Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-23
Pitchers Go to Any Extreme.

It was a crime to what ends many
pitchers went last year to get freak
break on the ball. I know from per-
sonaI experience what lot OF Ameri-
can League pitchers did. while l nave
the word of number of National
League umpires that conditions were
as bad in their league. 1 don't be-
lieve over a dozen pitchers in the
American League last year didn't resort
to trick pitching. A favorite stunt was
to take a new ball and make 1t look
as old as possible while YOU count
three. There was no deep stuff about
such a stunt; it merely was the soil
ing of a ball on one side, while the
other was left clean. This was what
was known as the black and white ball.
1t created an optical illusion as it passed
through space and made it difficult to
follow the ball.
Loading the seams was another favor
lite diversion Into the seams was work.
ed a base of paraftin. hcorice or some
other sticky substance that would take
up dirt. After working it in, the pitcher
filled the seams with dirt That made
one part of the ball bit heavier than
the other. and when you consider that
| ball weighs only five ounces it is cas-.
| to see what that added weight would do
| in getting break in the ball, depend
ing in its course on the manner in
which it was delivered. The loaded
bowling ball, which was legiSlated out
of the tenpin game some years ago.
American League umpires last year
needed to be registered chemists or full
fledged detectives to solve a lot Of the
methods resorted to by pitchers.
Finds Stitches Are Cut.
Just to show to what limits the
scheme was worked, / shall relate an
hn oh
ton of Umpire Hildebrand. 1t is GUS
tomary for American League umpires
to get 4 certain number Of new balls
to start n game. They are supposed
to be sealed in the box. In this game
the balls had been removed from their
, closely It seemed to him the ball was
cut between each stitch for about two
| inches, a dozen cuts in all. Thin king
he had merely picked UP bad ball. he
inspected another and found it had been
| similarly tempered with He looked
over the entire dozen, and all were the
same He confiscated the box and sent
! it to President Johnson
| The last time I was in our Chicago
office Mr.. Johnson had the balls as
Exhibit A in the fight against trick
pitching All that was necessary for
the pitcher to make a certain part of
that ball rough and produce the same
effect as the enemy was to pass his
! thumb nail over the ball where 1t had
been cut and the spot would beo>me
wingy.
/ Trick pitching is doomed to go. prin-
cipally because it is unsportsmanlike.
For a time it may work a hardship on
some pitchers, but majority will get
by as well without it. / could cite no
better example than Pitcher Sothoron
of the st. Louis Browns. Sothoron is
great pitcher without the trick stun
yet no pitcher can do more things to the
ball IL so disposed AS matter o!
fact, / have always believed he would
be even more valuable If he used his
regular stuff In many cases. believe
he has developed wild streaks that have
cost him ball games, simply because OF
some trick stuff that got away from
him.
Copyright. 1913. by W. G. Eyans9