Evening star., 1915-01-17

his career by over
working himself?
= Z 1t is my very hum
BILE opinion that
the length of the career of pitcher
or catcher is largely shaped by the way
he works. barring accidents, of course.
CIV Young has set a mark for modern
twirlers to shoot at. l seriously doubt
if the wonderful record of that great
pitcher is ever approached. He took
part in over 500 major league games.
and for twenty-five years as pitcher
recorded the remarkable average of
$40. He is the only major league
pitcher who has won 500 games, and
is probably the only pitcher who will
ever turn that trick.
During Young's long career on the
diamond it was the unusual thing for
gamesS,H. .h,es performance was in
1ssSW1ep. member of the Cleve-
land clnSs dhesSSe thirty-six games and
1ostf ten. In 1888 he closely rivaled
snd ii ten rhe1e sasfyvs wo big
were enjoyed in the National League.
In 1903. as member of the Boston
team of the American League, he came
younger organization. winning twenty
eight and losing nine.
While establishing his great record
for length of service. Young gave a
number of brilliant exhibitions of
pitching. May 4. 1904. he shut out the
Philadelphia Athletics without a hit or
run. not a player reaching first base.
June 80. 1908. he pitched another no.
hit game against the New York Ameri-
cans. only one player reaching the
initial sack. June "a. 1892, he pitched
sixteen-inning 8 to 8 tie against st.
Louis. July 4. 1905. he lost to the Ath-
letics. to 2. in twenty innings. wad-
dell being the opposing pitcher. In 1904
he heat Ed Killian of Detroit. l to 0,
in fifteen innings Most pitchers are
satisfied with life If. during their major
league careers. they come through with
one no-hit game. Cy Young during his
twenty-five years service put over
three hitless affairs.
Cy Young Never Suffered.
Probably in many ways Young was a
pitching freak. He has often told me
that he never had sore arm during
his entire career. The average pitcher
makes a lot of trouble for a trainer
His pitching arm demands much at
tention. While a believer in massage,
Young never made any work for a
trainer. because he never cared to have
his arm massaged, no matter how
grueling a battle he might have just
passed through. He always worked on
the theory that since there was moth
ing the matter with his arm it didn't
require any attention. His pitching de-
livery placed no strain on the arm,
which. of course. greatly helped him to
continue to star for SO many years.
There are lot of pitchers who place
more strain on their arm winding and
unwinding before pitching than in actu-
ally delivering the ball. There was no
waste motion in Young's efforts.
I once asked Cy how he managed to
keep on going year after year without
showing any signs of losing his effec-
tiveness. This was his answer: THE
fast ball places the least strain on the
pitching arm. I depended on the fast
ball for success during the greater
part of my major league career. For
many years I was rated as big star,
when as a matter of fact the fast ball
was the extent Of my stock in trade
When / began to see my speed going I
learned a pretty fair curve and used
It to considerable advantage late in my
career. After l learned the curve, the
batters never credited me with having
one. and kept constantly looking for
the fast ball. 1 crossed many good
hitter with a dinky curve when he was
looking for me to cut loose with my
speed. ! never fooled much with the
newfangled deliveries. When the spit
ball was all the rage, / experimental
with 1t and developed pretty fair
splitter. but refused to use it. because
] could tell that 1t was hard on the
arm simply throwing it every now and
then during practice"
Walsh Depended on Spitball.
Ed Walsh. famous pitcher of the
Chicago White Sox. is perhaps best en-
titled to be called the modern Iron
Man" of base ball. Walsh really first
,blossomed forth as a star in 1906. He