The Washington herald., 1919-04-27
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himself. He discovers after awhile.
that he has team mates and that
they are paid to cooperate with
him. Every pitcher loves to have
his team mates give him a margin
of two or three runs to work on,
but l believe IL he had to choose,
he would prefer a tight fielding
team to a good hitting one.
1t is a great strain on pitcher to
work in an alright game where his
team mates fail to give him often
sive support. but it is a much great
er strain to work for the team
whose irregular fielding is always :
likely to throw away the advantage
gained by his own hard work. Still
the experienced pitcher learns to
take whatever comes. He knows
that his fellow fielders are human
beings and that they cannot do per-
feet work. He also knows that no
matter how imperfect their work. :
they are really doing the best they
can for him. and that is great
satisfaction.
Advise to Young Pitchers. l
have already given advice on
several occasions to young pitchers
and do not know that ! have any |
thing to add to that advice. If.
there is one thing that | would !
like to emphasize, at the risk of
repetition. it is this: No pitcher, !
whatever his ability. will get very
far IL he hasn't confidence in him |
self.
have spoken of Frank Baker
as the man who has hit me more
freely than any other batter, and ,
yet if a pitcher is foolish enough (,
to go into a game worrying about
some particular batter he has to (,
face. he won't last very long in
the American League. When / face !
Frank Baker or any other danger !
Gus batter. I give him the kind of
ball he is least likely to hit and !
let 1t go at that. If he connects
safely, that is merely my bad luck. .
pitcher should have confidence ,
in every ball he pitches. He must !
have II he is going to keep his
control. and control is everything. /
Besides the odds of the game are
all in his favor. No batters hit
for 1000 per cent. No batteries hit
safely half the time. Few hit
even a third of the time. If a bat
ter hicks him for a single. he must |
not worry. but put his energy into /
getting the next man up.
Must Have Confidence.
Many times there are three men on
and yet no one scores. Even if they
do. and gain big lead. the pitcher
must pull himself together and try
to hold them. His own club is always
likely to come to his rescue with
enough runs to win.
a ball game is never over until the
last man is out. To sum up every
thing IN a Few words. I would say
10 the young pitcher. go to the box
and pitch with enough confidence to
feel that anything you try will bo
all right. But if you have a tendency
that way, be on your guard against
overconfidence. You cannot stand up
there and put the ball over the MA 70 I
all the time without being hit and hit
hard.
One other piece of advice. and l am
through. 1t is advice which I have
learned to value, because I have
proved its worth in my own exneri-
ence. ] would tell the young pItcber
to listen TO all the other men have
to say to him, but in the main to de-
pend upon his natural style of pitch
inS Whatever that style may be.
Never Had Sore Arm,
When 1 broke into the league. sew
eral well-meaning persons tried hard
TO get me to change my style list
ened to them, but I would not follow
their advice. and / am very glad now
that did not do so. For had sense
enough to know that the style of
pitching which came natural to me
was the style that 1 could use longest
without exertion and without injury
to my arm.
And so in spite of the fact that 1
have probably done as much work as
any other pitcher since have been
in the league. and i believe have used
more speed than any other pitcher.
my arm has never bothered me. This
Is statement that few pitchers can
truthfully make. for the great ma
Jority even OF the very best have had
repeated trouble with their pitching
arms.
This does not mean that the Young
pitcher may not have some slight de-
fect in his delivery which should he
remedied. Once. in a while a little
change makes big difference to al 4
most any pitcher. The batter has well
recognized slumps and worries a good
deal about them. 1t is not always
known perhaps. but a pitcher is also
subject to slumps.. He may be slight
ly off his stride. He NAV sfan n littIa |