Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-26
(BY KAlOp

What are pitching records worth!
Are the star boXmen OF today more
effective than those of ycsterdayT
If We go back to ancient records inc
performance of a. G.. SpaldinS in the
days of the Boston club and the Ma
tional association stands uneiualcu'
Spaldng pitched thruout the season
with a record of .S99, which has never
been duplicated since. II we take the
performances of pitchers regardless OF
league We are forced to present tho
palm to Baxter Sparks. a young
pitcher, who was a native OF hazoo
Mississippi and pitched with the team
of that place in the Delta league-a
member of organized baseball He is
credited with pitching thirty-three
games of which he Won twenty-one in
succession, among them being three
doublc-headers and three shut-outS.
He also pitched four games in one
week against two teams. This was IN
1904
The great controversy regarding rel
,ativc playing ability of oId-time stars
now past and gone. and present-day
phenoms will never cease. After all IL
is no more or less than matter OF
judgment. There is this fact, how
ever, in the argument of those old
timc fans: Leading batsmen never
retrograded. os far as their records
were concerned, against pitchers OF
the decade before and those of the
present time. They continued TO hit
with the same frequency the star slab
men of yesterday those OF today.
But considering the advantages 1t
would seem only fair to great pitchers
who are or have been members oil
teams which continue in the second
division TO give them the preference
against the most prominent pltchcrs
of the leading teams of the old Ma
tionsl and American leagues. If we do
4, hi f-fyD tho hnnnrS IN Wall
ter johnson, of the Washington team.
Tho lot of the pitcher must be more
difficult with the Washington team to
back him UP than it would be with
Speakers champion Indians, because
| the individual strength in offcnsc ana
defense is not comparative.
If one will note pitchers who have
made onviable records for themselves
and for their teams. in majority oil
cases that pitcher has been a member
of n team which has been playing
phenomenal ball.
The record OF Tim Kccfo of nineteen
straight victories with the New York
team stood as tho record from 1ssS
luntil Marquard euualled II for the
same New York Giants in 1912. inc
| Giants won tho pcnnant both these
wears. 1t would seem absolutely un-
fair to compare everything equal with
the record OF Kcnfe and Marauard with
the moro difficult task of Walter
johnson.
If one will consider all angles OF the
pitching game the most enviable rec
ord made by any pitcher was that OF
lCharley Radbourn, OF the old ProNi-
dencc team back in 1854. He pitched
eighteen straight victories and pitched
them all inside of one month-many
of them on successive days, and IN
the eighteen days the hits in each
game only got into double figures
.of,, #1,t IA hpyt M
be overlooked is that in the days OF
kcefe the pitching distance was 90
feet, and the same is true OF Rad
lbourn, while the record of Marquard
was with the box back 10 feet
Inches farther. \ great handicap say
the modern fans, but don't lose sight
of the fact that while the pitchers box
In the days OF Radbourn and keete
measured 5h feet by feet and the
pitching distance was only 30 feet inc
pitcher must have been friEhtfully
handicapped by the batter being al
lowed to call for either high or low
ball. Casually Marquard's feat under
the present long distance pitching,
would seem the most difficult, but as a
matter OF fact experience has proven
that tho heightened distance increased
rather than diminished the pitcher ;
effectiveness, as 1t permits Of much
better curves without prccepuble cf-
feet on speed or change of pace. Provi-
dencc won tho championship with Rad
} bourn's great pitching.
A record almost equaling that oil
Radbourn and which did not win the
championship was that of Mickey
Welsh, OF the New York Nationals In
llsS5. Under tho same distance box
as well as high and low ball handicnps
Welsh won seventeen successive
games. In this wonderful record hc
shut Chicago out twice, although thcy
won tho championship. first game
TO o, second game IL to and he alst
shut out philadelphia and Providence
This record, however. docs not dctrac'
from that Of Waltnr Johnson bccanar