The Washington times., 1922-09-16

OuL COHpcIiIOIb Dy o HSlIy Hloi
Recent statistics on the whiff
sharks show Faber owning a com
Portable margin over his rivals. the
leading contenders being Shawkey,
of the Yankees: Shocker, Of the
Browns, and Vance, Of the Brooklyn
Robins. Despite his effectiveness,
Faber has lost several close hurting
duels, for, as a rule. when he pitches
the South Siders fail to assemble
many markers.
The brilliant record OF Faber pro.
vides a further boost for the
anointed delivery. At present there
are only a few spitball Fingers In
the American League. These are
Faber, Stanley Coveleskie, of the
Cleveland Indians: John Picus
Quinn. OF the Boston Red Sox, and
Allan Russell. Of the same machine.
In the National League the spit.
ters are Burleigh Grimes ana Clar.
ence Mitchell. of the Brooklyn
Robins; Dana Fillingim, Of the Bos.
ton Braves, and Bill Doak, of the
st. Louis Cardinals.
Faber has risen 10 the defense
Of the splitter regardless Of the
nagnate who. two years ago leeis-
hted against this sort Of delivery.
Some folks say the splitter 10
bad for a pitchers arm" said the
White SOx ace. That is not true.
can prove 1t by my own expert
enCe. | never resorted to the splitter
until ] was obliged TO by kind OF
necessity because nearly ruined
my arm throwing curves. That was
when | was in the minor leagues,
and can still remember how sore
my arm was from throwing hooks.
The spitball may be rttle
harder on some pitchers arms than
straight fast ball. but certainly
II Is not half as bad as throwing
a curve. The latter causes a con.
tinual grind at the elbow and in
many cases permanently shortens a
pitchers arm.
Slow ball pitching also has a
tendency to hurt pitching arm.
However, these deliveries are not
only legal, but are encouraged
AS pitchers go. I suppose ] am
growing old in the service, but
could throw spitters all day with
out feeling any Ill effect A splitter
must be thrown moderately fast,
the ball slipping away from the
two front fingers of the pitching
hand and sailing up to the batter,
rotating verys slowly. Then II
hi eaks down and to one side.
What is there unnatural about
that or hard on the arm? l have
been using the spitball for years
and have never been able to dis
cover any faults.
"SOme folks contend II Is un-
sanitary. Well. ! won't argue
about that. never wet the ball.
but merely the ends Of the first
two fingers on my right hand.
The whole theory Of the spttball
Il to let the sphere slide away
from smooth surface. Wetting
the fingers creates this smooth
surface.
by the time the ball has Travelled
through the air, met the bat and
been driven to some infielder II Is
perfectly dry. No infielder needs to
make an error on such a ball.
"Of course, ! can't say that some
spitball pitchers have not mlsused
the privilege. But they didn't need
to and that explodes the myth that
the splitter causes a lot Of errors
by the infielders.
"a spitball pitcher always chews
something. It's an odd thing but !
have been forced to experiment with
things to chew.
Some spitball pitchers use
slippery en-. but II doesn't work
with me. 1t is too slippery and
I can't control the ball.
"I have tried chewing gum, but
that is not slippery enough. so
have fallen back on the good old
custom, now much abused, that
Of chewing tobacco. That fills the
bill for me. never chew. how.
ever, except when I am pitching.
DO think II mistake 20
abolish the spitballf I most