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Show HHHG PnEHERS IX THEIR BALLS Fwirler Whose Offerings Are Limited in Variety Soon Loses Out XJie art of pitching in the major gues has advanced bo Tap dlv that lay the glabmao who expects to at un the position and d st n t on ach cved an Alexander a Mathewson or a 'alter Johnson mnst be a master of the "t which means that he mnst be able pnt everyth ng on the ball that y other p tcher does w thout mak ng featnre of any one style of del ery ites George M Young n the Ph a Iph a Pubic Ledger In other words e successful p tcher of th s age must be le to throw a arie y of ur es and oots for it is the fellow who can m x -em up who wins the major ty of h s mes and is found among the lead ng tehers at the end of the season Whether Grover fe eland Ylexander a better p tcher than hr st Mathew Vfho nvented the fadeaway or X Ed Walsh the K og of &f tters ere in the r p n p Walter To nson e Speed Demon s toda or A amani, the Pittsburg ensat on w n another season a I a m c of tuon (There no oult 1 that eiander the Pb II ei ma nst y s e of the greatest p t hers n the story of the game an 1 barr ng ace tuts he prom set to be a wizarl for eral years to come desp te the fact at it was declared Alexander s arm Duld not last more than another sea J, Because he used too many c rve Jlht, (lexander Mixes Them A a matte of fa t xan le 1 ke Is most sue pssful of h h rs ajor leagues todav on n on his curve ball al th ne b t a es em up and the e s no tw rler ether the at ona or Ame can ague who can use a greater a Pty of rje shoots and tw sts than the b g Nankin It prol all s true that h s curve ball s the b"t and that he uses t mo e than an other style of del er when he s n a hole or there is a particularly dangerous batsman at the plate but Vlexander uses -ust about as many fast ooes as he does curves with an occasional sp tter a kn kle ball, a floater and e en tl e fork ball wh h has been talked about so much this year Recently a learned sc ent st risked the assert on that there was no such tning as ur e ball that it was all an op t cal Hus on Hi arguments were qui kl d ruted and Alexander himself offered to rove to the s ent st tnat he onll make a ball ere drop, hop and float n the a at h s w II There sn t a b t of Joubt that the Ph 11 es star as well as most an other pitcher w II con nee the skept c w thout m eh t ouble that h s knowledge of p tching a base ball is ery hm ted Variety Now Required It s an assured fact that fap tcher st cks to one stvle of del ery for any length of t me he e ther wi 1 p tch him elt out of the leag e or be or ven out by the oppos ng batsmen There sed to be a t me when a pitcher could get awsay w th a stra ght ball and a pra er 'a stvle of del ery wh ch ma le A Jrth now an arb ter n the Nat onal league famous, but those days have gone and so have the days when a p tcher can depend ent rely upon h s ' sp tter o a ro nd house c rve Th, batsmen of today have seen enough of the sp tball to get used to t and although t st 11 s used by many p tch rs n the n ajor leagues as well as those of the Feleral and minor leagues there s not as rau 1 use made of t as m the past a d few tw 1 s use t solely The sp tl a I ndo ted s an effec c del e v n the hands of a p t her vho a control t b t t s one of the ost n u o to the am an 1 that s h m-in of the best tchers n the game today 1 ave g ven t up lack Chesbro an 1 Ed Walsh were two of the greatest sp tball p tchers n the h story of the gime but the sp tball finally dropped them into the discard Walsh has gi en h s arm a long rest and re- ently staged a cred table come ba k performance w th the Wh te Sox but 1 e 1 d not p ove h mself the wonde ful t p o to me yea i tmsa'ite offete h fa hat t b eaj s t o aj s oh an 1 low an 1 s t e rtl ho ca n a e t Pa tl e nay 1 wa ts t to who s the n ost yu cessiul v th tl e del ery A sp tter breaks i klv w th a snap ana it cannot be followed by the man at the plate, or, the at he n the fn that msttPT 1 It a curve In delivering a sp tter the ball s mo stened and grasped by the p tcher with the flrBt two fingers and thrown stra ght It is the way the hsll ) h11 snd the force placed por, It with the fingers that makes it si p off the