The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-16
FEW HURLERSOF
SPLITTER REMAIN
IN BIG LEAGUES
These Survivors of Era OF Freak
Pitching Are Rapidly Fading
From Scene.
BY JOHN Il. FOSTER

! Copyright, 1922, by The Argus.)
Among others training in the
south for the baseball season OF
1922 there are Doak, Grimes, Fill
Iingim, Goodwin, Mitchell and Ru-
dolph of the National league. These
are the exempt spitball pitchers.
! Most OF the fans had forgotten that
there is a special license attached
TO them.
/ DoaK and Goodwin are both Of
/ St. LOUIS ana that gives st. LOUIS
the large slice of melon, such as it
is. Crimes seems TO nave settled on
Brooklyn tor his summer vacation,
succumbing TO the prospective de-
lights OF Coney Island, although he
made long bluff to get the added
prlce of hot dogs. Mitchell Is also
with Brooklyn, which would give
brooklyn more pitching mustard
were 1t not tor the TACT Jnat he Is as
likely to play i'll the field as he is
to pILCh He is an all around handy
boy till:ngim and Rudolph are
with Boston, and at nrst glance
that would seem to balance st.
Louis, but Eagle Dick OF the Ru
dolpn tribe, is about done as a
pitcher except for now and then,
largely then.
Kay Fisher was one of the first
National league spitballers but he
seems 10 be out OF the big show for
good. Douglas of the Giants is
also permitted to use the sp.tball
but he isn't ready to start Maybe
he is dry and shy OF slippery
ellum."
In the American league the two
first spitballerS on the roll are
Ayers, who was with Washington
and isn't, and Ray Caldwell. who
was with Cleveland in 1871, but
will vote from another city this
coming season Covelskie is still
going strong and Faber may have
a good year although it will be ask
ing a lot of him 10 lead the Amer
lean league for the second season in
succession. Leonard has been
corresponding adventurously and
numerously pickering with Detroit
about a mule mater of some tnou-
sands of dollars which he thinks
should be added to his salary this
year.
Old Jack Quinn, who doesn't like
to be called Old Jack, and who
shouldn't be, has inyoluntarily |
transferred his affections from New
York to Boston, and Russell is still
a Boston by-product. Shocker will I,
try hard to be the st. Louis star an
other summer. Sotheron said last |,
20 hot hn h. /,
Cleveland has persuaded him that /
he is still too young to go regularly i
to work.
Last OF Freaks.
That is all of the spitball list and !
it is petering out season by sea- /;
son and soon will be wiped off the |
baseball map. 1t is the last heri- |
tage of the era of freak deliveries |
which for a time threatened to put !
an end to all the batting that had |
been cultivated ever since the time |
that the eastern teams some years
ago argued that the pitchers of the
west were getting too strong for
their batters. OF course the base
ball people would never concede
that any motive so sordid as that
had Influenced them in changing
a rule, but years ago, if one had
been able to stick his ear inside a
certain National league meeting
which was held in Chicago. he
would have heard oratory that /
would have Clipped block of
granite pavement, and all of it had
10 do with the pitching problem.
BY the end of this season it may be
that not more than half a dozen
'pitball pitchers will remain in the
game