The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-04
NEW YORK SCRIBE BOASTS MOIST
 DELIVERY

Barney Dreyfuss of Pittsburgh has come out in favor of spitless days for maJor league pitchers. He would make all Of them that way-that is the days. We have had hitless days, run less days, and even, you might say, hopeless, days in baseball, but up to this time, if pitcher desired to ex- pectorate upon a baseball, there has been none to say him no. For that matter, there has been none to say him yes, says Louis Lee Arms in the New York Tribune.
 We are inclined to agree with MT. Dreyfuss. At first blush it might seem that under a republican form of government, no action should be taken against such a democratic in- stitutbon. It might even be regarded as a sign of decadence. Rome went to the dogs when Rome became ef- fete. We should proceed with care. The first thing we know MT. Drey- fuss may try to abolish the pitchers undershirt.
 But otherwise there is merit to the proposed liquid amendment of the Pittsburg magnate. When Elmer Stricklett invented a new way for minor league pitcher to stay in the majors-that is, the discovery of the spitball-he sent a lot of our best hit ting into the ash can. There has been no single blow aimed at hitting that fell with the effect of the liquid slant.
 Elmer was simple spittist, so to speak. He moistened the ball and threw it and that's all there was to it. Since that time pitchers have inn proved upon Elmer's quaint delivery, until now, when Eddie Cicotte pre- pares to throw a saturated shoot, there always seems grave danger that he will swallow the ball.
 Eddie is so modest or secretive about his spitbau that he virtually re- tires behind his glove when he makes ready to toss it, and sometimes he may not be seen for several mo- ments. This works upon the batters lhigh-strung nerves to such an extent that he often misses the ball by a matter of three or four feet. Helnle Zimmerman, at heart simple lad, proved during the Worlds Series what an unfair thing Cicotte's spit ball is, at least from New York viewpoint, by refusing to hit it at all. | But even if pitchers had not dis covered such deceiving ways of dellv- ering a spitball, and developed such things as the bluff splitter, the half splitter, the splitter that breaks in, the splitter that breaks out, and the spit l ter that the shortstop throws into the grand stand after an easy grounder | is hit at him, it would remain as a fact that the spitball quells, and often murders hitting, and the public likes hitting.
 | It is all very well to say to the pub lie what Commodore Vanderbilt is once reported to have said, but in these days of government regulation and public service commissions the public has gradually arisen in the world until he may not be kicked and
 cuffed about any more with impunlty.
 He is still kicked and cuffed about without impunity; but of that, no
 matter!
 | Hitless ball games are the most in 1 teresting things. imaginable. For one thing, they last only an hour or so, and when a man is far uptown there l is nothing to do until six anyhow, and if he lams into his home too
 early his better half is apt to think he
 has lost his job.
 The interesting thing about base
 ball is confusion, and there is no con- fusion when the batters are being spitballed into a state Of the W Iinnocuous desuetude. The public likes
 to see men abase, two-baggers, triples
 and home runs, and plenty of them;
 umpires forced to be here and there
 and everywhere, that every one in
 the grand stand may get a chance to speak to them; base runners sliding
 on their wheel bases and Johnny EVers l hurling- his lower jaw into the enc nly's trenches, timed to explode four seconds after being released
 There is too much law and order about a game that is owned, con- |, trolled and largely operated by pair of expert spitters. The spitbal pitch CTS idea of a perfect ball game is when 27 men only face him. The pub lie would rather see a baseball pitcher throw to the Army and Navy.
 1 MT. Dreyfuss is right. Out of the l spitball grew the emery, the slippery elul, Lne hluCh1e, LLe AO7AA S nefarious styles of delivery. It IS get | ting so the batter doesn't know where
 he is at. Every time he comes to the
 park some pitcher, still trying to
 maintain his standard of lVlng by re- maining in the major leagues mas
 new one to spring on nm.
 It was only last week that one of
 these pitchers was telling us about
 the one he is going to use on the hrst
 hot day next summer. He plans 10
 hide the ball in a refrigerator and roll
 it across the plate. That will annoy
 the batter Even if he should think
 to open the icebox to get a crack at
 the ball the chances are that the pot
 ties on the top shelf would make him lforget the business at hand.