans lips the same as to-day. for he had been pitching remarkable bah for the Nationals and keeping them up in the runs
 .sYou may all talk about speed. re- marked Heinie. but to my mind Amos Rusie had them all beat when it came to using the cannon ball deliv- cry I say this because have caught many of the greatest pitchers the country has ever seen and L. must ad- init that Rusie had it on all of them.
 we were playing in Louisville some years ago and I was catching Rusie at that time. It was in the ninth inning and just beginning to get a bit dark. Our opponents had three men on bases with no one out, and the three runs would have won the game for them. as we had scored only two up to that time. The three men who got on the bases did so through errors by our players and not through any fault of Rusie. Fs
 %-It was then that the famous pitcar CT called to me to come to the pitch er's box, which I did He was very serious and said to me: 'Heirlie, can xSa catch the ball if I put more speed on -them2' to which replied that I felt sure that I could. sWen,S said Rusie. am going to put the ball directly over the plate and all you have to do is to hang on to it. Those fellows will never get a chance to hit It.
 with that I returned to the catch CTS box and set myself for a little extra steam am telling you the absolute truth when I say that Rusie pitched only 10 balls and every one Of them came over the plate as if shot out of a cannon The one ball that was called on him could easily have been called a strike and no mis- take made The players stood at the plate and Of the three, only two of them made a, swing at all. and they did so after the ball was in my hands have caught many speedy pitchers. but never in my life did I witness such an exhibition of speed as Rusie dis played that day. The three men were struck out while they were standing there, practically helpless. There may possibly have been a pitcher with as much speed as RusIe, but I have never seen him.
 ''It is no discredit to Walter John ron to say that he has not so much speed as Rusie, for, to my mind, the latter was in class by himself, and no doubt the day that he famed the three men he put all the strength in- to his work that he possessed. am pnly sorry that Rusie did not stick to the game and give more evidence of his wonderful york;