Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-16


downs. One moment the pastime is sh'
"StaIling" Has Hurt Game.
while admitting any Of the above
causes tended to hurt the popularity
OF the game. I stili maintain those sim
ple words, Take your time" have
played more havoc with the game dur
ing the past seven or eight years. For
tunateiy the take your time" ailment
can easily be remedicd by the powers
that be. II drastic action is taken. Such
a course. however. should not be neces-
sary. since in a great many cases the
men most at fault have their all at
stake in the game
In recent years It has become the
prevailing opinion among many man
ayers that the best weapon a club can
have is the ability to play slowly. l
don't mean slow Of foot, but the abil-
ity to execute maneuvers in dilatory
manner.
The Impression fs, the longer you de-
lay the batter after he steps Into the
box the less effective he becomes with
the stick. The belief also prevails
that. IL a pitcher is going bad. the
proper way to steady him Is to delay
II.
other words. take your time" is con-
sidered base balls greatest antidote
for every evil.
During the summer I hear the ex-
preston Take your time" so much /
dream about II all winter. Not so many
years ago the slow pitcher was the ex-
cepsion. Each club had possibly one
member of Its stan who had slow de-
livery. / recall what a mess Slow Joe
DOYLE stirred up when he joined the
~ frtr
more things to do between each pitch
than any twirler / have seen, and |
don't bar Mig" Cuppy. who was never
arrested for exceeding the speed limit
In ANYTHING pertaining to the national
Doyle had considerable STUFF, and, de-
spite his style of delivery, would have
been q fairly effective pitcher. Natur-
ally. his methods so annoyed opposing
batfers that, in many instances, they
were in no frame OF mind to put forth
their best efforts after Doyle had gone
through a series of maneuvers that
would have put many a big-time aero
bat to shame.
"Slow Joe" Banked Maps.
l worked in number of the first
games Doyle pitched in the American
League l recall a game he pitched
against Cleveland at the old American
League Park in New York. II my mem
ory serves me correctly, he shut gu,
Cleveland in that game. 5 to o. shall
Lajoie after he had faced Doyle a cou.
pie of times About the third time up
disguised at Doyie's pitching, Larry
placed his bat between his legs. drew
forth package OF scrap tobacco from
his hip pocket. carefully removed a
large sized guild. placed it in his mouth
and resumed his batting position before
Doyle was ready to deliver the next
ball
Undoubtedly his dilatory style gained
for Doyle all kinds Of notoriety- Some
wasn't of a complimentary nature.
Doyle received attention because he
was the exception. lie was so entirely
different from other pitchers i'm his
method of delivery. In those days the
slow pitcher was the exception Pos
siply Joe Doyle should not be blamed
entirely for present conditions, but the
fact remains, though the qufck-movine
pitcher is now the exception, every club
has a number of SLOW Joe Doyles" or
it's pitching stan. There ID no doubt
dilatory tactics as practiced by the
pitcher have detrimental influence on
the batsman; 1t annoys him, worries
him. which, of course, fs the reason for
the entire procedure.
In the second game of the 1917
world series fine example of the take
your time" theory was uncovered
Schupp started that game for New
York. He was wonderful in the OPEN
ing inning. He had fine control. ter
rife speed and a fastbreaking curve,
practically unhittable. Two of the Sox
went down on strikes in the opening
round.
Then Schupp Took His Time.
In the second inning, schupp gave
a remarkable demonstration of what
q reversal OF form means. From the
greatest looking pitcher in the world
in the opening session. he looked very
ordinary in the next. After he had
gotten into the hole. the New York
~ A.