Evening star., 1929-06-26
FREAK HOME RUNS
GIVE RIVALS EDGE
Quaker Pitchers at Great
Disadvantage Because
of Short Fences.
BY GEORGE MORIARTY.
Big League Umpire.

~ URT SHoTTON, manager Of the
- Philadelphia Nationals, faces the
most unfortunate pitching prob
H. lem In the major leagues. It
arises because Baker Bowl, the
home lot for his club, is the only band
box playing field in the big circuits.
have discussed the situation with
several team bosses, and they contend
that the Philadelphia leader probably
win never be able to develop any star
pitchers while ordinary ny balls can
be converted into home runs by the
opposition.
offensively, the Philadelphia club
packs q strong punch, with Lefty
O'Doul furnishing the inspiration as
slugger de luxe. It Is not impossible
for him to become the batting cham
pion Of the elder loop this season
Klein, Hurst, Frieberg, whitney and
Thompson also have. done creditahle
work with the stick.
PhiIs Lack Only Pitchers.
Defensively, the club is endowed with
more than ordinary skin, except In the
pitchers box. Seventy-seven games on
the home grounds constitute the draw
back. Every pitcher who goes to the
mound for Shotton harbors mental
hazard before he delivers o ball to the
plate, and the strain continues during
the entire game provided the contest
is at all close.
Each Philadelphia pitcher, is UP
againt the task Of holding the pitch
inside or outside Of the plate, according
him from pulling" the delivery against
Or over the short fences.
It takes pitcher Of exceptional calm
and control to Wiggle out Of the various
tight spots that confront him In nine
innings on the Phillies' lot Young
pitchers are hit so hard that they can
not eyade the fear complex the small
park presents, and such being the case
the pitchers haven't the chance of gain
ing the control required to escape
home-rln hammering. In other words,
plate pitchers" e 49,
In looking back through the years
one sees that the Phillies have devel-
oped fewer pitchers than any other
major league club. Grover Alexander,
Of course, was great exception, but
Alexander in his prime could have
pitched successfully on q tennis court
or In stone quarry. Still, Alex pitched
for the Phillies before the advent of
the lively ball and that undoubtedly
saved him few heartaches.
Wouldn't Bother UhIe.
George Uhle and BurIeigh Grimes
would be bothered very little In Q small
park, because Of their remarkable con-
troll. Last wear Uhle ably demonstrated
his skill in small space. The mauling
Philadelphia Athletics were playing at
Dunn Field, Cleveland. The overflow
crowd was so big that playing space
was cut to minimum yet Philadelphia
hit only three or four OF Uhle's pitches
to the outfleld In nine innings.
Arthur Fletcher, a. Yankee coach. and
former manager OF the Philad delphiap
Nationals. recently told me about the
fnpcssibiiity of educating pitchers Ia
the small Philadelphia park
MY experience as manager Of the
PhillieS convinced me that the batters
have the home pitchers licked before
the game starts in that park," he said.
After losing q close game the, home
pitcher often came into the clubhouse
In q terrible rage. denouncing the band-
box park, and the complaint was JUS
titled Under the circumstances was
always in sympathy with the defeated
pitcher, even when he pitched the
wrong ball in pinch. -
Fletcher also explained that the vis-
ittng manager has the advantage Of
jockeying his pitching assignment to
conform with short series In the
Phillies' park, while the home club was
up against the same handicap every
day. So
(Copyrisht, 1899. by North. American News
paper Aliianee9