Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-21
TRICK PITCHING
HAS BECOME PASSE
Few Baseball Lawyers Trying
to Beat Rules About H.
legal Delivery
HUGH McQUlLCEN'S INJURY

'NNE advantage about the abolition
" Of trick pitching is the lack OF gun
and gurgle that we've been compelled
to listen to about new forms Of twIri-
ing. Every youngster that came np
would boast of new delivery: every
fading veteran would declare that he had
discoverc mystifying new hop.
It was chop" all right.
Unless two men are identical in de-
velopment and method of throwing n
ball no two will have the same de-
livery. Ma.howson's fade away
was just a slow ball. dropping by the
force Of gravity: McGinnity's ''Old
Sal" was n fast one that came in low.
and took a rising slant. There was n
deal of "natural' ability with nearly
every trick ball that was developed, eX-
cept ones like Russell Ford's emery ball.
whose shoots were due to tho pressure
OF the atmosphere on scuffcd section
Of the sphere.
Pitching. ms n fine art, is nearly nt
it's low ebb in these days. We haven I
nny food of wonders such as thronged
the two leagues n dozen or more years
ago. II the present moundsmen get
nv. thcy must do it with the brains
with which Nature endowed them, q
fast ball. a curve and foatcr.
Had rot legislation been enacted con :
cerning the trick deliveries batting
would have become n lost art--and the
nublic interest would have waned with
the passing Of It.
There are few baseball LAWYERS
irving to heat the game in these times
They are probably convinced that they
cant fool the powers that be, and that
the hest and only thing they can DO Is
make their natural stuff 80 good that
they won't need trickery.
Tho injury of Hugh McQuilan in IN
automobile accident may do n lot to
hurt the Giants nennant- winning
chances next year. Hugh is good
nitcber-a better one than he showed
in most of his games last season. Most
of the time he was submerged 1T the
losing atmosphere Of the Braves. and
no couldn't quite shake it OH even
when he had ascended to the more rar!-
fed atmosphere Of the pennant win
ners.
If by any chance McQnillcn's injury
does him any harm. it will add one
more to the list Of these who have been
impaired for the game by r"ckless run
ming Of their motors. Hughey. of
course. claims that the fault lay with
the person driving the other ear. lie
was just learning. so the reports say.
Lefty Earl Hamilton. who has hecn
mainstay of tho Pittsburgh Pirates
for many years. came within an ace Of
hcin: shunted out of fast COMPANY al
! together, becarsc the nearly fatal cf-
fccts of n, JOY ride. In those days
Hamilton was living high and stepping
wide.
But. while Oh party. Earl drove his
bus into a wreck that broke lot nt
bones and caused him to be waived out
of the American League. Since then
he has been model Of circumspection
He pitched steady. reliable ball. and
the Pirates have never had any com :
plant about giving him another chance.
The first Of the big lcaguers to GO to
the minors via the automobile ronle
was Cy Morgan. the spitball king of the
champion Athletics Of decade ago.
Cy spent his World Series coin on n
big car, and forgot that there was nny
| such troublesome thing a. baseball. lie
didn last very long after that.
Virtually every ball player In the big
leagues owns an automobile in these
piping times. and not one in a couplc
of hundred has any trouble. because
they nr" careful and cautions drivers,
1t is only when recklcssncss ar wild
parties enter into the reckoning that
these accidents crop up.