The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-23
w. JOHNSON STARTED
 CAREER AS CATCHER
Playing On High School Team He Later Tried
 Pitching And Made Good

merican ......... VI o' .'Io with my head and Shins as well, and l caught n wild pitch with my bare hand before I WIS convinced that 1t was no usc to % any further, and so l told the crowd that 1 was through. It seemed right then and there that my DaseDah career was at an end.
 Walters Chance
 But fate plays funny pranks on us mortais. On the day before one or the important games the team had on us schedule the regular pitcher arm be came sore. Somehow or other he had hurt his shoulder trying to throw too many curves in practice. This IS Dad business for Il youngster. l wouldn advise boys to try curvlng them at an early age Speed and control IS what they should strive for at the beginning. Curves can come at later stage.
 We'll, they had nobody to fall back upon, and the same player who insisted that I could become q good catcher now insisted that I could become good pitcher. They must have had lot of confidence ill my pitching ability for the game was to be played against. q neigh boring school that was the champion of that part of the state at. the time. For a week before the game l did noth- ing else but throw straight balls at the catcher. 1 had lot of speed the boys were all enthusiastic about me. The whole crowd would stand right back of me and watch the ball go soaring over the plate toward the catcher with a speed that even surprised me. Some times it would take some funny jumps first to one side of the plate then to the other. The boys thought 1 was de- liberately curvinG them, but 1 was not. 1 believe they must have been striking air currents which made them change their course. This phenomena gave me an idea. l soon found out that by holding the ball in diffrent ways in my hands I could get certain curves on the ball. In this way 1 learned that l could throw inShoots and outshoots as well as drops.
 The Big Day
 Well the day came when 1 was to pitch my first game of baseball. And I must confess it was d hot game a. that, one of the hottest l ever engaged in. We played 15 innings and neither side scored l famed over ten men and as the game progressed 1 seemed to be getting better and better. One thing l remembered helped me considerably. l gained lot of confideHce in myself as the game went on from inning to in- ming. And this is half the battle in pitching. I didn't seem to mind in the least when one of the opposing bat ters slammed the ball out beyond the reach of the fielders. pitched all the harder. So with capable coaching, en- couragement, instruction, as the game went on, l managed to pull through that fifteen inning game in fine share.
 1 pitched in six more games for my high school team winning about half of them. "All the time, however, I never had a thought of becoming profes- sioual baseball player. l liked farming pretty well and the idea of earning q living by playing a game didn't know mcuh about, did not appeal to me. But it seems that there are influences at work that shape mans career for him, and l believe mine was shaped with some end in view.
 News Spread
 News of my victories for my high school team spread pretty fast. The papers used to carry quite bit of amateur baseball news and this must have attracted the attention of baseball fans throughout that section of the country, l know that it attracted one particular friend of mine who was at that time living in Tacoma. Wash, and who had heard of my success in south ern California. This friend who had haar xx-itI, ho I |. I written me telling me that 1 should try out with Tacoma which was at that time in the Pacific Coast League under the management of Mike Fisher, one of the best known baseball men on the coast 20 years ago. This friend whose name was Barnett insisted that I would make good. l do not know where he got the information that l could pitch {; and 1t seemed to me that l would re- Quire lot of nerve to try to play pro- fessional ball while l was still an in- experienced high school pitcher in my teens. didn't like the idea of going away from home to strange coun- try to take q job l wasn't quite sure l was fitted for, but Barnett proved so insistcnt that I finally decided to give it fling.
 So l obtained parents consent to go north to Tacoma. This was in 1906 right after the big fire and earthquake that lay San Francisco in ruins. I am not much at boasting but 1 must state that it took considerable nerve for me to try out with q fristclass professional club when l had engaged in only 12 games in all my life and when I knew but very few rules of the game. Many players have related to me how they have broken into the big leagues pure ly on nerve. can say with equal truth that l broke into professional base ball on my particular friends nerve in in. sisting to the Tacoma management that 1 would make good"
 Next Sunday Walter Johnson will tell about his first venture in profes. sional base ball, how he was discovered by the big leagues and how he felt when he first faced the great Ty Cobb.
 INCOMPLETE
 Mrs. Bing-Oh, I wish these recipes would be more definite.
 Mir. Bing-What's the difficulty, m! dear!
 Mrs. Bing-This one tells how to us, up old potatoes, but it does not sa! how old the potatoes must be.-Pro gressive Grocer.
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