The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-30
Ted Sullivan Says
Batters of Past
Were Best Of .All

The question has often arisen BEL
tween lovers of the game whether TIL
batters of the past were equal 10 fn
batters of the present, says Ted SuSs
Ivan, the veteran manager. Tn9a
writer has seen them all, beginnln68
with professional baseball down fO#
the present time. There are sonnA#
writers and people who are so pre1n14
diced in favor of the people OF thetra
own time of playing that they VIII noxs7
give credit 10 men Of any other PEI
riod. but impartial and fair minded
people are different
We will not take the great batter13
while the underhand pitching was u
use because the present generahi0ua
will say that style of pitching wa
easy We will, however, speak o.
those giant batsmen when they ais
lowed the use of the overland throw
and mystic curve which Is in operas
ton today, and will compare tfoSea
batsmen with the present.
If the reader should ask me frank
~ If as a body the batters of the press
ent compare with the batsmen Of the
past / wonld say frankly, No" Then
why? "Becauge that kind of humaM2
baseball timber has stopped groW-A
ing"
When the reader considers the dis
lance OF IS feet and so feet afler-M
box and whirling the ball over the
plate with the velocity of Lightning
express, those men Of the past must
have been batsmen To cope with those
human cannons, like Jim whitney,,
Charles Radbourne. Charlie King and
others. and Yet with no penalty at
taChed to them in way of donateNA
base should they strike hatsmen-
Today the pitchers are back 50 feet
with one leg anchored on slab, am0
n further penalty on the pitcher tor
hitting a hatsman. And then, thinh
of those hatters that had to face tho49
human catapults who had the libertyI
of hop. skip and jump while ins
side a box,
The reader can draw his own con-
clusion as to who were the greateSf
batters, the men of the early eighties
or nineties. when the forms OF LaQ
Pike, Joe Start, Andy Leonard, jim
O'Neu, Dan Brouthers, Paul lines
Sam Thompson, Arson, Jim Waite
Jack Rowe. Richardson, Gore, RoEak
Conner, Charley Bennett. GiiiespiAf1
Jim O'Rourke, Dairympie, Mike keffys1
Ed Williamson, and many others thar
memory fails to recall are compareA@
with the present.
To think of those hurcuiean BATS
men, who were under fire through the
golden era OF great pitchers, and cons
4
sons and Lajoies that are left, ft'
would require no orator with the per-
s,1asive power of Bourke Cochran ter
tell you in what period the great bats
men lived.
Two of the greatest feats of pitch-S
ing tbarring Radhonrne's unprsce-sS
dented feat at Providence) came un-s
der my observation in 1888. while
manager Of the ST. Louis Browns.s
One was on the part of Bob MaftneWs.S
of the Athletics, of Philadelphia, ana
the other Tim Keefe, of the Metro
politans, of New York.
1t was nothing for Tim Keefe or
Bob Matthews to pitch FIVE or Sic
gacaes In succession, when the exi-a
yency of the case demanded it. The
/ browns hit Keefe very hard in the
i first of one particular SERIES makanEa
some sixteen hits To my SURPRISE
next day Keefe again went up agalnsEs
the Browns and defeated them, let
ting them down to six hits. The next
day he was in the box, and again dl-4
minished the hits to three, but the
Browns won the game by wonderfully
base running. -
Matthews. in series of games IN
St Louis surpassed the pitching feat
az Keefe. The Browns won the first
same from the Athletics with Mat
thews pitching. making twelve hits
off this little wizard Game Lille
Matthews asked the manager IL he
could not pitch the entire series
against the Browns, as he felt cha
grined at the number of hits that
were made off him that day He
nttehed the next day. and the next
ana the next. defeating the famous
Browns three straight games after
they had so numerically hit him ia
the first.
The hits to my knowledge ran thus
ssr--rYr III tsrr second rsr fsyr-fss
ffte. third Eafr4e. and two in the
Now. reader, he didn't do this with
ths mechanical work OF his arm. but
ne did it with that mental power that
made him a pitching marvel for six
teen years
With Doyle, Fletcher and Wilson