The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-08-13
Russell HAS
CROOKED ARM
White Sex Tvsirer, a Comeback, One
Of the Mysteries Of BASEBALL
Was Counted Out
Once.

Reo RrsseII The White So1 twirl-
~, Is one OF the mysteries Of tbs
game and 9 real comeback
Reb has been slated for q scrap
heap for some time. but Is hanging
On despite the fact that he has
crooked hurting arm From the
shoulder TO the elbow II travels
straight enough but from then on
TO quote IrTing Vaughn, the arm ex-
tended would make a COMPASS dizzy
II is impossible for him 10 strsighsen
the wing. 4 hbrous growth around
the elbow prevents this, but the Pc
culiar feature is that the aifment has
failed permanently 70 cripple the
Texan.
The first sign Of trouble came at
the end of the 1914 season, when his
arm began 10 draw up at the elbow.
He consulted physician and was
advised 10 lay OF year or more
This Russell refused to do. and when
he reported in 1915 he surprised
everyone by showing sharp curve
instead of his high fast"
Last year he won IL and lost II
games, but the new delivery was too
much and the arm went bad again.
Then it was announced that Russell
was through and his loss was mourn
ed by all But the Rebel had a diff
ferent idea. Although the ailment took
on an aggravated form. the growth. en-
larged, the elbow warped a bit more
and was more painful, the pitcher de-
cided that it was not yet time to quit.
He consulted q physician down in
Texas and was told to carry a weight
in the left hand and gradually pull
out the kink This didn't make much
! o. hit with the pitcher. for he fig
ured that the only way to iron out
! the knots in the arm was to work
! harder than ever. He toiled day after
day without result The hook would
not hook and the fast one wouldn't
hop. It was discouraging work, but
there was no letting up.
"Reb" kept at it, however, and grad
ually began to see the light. Soon a
faint curve could be seen, his fast
one had lots Of smoke and today he
is just as good as ever He will con-
tinue to be good, too, until they crack
! his iron heart That's the thing that
has kept him going.
| When "Reb" Russell blew into the
big show unannounced in the spring
of 1912, he did not look good to jim
my Callahan, who then was manag-
ing the So1. At the time he possess
ed a normal pitching arm but Jim
ME cared nothing for that. After
watching him work out in practice
the manager decided to ship the re.
cruft over the hills and FAR away, and
would have done that very thing had
it not been for KID Gleason. The Kid
noticed the speed of the youngster
and thought that 1t could be used to
good advantage. So he advanced on
Callahan and opened up with the fol
lowing:
Don't tie a can to that guy, yet
he said. Perhaps he is q bum and
all that, but you never can tell at this
time Of the year. Russell has a swell
fast ball and he Will be good pitch,
er as soon as he learns how to use
IT. Turn him over to me and l will
take him on the trip with the second
team. Then / will have a chance &c
look him over carefully and he won't
be much of an expense to the club
II feel that We are overlooking a good
bet and I want to see if I am right"
Callahan loosened up and Gleason
took the rookie In hand. In a short
time he was dazzling the batters IL
Texas with his fast one. and, when
the trip was over, "Reb" had a Job and
a good contract It took only short
time to see that the new pitcher
lcould pitch and that he loved to