The San Francisco call., 1913-09-03

worn so well in the game He does
not waste his energy, and he puts
forth his biggest bursts of speed only
when the situation is most pressing.
combined with this speed, Bender
mas wonderful mastery of the ball,
ana can put 1t on the plate anywhere
he desires He seldom finds himself
In the hole when he has to lay the
oali over for the batsmen, thus Civ
ing them good one to lift at In
stead OF making them go after ones
Just on the inside or just on the out
side which is the real science of
pitching. These are hard to "pop"
on the nose. BY getting q pitcher
In the hole, 1 mean that the batter
waits until he has two or three balls
and no strikes, or one strike. With
three balls and one strike on the
batter, the pitcher does not dare to
take chance on working the cor
ners of the plate for fear he will
lose the man, and Is forced to lay it
over. which gives the batter a much
better chance to hit it square.
Bender has two other mechanical
assets. His curve is a beauty when it
Is working right, with a sharp break
to 1T that makes 1t very hard to hit
He also has a good windup with no
runners on the bases. Lots of pitchers
ting motions alone. Sallee, the left
handler OF the ST. Louis Nationals, IS
this type of twirler He tangles him
self all up before he delivers the BALI
SO that it is difficult for the batter tk
tell where 1t Is coming from. and he
is more likely to shoot 1t off his shoe
tops than he is to deliver 1T from over
his head. There are times when SAL
lee, in the course Of his windup. has
his back to the batter. The way TO
beat him is to get men on the bases.
when he is forced to cut down his
windup, and he then loses his effect
iveness.
But Bender can not be beaten in this
way. He has the puzzling windup,
not quite so intricate as that culti-
waited by Sallee, when the bases are
free from runners, but he also has a
deceptive motion with men on the
bags, and he loses little of his effect
iveness by cutting down his windup.
In the box the Indian is deep
thinker and is constantly studying the
batsmen in an effort to find out what
they are thinking and cross them.
That Is another trait of all good
pitchers Each time hitter faces a
twirler there is a battle of wits be-
tween the two, the one trying to out
guess the other. Bender always knows
just where he stands and FREQUENTLY
flashes something on a batter which
the latter does not expect at all.
y
One of the prettiest games I ever
saw Bender pitch was the first one Of
the worlds series between the Giants
and the Athletics, in 1911, when the
New York team won only because one
of Bender's supporters made an error
at a critical time. He went through
that game working every trick of the
pitching trade he knew and always
wearing a smile. Even after the
Giants had crowded the run across
the plate which finally proved to be
the deciding one OF the game Bender
continued to smile. 1t was the psy-
chology of the Indian. and Bender Is
typical Indian. He Is also game.
All through this battle Bender was
endeavoring to get the goats of sew
eral OF the Giants which some friend
OF the Athletics had tipped him were
sensitive. Word had been sent out
that these men would be nervous be-
cause 1t was their first worlds series.
He kept after Snodgrass in particular.
and when the New York outfelder
struck out in the seventh he shouted:
How did you like that last one.
'Freddy'?"
The Giants had scored their second
run in the seventh before Snodgrass
famed on a two base hit by Meyers.
followed by push over third base bv
Devore which went for a single. and
and scored what proved TO be the
winning run