New Britain herald., 1930-02-04
BY BILLY EVANS

Great pitchers are usually at their ! best in the old pinch. They used to
 say of the old master, Christy Ma i theWson. that no pitcher was easier to hit with the bases empty and none tougher with q couple of runners on and the game depending on q base hit. What held good for Matty is true of all other great pitchers they have something in reserve for the pinch. That is what makes them
 great.
 Ed Walsh. famous spitball pitcher Of the Chicago White SoX. liked nothing better than to pitch himself out Of deep holes. Over period of | perhaps 10 years. I think l am con- i scrVa tive in saying that I have seen | Walsh do tho seemingly impossible at least 50 times, in subduing the
 opposition when a base hit would have meant ruin to his team. Lange vas the starting pitcher for Chicago in a game in 1908 and for eight innings he held onc-run mar
 gin. In the ninth he passed the first
 three men to face him, filling the bases. 1t was such a cold day that Jimmy Callahan, then managing the
 White Sox. hesitated about asking anyone to go 10 the rescue. Then someone asked me to call time. Looking toward the Chicago bench
 I saw Ed Walsh place a slippery elm
 tablet in his mouth and take drink
 of water. That was Walsh's method
 to get up quite a flow of saliva. He
 started for the pitchers box remov- ing his sweater. He threw five balls,
 then went to work. Walsh pitched just 10 balls to retire the next three
 batters on strikes. At seven of the
 pitches the hitters swung and miss cd, two were called strikes and one
 a ball. Not SO much as a foul was
 made.
 However. for tho greatest concen- tratcd exhibition of pinch pitching have ever seen, I need only go back
 to the season of 1929. l was a spec
 tator. Philadelphia and Cleveland were the opposing teams. The start ins pitching selections were Miller for Cleveland and Grove for the Athletics Hudlin was the finishing
 pitcher for the Indians. but Grove
 went all the way
 Going into the eighth inning. Phil adclphia was leading 3-2. Two hits
 and an error filled the bases with
 but one out. This seemed 10 be the
 turning point Of the game. It was | Walter Millcr's turn at bat. Peck had Hudlin warm up and sent Hartley to bat for Miller. He forced Hodapp at tho plate. Morgan sent sacrifice
 fly to right, sending over the tying
 run. A pass to J. Scwcll again filled the bases, but tyerill flied out.
 For the ncHt eight innings both i Grove and Hudlin pitched runleSS
 ball. Grove was always in trouble, Hudlin seldom. Yet in the 17th in
 ming a home run broke mp the ball game, Philadelphia winning, 5-3. In the l7 innings of play. Clcvc- land made 70 hits. Grove gave four bases on balls, also contributed the only error of the game, yet Clcve- land could make only three runs and did not score after the eighth inning, A hit on eight occasions would have won the ball game but it Was-ncVcr orthcomng. Joe Sewcll made five hits in eight times at bat. On the three. trips that he failed. runners were on the ba@cs each time. Earl Avcrll had several chances to break up the game, but Grove was too much.
 Cleveland had @3 mon left on the bases. Philadelphia had only eight runners stranded. The Athletics made l5 hits count for five runs. Grove had terrific speed that day,
 vet the Indians hit him hard in spots. With men. on the bases. he was 1n- yincibfc. think l fell out Of my scat d half dozen times that afternoon pulling for q hit that never came. II
 was the most remarkable exhibition
 of effectiveness in the pjnchca have
 ever seen.