Evening star., 1923-01-26
Temperdn,ents of Rookie
T,UirLers-The Trouble
With Rube Marquard.
When Is a Curve Not a
Cure ve?-S pi tbalI
Pitchers Doomed.
- HE most difficult problem a
manager confronts in build
ing up a pitching staff is the
-zz1.:~ x.,:-In- -.:sI, o~>ok


ing up a pitching staff is the
rookie twirler, with great
natural ability and dozens of faults
who has made a reputation in the
minor leagues. They must have done
something to get promoted. AS a
result of this many Of them imagine
that they know it all. And you
mustn't lose sight of the fact that
youth is youth. These players are
mere boys with very little develop
ment Of their reasoning powers
simply harum-scarum kids.
You can readily understand how
! easy 1t is to turn the head Of boy Of
nineteen by newspaper publicity and
public admiration. To escape that a
! young man must be unusually level
| headed. And II he is too serious and
! reflective he is lacking in pep and
( spirit.
This problem, imagine. coafronts
executives in many lines Of business
| as well as in sport.
| 1t Is not at all uncommon for these
| self-satisfled young men to openly
resent any coaching intended to rem
|
| they have any.
Type II Quickly Spotted.
This type Of young pitcher is
quickly spotted by his new manager
| and the coaches. Then our problem
! begins. We don't want to kill his
| overconfldent spirit. and at the same
| time he must be reformed to be OF
any value to himself or to the club
Wilbert Robinson had great knack
! Of handling these young men. Jen-
| nings also seems to understand them.
/ They must be made TO like their in
| structors and to have confidence in
| them. II we get that far there is q
+, chance.
Many of them, though. prove ut
! terly impossible. The only thing is
| to cast a boy like that aside, much to
| his surprise and indignation. On his
return to his home or his old club he
makes 1t clear to his friends and to
| the newspaper men that he was not
given a fair trial. And he goes right
along with his faults, remaining in
the minor leagues until the end OF his
! playing days He never understands.
Most Rockies Are Willing.
Most Of the rockies are willing and
| anxious to be taught. They can be
| developed, and II is from pitchers of
A famous pitcher with whom we
| had great difficulty at first was Rube
| Marquard. Apparently he had every
thing. In the American Association
he was almost unbeatable. 1t was on
that record that we paid $1,000 for
| him. 1 still think that the immense
| amount of publicity following that
| deal in which Rube got the sobriquet
| IF the eleven -thousand-doll beau
| y" interfered a lot with his prog
! resS. ! don't mean TO say that Mar
| luard was swellheaded. He was any
hing but that. 1t was nervousness
| over living up to a great reputation
that seemed to upset him.
Wilbert Robinson was our coach
then and I turned Rube over to him
Marquard got very fond of Robbie and
| by degrees the old coach was able to
work him out Of hfs faults.
Marquard's Main Fault.
His main fault was of putting the
| ball over the plate with nothing on
| it, as we say. Rube had trouble with
| his control. After whipping a few
curves-and he had a beauty-and
some fast ones around the batter, he
| would find himself in the hole. So
| fearful was he of not being able to
get the ball over when 1t came down
to two-and-three that he would SIM
ply. toss it over as straight as a
string. In other words. he had SO
much stuff that he was afraid to use 1t.
Obviously the only thing to do was
| to perfect his control SO that he
| would not get in that hole. He
| worked very hard and under constant
stead OF being afraid to turn one
loose he got to where he could even
play the corners with either his
| curve or his fast one. When right
Marquard's fast ball had a peculiar
jump to 1t that was complete
use Of this ball at the right moments
| that he won his nineteen straight
games.
The point I try to make is that if
Marquard had been Of the swellhead
type, who refuse to recognize faults,
he would never have been success
full big league pitcher. / have seen
many pitchers with as much natural
stuff as Marquard had who never got
past the training period.
why Rusie Was Great.
Very few of our present-day fans
remember Amos Rusie. He was q
| wonderful pitcher and his greatness
| lay exactly in the spot where Mar
guards early fault developed;
Rusie had tremendous speed and q
| wonderful curve. He could throw
curve ball almost as fast as his reg
ular fast one. Not only that. but ne
had the nerve and confidence TO whip
his curve over the plate when When. IN nara a
try a curve when the count is two
strikes and three balls. They've go,
to get the ball over, and to be sure
they usually use their fast one
Rusie had no such misg1vings. II IN
such a hole he would delfoerateIy
pitch his curve ball with every OUNCE
j Of steam he could put on It. Usuaiiy
he stood batters on their ears py
that kind Of pitching.
Rusie, by the way, is now ASSIST
ant watchman at the Polo Grounds
Dan Brouthers is the other watch
man. often we get together and talk
over old times. Always ! have hao
a deep sentiment for veteran Dali,
players. and 1 try to get them gooo
place any time there is a chance.
Only Two Kinds Of Balls.
For the enlightenment Of those
who, perhaps, are not so familiar
with base ball terms, I had better
explain that in the lingo Of ordinary