The Washington times., 1924-06-02
INJURY TO ARM CHANGES
!. MAYS FROM OVER TO
! UN|DERHANDPITCHER

UNDEkHAl
BY SID c.
r The pitching arm suddenly
the shoulder tighten and kinks Z
pain becomes excruciating, don't /
one more chance. Carl Mays wa
tight muscles and kinks at the ag
| Der Of six world series teams.
II was this epidemic of pitchin
the freaks Of the hill. It almost
was a sweeping overland pitcher
in the West Tri-State League.
During the closing days Of the
The muscles around the right shol
to boil out the pain. He tried tt
couldn't. The arm just couldn't \
Believing that slight exercise
would remove the kinks Mays
worked for a week with his catcher
with an underhand delivery. He
won his first game. 2 to 0, with two
hits with the underhand style.
From then on he was entirely an
underhanded pitcher.
Mays Immediately became the
center Of attraction around the
: baseball circuit with his freak style.
He had won % games and lost s
with the Boise team and was
drafted by the Portland club, Of the
Pacific Coast League, Reporting
the following spring he became q
curio. All of the other players
watched him, laughed at his style,
and he became 30 humorous to the
manager that he was not wanted.
But he was on Portland's hands
and place had to be found for him.
Luckily, Portland possessed two
clubs-another in the Northwestern
League, and Carl Mays, a lad Of
twenty one, was turned over to the
Class B circuit.
4 Mays was mot q bowling sue.
cess with Portland, as he tells his
i story He lost his first ten games.
Think Of that! And he still held
= his JOB! They were tough games,
close gains, / to 0 defeats, 2 to 1
score, 3 to 3, and like that.
The worm eventually turned and
FOLLOWING the losing streak Of ten
straight, came eleven successive
victories. :, - Sos
Fielder Jones. serving as presi
dent Of the Northwestern League.
was the scout for the Detroit
Tigers. With Mays leading the
Northwestern League in hitting, he
was recommended, together, with
Harry Heilmann, to the Detroit
Tigers. Mays looks like great
hitter. He'll never get by in the
American League with that awk.
ward underhand delivery, but be.
Neve he'll make it as an outIielder, =
was q, message Fielder Jones sent
TO Hughey Jennings, then manager
Of the Tigers.
Thus Mays was drafted by the
Providence club OF the international
League, then controlled BY the
Tigers.
But with Detroit having Cobb,
Crawford and Veach for the out.
field, Mays was not invited to re.
port to the Tigers the following
spring. Heilmahn was retained,
but Mays tarried with the Provi.
dence club.
How Detroit overlooked this
pitching wizard is told in another
: line from Mays story Of his ca.
reer. When Providence was sold
Z to doe Lannin, Of the Boston Red
SOx, the Tigers were given the
option of picking one player off
the international League club.
The selection was SOuthpaw Red"
Oldham, who won fourteen and
lost seven Mays won twenty
four and lost eight.
The Red Sox, however, were will.
ling to take a chance with the
Z pitcher with the freak delivery and
he reported to the Red Sox in the
! spring of 1915. With Joe Wood,
Ernie Shore, George Foster, HUI.
bert Leonard and Babe Ruth for the
! pitching staff Carl Mays sat on the
bench practically throughout the
9 1915 season absorbing experience.
He pitched occasionally and fin.
iShed with a record Of four victories
and six defeats.
The next year Mays graduated
to the regular staff. His career
! since 1915 practically is known by
every follower Of baseball. He won
twenty-five and lost nine in 1877,
and dazzled the American League
fence busters with his peculiar de.
livery. In 1918, no won twenty.one
and lost thirteen.
What makes Mays underhand
delivery ]. so effective? He was
8 asked for his views on his pitching
success and he answered with the
following:
/ When l. started using it / no.
ticed the batters hit many ground.
ers. Their base hits in the major.
ity Of cases were through the in.
. fielders. OF course, now and then
they got hold of one and labeled il
for a line drive, but with runners
around and a batter sending an
tnfield groupder there was that OBJ
portunity for a double play.
II saw them-those double plays
and that's why I never had de.
sire to go back to the overland
pitching style.
"YOu see gradually 1 gained in
experience. As a kid hardly
did anything more than throw
! the ball to my catcher. He gave
me the signal and i gave him
what he wanted.
when I got up to the Interna.
tional League though I discovered
TRADE IN 70
III FOR III