The Washington herald., 1914-08-16
WaIsh's Own Story OF
Regaining His Arm
Famous Chicago White Sox
HurIer Tells of Losing His
Pitching Strength.
HOW IT CAME TO LIFE

Wnen Eo Wal8n stepped 70 the plate In
New York In mid-July. pitched nine fun
innings. and shut out the Highlanders. he
strode from the grave OF public oblivion
into the fun blaze Of living reality, and
In doing 90 he played the final scene
IN one Of the most astonishing mysteries
Of modern baseball
II date the beginning Of the trouble
with my arm TO the city series Of 1872
In the second inning Of q game that
pitched against the Cubs was hit on the
Jaw by a line drive. which struck me 50
In my face. II completely dazed me- but
] went on pitching In q mechanical way
and finished the game seemed to have
as much stun on the bail as ever had.
50 they told me. and as the White Sox
piled Up q number of runs won without
difnculty. After the game. when had
recovered from the shock Of that blow
and the general excitemsnt, I noticed that
my arm felt weak and sore. as though
had strained it. However. that was the
finish Of q very hard season I had
pitched in sixty-two games altogether.
$50 innings in all. In addition to the hard
work Of the series. so I was through. And
thought little about II until the next
spring.
An Unexpected Rest.
That spring was treated to a novel
surprise For the first time In my life
was able to take things easy. Comiskey
and Callahan told me to train lightly and
not overwork. and followed their advice.
1t would probably have made no great
difference. anyway. in the result At any
rate. continued to take things easy un-
til was slated to pitch an exhibition
game at Venice l went into the box
with my old-time confidence. 1t had been
long time since that game In the city
series Of the previous autumn had no
inttmation that the arm was not In as
good shape as ever And perhaps was
more surprised than amy one else in the
park when that Venice club proceeded
to hammer everything I had to all parts
OF the field It was q most unwelcome
surprise and I couldn't explain it. But
made up my mind to show better form
on my next appearance
Certainly the possibility that I might
be even worse never crossed my mind.
And yet that is exactly what happened.
/ went against the st. Joe team in Mis-
souri,, and, not content with hitting my
best offerings freely, they batted me out
Of the box 1t was a great humiliation to
me and a crushing blow TO my hopes. 1
couldn't understand what was the matter
with my arm. for It had never acted In
that way before. l had taken a great
deal Of satisfaction in my arm, won't
deny It All the years when I was work
ing for the White Sox, warming up TO be
in condition for q call almost every day.
pitching in sixty or more games q sea-
son and generally taking part In more
innings than any other pitcher in the
business, my arm had never been even
sore. The spitbalI Is terribly wrenchfnx
on the shoulder, but my shoulder had de-
veloped muscular strength that thought
could stand the wear and tear OF even
this heavy type Of pitching indefinitely.
suppose I had expected to wear out
some time, but even At my time Of life.
and 1 have passed the thirty mark con-
siderably, 1 wasn't ready to say good-by
to the old game by any means. And Z
certainly didn't want to quit II had to
quit in that unsatisfactory way. 1t Is
hard to break your arm or have a rail-
road accident. or q severe or exhausting
sickness which robs you OF your effective
ness, but at least those things are con-
elusive. They put q finishing touch on
your career that you can see and feel
and that is final But to 60 as I did,
after a good season, where had worked
as well as 1 ever had. and then to lose
your effectiveness unconsciously over
night. and without any reason, was too
much II was the uncertainty, the indef
initeness, the mystery about II that baf-
fled me and made the season OF 1913 the
worst year l have ever known. the worst
year, l hope, will ever know.
Il believe it was the first game Of the
season We were playing St Louis II
was the ninth inning. and there were
three men on bases and no one out.
had been called into a breach OF this
kind SO many times that 1 had lost all
count. II is in crisis such as this that
the pitcher needs to have supreme COM
mand Of himself. He needs to be master
of all there is in him. for the slightest
break the smallest slip OF infielder OF
catcher will spill the game. In such
pinch the strike-out is the only sure way,
for even an easy infield out may be
juggled a tenth Of a second too long.
An outfield fly Is pretty sure to be fatal.
1 had faced this situation scores Of times
the times. But as entered the box that
day won't deny that my heart failed me.
The unaccountable defeats at Venice and
St Joe had undermined my confidence.
l was no longer invincible. But / had
one determination: That ! would not be
humiliated now. / would show that l
could still control the spitban and drive
IL where the batters would have to go
arm In arm with gilt-edged luck and sur
plus horseshOes to find it. And 50 tore
my arm loose from the shoulder. l
that the arm wasn't the same old arm
that had stood by me all these years.
could feel the muscles grind and wrench,
and II seemed to me that II would
leap out Of the socket when I shot the
bah across the plate. But l burned that
old baseball over just the same. l made
Il dip and duck and dive as well as I had
ever done in my life The batteTs dived
for II and reached for IL and tied them
selves into knots In their efforts to get il.
but IL seemed to me that the spitball
laughed at their efforts as It sung
through the air. / WAS getting some re-
venge for my previous defeats. even IL
the arm did droop and wilt, and II took
all my will-power to raise IL for the
throw. Those batterS struck out, one,
Two. three, in order just as they came
up to the plate And those three men
who were on their toes for the dash
home died where they were on the bases
II ] couldn't last out a whole game, l
rad proved to my own satisfaction that
could at least pitch an inning up to my
I'D form. And that was some consola-
Jon to me. even that night, though my
urn kept me awake till morning with a
'ain that had never known before
Just what was the matter with the
lrm all this time / don't know, and I
'uess it's a safe bet no one else does
I Is one oi the mysteries OF baseball
Vhat Affects pitchers arms, and guess