The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1916-08-15
USED
IRON BALL TO
OBTAIN SPEED
Old-Time Boxman Had to Hurl En- I'm
demanded; Played Baseball on
Skates in Sixties.

I4 my treasured possession today. I won
~ hr mnla0r four clean drives,
From 1876 until the doys of Patsy Te-
beau and hts Cleveland SPIDERS. In tho
r'u"Nrs Il ulw1N- was he custom for
IN" visiting team 10 have the last turn Mt
bat That was courtesv But Tebeav
changed am that He discovered that
there was no league rule compelling the
visitors 20 take last bats and al the same
time tc decided II was q distinct advan.
taoe for his club 70 have the last crack
at the ban ON it4 home grounds, Whsra-
OUTuhc'u Curtly refused visiting teaSuo
the fua outs and later the other club(
had 20 follow iu the wake OF Tebeau.& y
Speed the Point.
In the early sixties when speed wAD
the main dependence Of pitcher. the
muurdsmcn would spend hours every day
trying 20 perfect their delivery. but u
remained Tor J0r Largett, owner and
manager OF the ExcclsiOrs of Brooklyn to
o'lgr7t" the Trangest plan ever known
To help pitcher develop his speed.
1T wns nr the winter Of 1850 that Leg
rett signed J mes =. Creighton TO pitch
for his team Creighton. at that time.
ranked AS one ~ N" greatest hur'ers In
the game In 1853, uItch,ng for the Mag
arns he had performed splcndldly and
followed this W with some sterling per-
form nccs among the 1859 stars
when Leggctt signed up Creighton. no
said
turis Iron Ball
Jimmy sp'ed is the thing. You've
i got q lot o' It but | want you TO hsve
more when the rcNt season opens, There
fore, want Fou To get an iron ball, thu
same size as q baseball. and pitch II for
at least half IN hour each day during
the winter. That viii deeelop your mus.
cles nrd YOUR speed as Well -.
And All through that winter Jimmy
/ Creighton followed his managers orders.
when spring came and he began throw
INK has ball, about onc-twentieth ~
heavy as tho iron ball hts speed was
binding and he flashed the creates, pitch
1 Ing ever seen up TO That time,
Ever since fhc same BEGAN the pitcher
| has been the u'get for reforms. Always
| the tendency has been TO make things
h rdsr FOR him and easier for the batter.
/ The foul strike rule alone seems TO have
/ been introduced oa a means OF helping
/ the pitcher
! Had on Pitchers.
4 but thc pitchers Of the other days by
/ a bit of suhterfugr caused the elmina.
uuderhRnd exclusively The more prof.
cient pitchers became In the underhand
WAY. the greater the haudicaps that were
placed upon them by longthening the
pitching distance. making smaller the size
Of the box by barring him from taking
a step IN making his delivery
Protests by the pitchers during the
sixties and early seventies. however.
brought about a Char-- ~ the rules.
which permitted pitchers 10 throw balls
from a wRistsligh Ifglc, as well as un-
deIhand ThS@f+~hes- who were quite
keen about throwing with side arm de-
livery quickly took advantage Of this
rule worked little trick, They elevated
their trousers 10 point where the waist
line was on level with their chests
and side-arm pitching was possible. FL
nally In 1881 the ruling powers IN base
hall removed nll restrictions as 10 pitching
delivery and the moundsmeu since then
have been delivering the bah In n way
that suits them host"
tNote--The third article OF this
Baseball OF the ByEone DAYS" will
appear In these columns tomorrow.
| II will deal with team that beat tho
great record ~ the Cincinnati Red
Stockings hy going through two sea-
sons without defeat wi'i ten about q
man who pitched-and won--iit
Straight games about the first ball
2 game at which admission was
charged tell how the PLAYERS came to
get their hit Npd the protest that
followed -= Fditorl