The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-06-25
EDDIE CICOTTE
 ON PITCHING Thirty-Four Years Old With a Record of 15 Years of
 Service.

ly Eddie Cicotte, the star pitcher of the Worlds Champion White Sox. tells some of his secrets of pitching, and also gives some good advice for young pitchers.
 For several seasons I have been called a fading veteran. In fact more than a year ago I was accused of being nearly through. The fact that last season was the best I ever had, has perhaps, offset these rumors to cer- tain extent. But I cannot disguise my age even to myself. I am thirty four, old for a player, with eleven years service in the Major Leagues be- hind me and a fifteen year stretch since began my career as a profes- sional pitcher.
 | Edward Plank had two well-known theories. In the first he contended that pitcher has only certain num- Der of pitched balls in his old soup bone and that when he has relieved his system of the last of these he is through.
 i Upon theory number two he ex- plained his own presence in the lineup l T began very late" he said, 'and so I shall last good deal longer than the fellows who started when they were youngsters
 Now Plank had very wise head on his shoulders. He had long years of experience and he learned much Doubtless there was more than a grain of truth in both his theories. But according to Plank, ought to be on the verge of the has been" class my self. While on the contrary I never felt better in my life. M
 I should be inclined to explain Ed ward Plank's long years of service on a slightly different basis. Plank had a cool head that never got rattled. He had excellent control. And above all else; he had an easy arm motion. Show me the pitcher with these three things and I will show you a pitcher who, barring the hazards of the game, should last for many seasons.
 You will find that the pitchers who use themselves up at an early age, all most always throw the ball with a snap motion of their arms. There was Joe Wood for instance. Wood had unusual ability but he had a delivery that always seemed to me to be very wearing on the arm. I know Walter Johnson once said, that it made his own arm ache to see Wood pitch. Now it is true that Wood starred in the Ma jor Leagues at an unusually early age. But it is also true that he has not done much work for the past two seasons at
 I,. rounding into his prime.
 The first rule that I would tell any young pitcher is to live a normal, healthy life. He can stand late hours when he is young, but he can't dodge the effects of those late hours when he passes the thirty mark. l am not a prohibitionist. In fact enjoy a glass of beer as well as the next man. But I have lived on a fairly even schedule and have no bad debts in the form of wasted time and energy to pay up for now. I eat well and sleep we'll which is the main thing. Health is surely the founda- ton of a balI-player's success to an even greater degree than in most bus mess. And every business man will
 
 portant thing in the world.
 The second rule that I would tell a
 young fellow starting out on the long road to the Major Leagues, is to de- velop control. Control is easily sixty per cent. of a pitchers effectiveness. have known dozens of young fellows with great speed and strength. They would burn the ball across the plate
 and for a while they would get by But sooner or later these wise batters } that infest the Major League woods : would get wise to their curves and , hammer them out of the box. The third rule that should give tc ,, young pitchers is to acquire coolness ting knocked out of the box. But getting knocked out of the box is ire , quently due to the fact that the pitch , CT himself becomes badly rattled. One or two long hits got him entirely of
 balance and then he went up in the
 air. It is the one bad inning which
 wrecks ball games, for statistics show | that the winning club usually scores l more runs in single inning than the
 losing club did in nine.
 The fourth rule, I should tell the , beginner really is more important o1 , all. It is most important because il 7 includes all the rest. It is merely tc ) learn to use your head at all times The pitcher who does this will observe l the other rules I have tried to emu merate and probably several more that I may have omitted. There is CI1h hro where, in any profession. Now an6 : then a pitcher has so much stuff that he can get by for a while by use o1 very little real intelligence But ] . believe no pitcher ever made a last. liT1r