The Washington times., 1930-05-28
BABE LABELS
GOSSIP As
By BABE RUTH

NEW YORK CITY, May 28.-
The lively ball is with us again.
or at least conversation about it
And right off the bat let me say
that conversation, to my mind is
90 per cent. don't deny that the
ball is any livelier now than it was
10 or is years ago. It certainly
is. But 1 don't think it's any
more lively right now than it was
last season or the season before
or the season before that.
And it's my humble opinion that
the so-called "lively ball" is just
about the best alibi for a lot of
inferior pitchers that was ever
heard of. It's an excuse for a
lot of fooliShness out in that box,
and lot of fellows are getting
by as pitchers these days who
ought to be back in the minor
leagues.
The ball is lively, sure-but
all the excitement now is IS
per cent alibi and rs per cent
baseball.
Here's the proof. In that rec
ordbreaking series we played in
Philadelphia the other day pitch
ers came and went like snow
flakes in December. And every.
where we heard bowling about the
ball. But-and don't forget this
when George Pipgras was out
there on that mound the lively
ball didn't bother him any.
George had permitted one run in
something like SO innings.
And when George Walberg was
out there he didn't seem to be an
noyed by any lively ball. Not a
bit. Yet these two fellows we're
pitching right in the midst of the
hone-run barrage and with the
very baseballs that were being hit
out of the lot against other pitch
ers. Ted Lyons doesn't suffer
much from the lively bah, does
he? Or Bob Grove, or Dazzy
Vance? Not so you can notice it.
Fellows like that take their pitch
ing seriously, and when they're
out there the bali has something
on it besides trade mark and
. prayer.
When pitchers stand up there
on that hill and have to lay the
ball right down the middle with
out anything on it, in order to
get the ball over, you can't blame
hitterS for digging in and taking
full swing. And when they hit,
it's a cinch the ball is going out
Of the park. And then when
pitchers like that go back to their
hotels at night, they don't men
ton the fact that they had moth
ing. All they do is cuss about the
lively ball.
I'm telling you that in that
Philadelphia series / had
more balls tossed up to me
right down the middle-per.
feet ball to hit-than I ever
expected to see in three
months Of regular play. Why
shouldn't anyone hit home
runs? There certainly was
nothing to fool us in the
p1tchlng.
Maybe the magnates can find
some way to work a dead ball
into the game. That's alright
with me. But live ball or dead
one, you'll still see hitting so long
as we get the type of pitching
that's so common now. Only
soft rubber ball would stop them.
I've said all along and I still
maintain that change in pitch
ing rules would help. Letting
pitchers throw dirty balls or balls
that are a little bit rough would
curb the hitting some. And teach
ing pitchers to pitch would curb
1t still more. Don't misunder-
stand me. I admit here and now
that the ball is more lively than
1t used to be. It travels faster
than the ball we used to use is
years ago when I was in my pitch
ing prime.
But let's get behind the smoke
screen of conversation once and
make up our minds that a lot of
the talk is mere alibi-alibi for
pitchers who won't take enough
interest in their work to really
learn how to pitch.
Copyright, 1880. by The ChristV
Walsh Snydicatel