Evening star., 1939-10-01

Hartnett coming up.
So went out to the hill to talk things
over with Monte These little tete-a-tetes
sometimes help lot. They give a pitcher a
chance to get hold on himself. When got
out to Monte could see that he was un-
certain. so said, Listen, Monte, just throw
it up there and let these guys hit Just let 'em
try to hit. With as much stuff as you've got
don't see how anybody ever hits you, Monte"
He didn't say anything, but as he took the
ball from me he winked, and knew that
there wasn't anything wrong with his head or
his heart. As the stands thundered with
applause, Monte famed both Reynolds and
Hartnett to end the threat. And he didn't
have'any more trouble with his control for the
rest of the afternoon.
Which, of course, is most important, be-
cause control is everything to pitcher. 1t
is more important than jug handle curve or
a crashing fast ball. A pitcher can be lacking
one or the other or both of these, but he can't
work without control. For instance, Bump
Hadley didn' have much more than his finger
prints on the ball when he pitched the third
game of the 1886 Series against Freddie
Fitzsmmons and the New York Giants R,,t
Bumps cunning and experience stood him in
good stead He didn't give the Giants single
good ball to hit at all afternoon, sailing EN- in
high and outside or low and inside. and 50 on,
and he fashioned for himself one of the best
pitched series games on record, carving out
four-h hitter and setting the Giants back 2-1.
year later, against these same Giants,
Bumps curve was biting big hunks of the
corners of the plate and his fast ball was
hopping and singing in the sun, but somehow
or other the Giants knew just what was COM
! ing up there and they laid back and waited for
the one they wanted. Bump was knocked out
1cf the box in the second inning Believe me
sNhen tell you tliat he had more stuff on the
ban that dy than the year before when the
Ciaals wee heaplen against him. But this
q ~ they3EH happened, to be guessing right
" were wrong.
Many pitcAe ben batted out of the
box because the hf 0nteuessed him. You
see, if the batter sete for fast ball and
the pitcher serves him fast one, that bat
ter's chances of lacing tie ball are greatly
increased. A couple of good guesses and the
pitcher is against the ropes. OF course, great
hitters don't have to outguess pitchers. Eel
lows like Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig and
Joe Medwick and Charlie Gehringer and
Others can hit anything anytime anywhere
If they know what's coming up, they'll just
hit it little farther than usual.
Some pitchers unconsciously tip the hitter
off to what they are going to throw. For
instance, there was one youngster who always
wet his two first fingers before he was going
to throw fast ball. The hitters would lay
back and wait until he licked his fingers. 1t
amounted to signal for them to dig in for a
smoke ball.
Speaking of signals, you've undoubtedly
seen pitcher shake his head at the catcher
who is giving him the sign for the next pitch.
This is known as shaking off the catcher"
and you probably think that the man in the
mask is displeased at being overruled. But
like pitcher to shake me off. 1t means that
he is thinking out there, and like pitchers
to think. A pitcher can think his way out OF
more holes than he can pitch out Of
Sometimes, in a tough spot, the shaking
off is faxed to confuse the hitter. You see,
most batters follow the catcher rather than
the pitcher because they are better acquainted
with the catchers style and know pretty well
what he is going to call for in certain
situation But if they see the pitcher shake