The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-28
ALKING
IT OVER
By JOE WILLIAMS

By JOE WILLIAMS
NEW YORK. May 2s.-Twenty
IN thousand youngsters filed Mad
tson Square Garden Monday night
as guests of the New York Tele-
gram and heard Walter johnson,
greatest right-hand pitcher OF ms
dav and present manager OF tne
1esQue-leading Washingtons. say
.sDonf let ANYBODY tell YOU there Is any
thing wrong with baseball as profession.
have fond the game very wonderful ano
ont Of 4 1 have made some wonderful
friendships I have three BOYS at home
They are all BAH players after fashion
They want to grow up and play Dig league
ball. will be very proud father II IN
later years I can visit one Of the big
league ball parks and watch my sons play
II
NNE of the things these twenty
" thousand youngsters did not
hear was that Johnson's Oldest boy
Walter Junior. a pitcher like his Ia
nous dad, is back home conVa-
lescing from an automobile accident
which for a time threatened nm
with the loss Of his right leg.
.wn.. carried him most all the tim.
he was in the hospital" confded the great
old pitcher" was that he might not De
able TO get out and pitch for his nine this
summer. but am happy to say 1t begins TO
look as If he will"
THESE 10000 youngsters also
/ heard Babe Ruth tell his IA
tyorite baseball yarn: Adult the TALL
Qangling country boy who in max
ing his debut as batter slammed
the ball a mile over the right Held
er's head.
go on and run" screamed his team
mates as he stood motionless at the plate
watching the ball bounce among the potato
plants. run hell, I'll buy you guys
another ball"
THEY also heard Ruth deliver a
l. touching eulogy on the merits
of old men in baseball:
"They are beginning to call me an oiu
man. and 1t is true am getting no young,
er But don't believe you should pc kep'
on the bench just because you have ie"
-, hairs in YOUR head. Sitting out there
torivbt IL old Dairy Vance-he's dizzy TO
..sEToi Ho, Holland what did ne 10
..s.v but shut out the Giants with TWO
bits think that's pretty good for an
old man. And sitting next to MIN Is oiu
San, rice. He's plenty old and look al Nun
TODAY. batting so hard that nOoouS Oh
his team is even close to him.
M nm councillors also
heard Vance disclose a lew Oh
his pitching secrets, to Wit:
~ That the best way to become ias'
hail nItcher is to shorten the strides TINS
enables the pitcher to pat more body lntO
An. delivery, to develop greather rhS'ni"
and as a logical consequence surer con-
troll.
f91 That he relies on no particular va
riety of ball in a pinch. sueh as When
the count is three and two on the hitter
and runs are on the bases. HIS system 10
10 study the hitter. decide what his weak
ness is and pitch to 1t at all times ms
expIoded a popular theory that the Dazzier
always went to the curve in the tight Spots
go That in his case he diners from lhe
average speed ball pitcher in that ne pre-
fsrs 10 mitch on a bright day rather than
a cloudy
perience that it is harder to see fast ball
pitching in cleaning sunlight tnah "heh
the sun is obscured.
THIS latter observation pro
voked Bill Terry, the Giants
capable first baseman, to remark
that if Vance pitched any better on
q bright day than he did Monday,
(which was not bright day, against
the Giants. he for one did not want
to be within twenty-three kilometers
of him. A casual glance at the box
ycore of that game will tell all OPP
posite the name Of Mr.. Terry were
weer Iugubrious numerals-4-O-O'
n
TT H.. twentv thousand youngsters also
heard Young Melvin OFT say few re-
iuctant things about himself and about the
game which he interpretS so skiHiuly'
Speaking in his slow southern draw mel
admitted that he didn't try for home run
every time he came TO the plate III
- inst get on that's all / want. He
wasn't sure what pitchers bothered him
Sbe most There are some days when
You can't hit anv Of them"
Il
OTT confessed he didn't care
" much about batting against
Mister Vance land this in spite OF
the fact that he got the only clean
hit off Mister Vance in Mondays
game. He didn't know just what
to tell the youngsters who wanted
to know how to become great bat
tiers. You just go up there
and take your swing and II you
happen to bust one, then you're a
hitter"
=
Melvin didn't want to say whether the
ball that Is in use this year Is any bouncier
than IL was year EgO....t sure does