end of the fingers and break sud denly when it reaches the plate It is forcing th s snap to the del very that ptrs tis the muscles of the nrm and wrist o thi tcher who ses the sp tter too mu h s not er effe t ve with a c r e or fast ball When the curve ball was d scovered t p o ed j st as b g a sensat on as the sr tter or the emery ball has n recent years There s some d spute aa to who d scovered the cur e but the nost authentic records credit the dis cover to Candy Cumm ngs a mem ber of the Brooklyn Stars S nee then there have been man) del venes dis covered and there s an endless ariety of ways of p tch ng a curve nowadays 8everal cla m to have d scovered the sp tter but Jack Chesbro was the first to make good w th t and ranked w th Walsh as one of the most suece sf ul n ts use The emery ball wh ch has been banned by all leagues s cred lted to Cv Falkenberg when he was v th Cle eland and it kept the lankv twirler and Russell Ford in the mer can leagi e for several seasons Both are now n the Federal league and almost forgotton bv the fans on the b g c r cu ts The emery ball is sa d to break four d rections alwavs oppos te from the wav the roughened part of the ball s held when t lea es the p tcher s hand , Another new delivery is the fork bal wh ch Standr dge of the Ch cago Cubs is cred ted w th bringing into the league Th s del erj however really belongs to Bert Hall who was a member of the Ph U es back n 1911 and was used by h m for a whole sea on Hall now s w th ''alt Lake and st 11 s ng the fork ball w th success Th i ball is del vered w th two fingers no gr p be ng taken w tth the hand and served with a sort of a p sh fron the shoulder wh ch i akes t reach the batter someth ng 1 ke a sp tter but w th more speed behind t None of these freak lei ver es however has been commented upon more than the fadeawaj n entelby Chr stv Mathewso The falaway has made B g S x famous wher e er baseball s known and no p tcher the gan o has ever known has been n ore successful w tth a freak del ery Mat ty 8 best bet has been appropriated by p tchers n the Nat onal and American leag es b t while so ne of then have beco ne adept in tl e se of t t s do btful f any w 11 e er do as much v th t as the C ant s star The fade away Is a slow ball thrown w th a fast mot on It rolls off the oppos te s de of tho fingers from wh ch t s held and s del ve ed w th a re erse mot on from that wh ch is sed for a c rve an 1 d opB slowl as it reaches the bat The kn k e bill wl c TSn Ru ker and se era other p tche s ed w t great effect s another freal de livery wh ch s a heavy tra n on the p tcher n wr st and therefore one that s not used much today Thore are sev I eral wavs- of p tch ngth s ball h ch s also called the fingerna 1 ball Alex ander s using th s deliverv at present and n ak ng good with t The Knuck lerr is thrown straight and the ball floats up to the batter and does not ro tate 1 ke a curve or a fast one Alexander's Effective Balls These freak deliver es are ery useful n the repertoire of a p tcher who s sue cessful n the b g leag es today for f he can master all of them he can mix them up so that a batsman can never become sed to 1 del verv This s what make Alexander the wonderful p tcher he s today for while h s eur e undo btedlv s h s mpst effective ball he can njeet a fast one w th as g eat a hop as Walter Johnson s float up a fingerna 1 ball with all the sk 11 of the man who first d sco ered t use a sp tter w th the breaks Wal h got on t a fadeway w th the eunn ng and control of a Mathewson n fact any k nd of a del ery that anj other p tcher can use ha been mastered by the Phill es. star moundsman It is his abll ty to se th s great a nety of styles that not onlj places h m about n a class by h mself b t prom ses to enable h m o go on j t h ng for manj n o e ears I o tier to get results fro these 'H o s stjle a p t her m st a o ha e g eat con mand of the ball an 1 control pla ng t vhere he wints to Co tro he i el to mako Mathewson famoub and Ale aude s almost n the ame class w th B Sm w hen t comes to ocat ng the plate Alexa ler uses t e o ne fo h s targets and h sk 1 n keei ng he ball clo e to the batte o o the out s de come of tl c pan not u i a ed by an othe t her n the emc |