The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-14
PITCHER IMPORTANT
An idea of How the TwirIing Position
Has Advanced
PLAYER ON TEAM

An idea of How the TwirIing Position
Has Advanced
The pitcher is the central figure
| in the game of baseball. He is mon
arch of all he surveys, though his eye
might fall on his manager on the
bench his captain behind him. His
strength is the strength of the team,
and on him, more than any other one
player depends the success of his
side. His mortal enemy is the bat
| ter, and. ever since the game shaped
| itself into it's present form they have
been bitter opponents.
Not the least interesting incident
+ of baseball, history is this conflict be-
tween these two most important fac
| tors of the national pastime. To
equa1ize their strength has been the
object and end of much legislation
from. the early days to the present
time. However, history will demon
strate that the pitcher has Invariably
[ acquired the ascendency over the bat
ter by overwhelming all obstacles
placed IN his way.
The pitching distance was sue
cessive1y Increased from 45 feet in
1853 to 60 IL in 1915. but the liberty
of movementKof the pitcher has been
restricted, and he must now actually
| stand still, whereas only a few years
ago he was allowed to jump around
at will. Yet the question of equality
| between the pitcher and the batter is
still a debatab1e one.
Before 1858 the pitcher evidently
had no higher rank than any of the
other players. In fact, every play
er was a tfthrower,'' the word pitch
i err not coming into common use until
1858. If he became tired or weak
his place was taken by another play
er and there was no such thing as a
regular thrower.
In 1858, when the New England
and Middle States promoters adopted
uniform rules the paragraph relat-
ing to the pitcher was vague and I'M
| defined, simply stating that 1.-The ball
must be- pitched and not thrown for
| the bat, 1t was understood, how
| ever, that the pitcher was not to
step beyond line Is yards from
| home base and four yards in length
! These were the first restrictions put
1 on the pitcher, and marked the be-
| ginning of the interminabIe war be-
tween him and the batter.
The first pitchers ''box'' was intro
duced in 1868. 1t was evident that
the pitcher was rapidly getting the
upper hand of. the batter and the rule
makers deemed it proper to go to the
assistance of the latter. So, in order
! ttto reduce the speed of the pitcher
/ 81
agreed that hem ust stand within a
space u feet by 3, and in this space
must stand still while delivering the
ball, no step being allowed to be
taken:
This was a radical innovation,
which caused the bankruptcy of lot
| of pitchers who already had gained
individuality. In fact, old records
show that only two of them, George
Zettlein and j. D. Mcbride, retained
their standing position in pitching
1t was not until 1857 that the
pitcher was released from his ''cramp-
ed position, as experience showed that
| it was a detriment to the game and
prolonged the contest to unreasonable
| lengths In 1867 the box was en-
slarged to 6x4 feet, and two years later
to 6x6, the pitcher having the priv
nege of taking many steps as he
! desired. Then for the first time the
/ that is, 1.-TWO fixed iron plates one
in the center OF. the front line and
I one in the center of the rear line
/ This was done to give the umpire a
!. cleare view of the limits of the box.
AS in 1863 the introduction of the
! box gave the game the word box
man. for pitcher, so these points in
1867 originated the expression tsoccu-
pied the pitchers points, both terms
being used even now, where there is
no box and points are unknown
/ In 1872 two more iron plates
! were added to the box, one on each
corner of the front line, but nc
change was made in the size of the
/ box nor in the distance between the
pitcher and the batter. In 1876. the
Il only change in the box required that
each corner of the square shall be
marked by a. fiat iron plate 'or stone
six inches square, fixed in the ground
even with the surface
when the pitchers or some of them
were curbed in their style of delivery
and made more polite to the batter by
being compelled to turn their faces
to their adversary. The pitchers had
acquired the habit of hiding both the
ball and their faces while in the act
of delivery. The new rule demand
ed that 1.-THE pitcher, when taking
his position to deliver the bail
| must face the batsman and
/ shall not while delivering the bal
turn his back on the striker So
for the first time, the enemies were
legally Obliged to squarely face eact
other. At the same time the BOZ
| was contracted to square four fee
/ front and rear and six feet on thu
sides.
In 1881, for the first time sine,
/ 1853, the pitching distance was in
1 creased. Perhaps the face-to-fAce OBJ