OCR Text |
Show SHINER IS HI , 'MYSTERY BALL' Cicotte Accused of 'Doping Sphere, but Means Puz- , zles 'Em All. i Ey International Xews Ser ice. NEW YORK, Ju'y 5. They called it the "shine" ball for a time, and later it was called the "paraff ine" ball. It appears ap-pears now that the ball which Eddie Cicotte has so completely mastered should be known as the "mystery" ball. Cicotte- or some other member of his team is so i-killful in h!s massage work on the pellet that even the umpires are in a haze about it. Once in a great while a ball is thrown out. but must of them stay in the game, despite the numerous protests of opposing players. In a recent game at the Polo grounds the Yankees did not make much of a fuss about wha t Cicotte was pitching. But it was evident that Eddie was getting get-ting in some ff ncy work, or at least that somebody on the Chicago club was giving giv-ing it the special treatment that ths ball gets so quickly when Cicotte is working work-ing on the mound. Kay Sohalk. behind the bat, put up a mild protest in the seventh inning when the Yankees' bat v : boy was moving toward the New York ' bench after recovering a ball that had been fouled. Schalk called Bill Dineen's attention to the fact that a ball was being be-ing kidnaped, and Bill-called for the boy to shoot it back, which he did. Whpn the Yankees were in Chicago recently Schalk raced half way to the grandstand for a slow-rolling foul ball, as if the game depended on a speedy recovery. Whenever the Yanks put up a kick that the ball was being doctored, there was the usual defense put up by the home players that there was nothing noth-ing strange about the ball. Y'et there is Tsuch a marked effort made to keep certain balls in play when they are fouled out that there must be a reason. If one particular ball is not doctored, why the exertion to keep it in play in preference pref-erence to any other ball? Cicotte "Smart" Pitcher. There is no denying the fact that Cicotte is as smart as any other pitcher in the game, smarter than most of them; also that he has plenty of natural ability and probably would be a consistent winner win-ner without' the freak delivery which he alone seems to have mastered. But it is likewise trus that when he is pitching the ball takes on an uneven discoloration discolora-tion that can be noticed in the grandstand. grand-stand. Umpires examine it, realize that it Is discolored, but regard it as within the baseball laT. Last summer Joe Fin-neran Fin-neran of the Yankees used the delivery with some success, but nothing I'ke that of Cicotte. At Comiskey park, the Chicago Chi-cago players put up protests against Finneran but Billy Eans. who was umpiring um-piring the series, declined to throw out the ball when Finneran was pitching, since he figured it was no different than whn Cicotie was working. Finneran's mode of doctoring the ball cons:sted in rubbing paraffine into the seams on one .-ide of the ball. By pressing press-ing his glove into the dirt and rubbing the ball into the palm of the glove, the dirt entered the seams and stuck there, thus making the side of the ball containing con-taining the oaraff'ne and dirt heavier than the other. Without the paraffins the dirt would not hold, but the wax substance kept it in. Finneran cou'd make the ball take peculiar gyrations in practice, but he could not properly control con-trol it in a game. Shaw Tries It. Jim Shaw of the Washington club bag , done considerable experimenting with f the same ball. When the Yankees were m Washington recently, they he'd several sev-eral inspections of the ball, but the umpires um-pires did not throw any out. Shaw's uniform has a dark spot near the right h:p on which he rubs the ball continu-a!lv continu-a!lv before pitching. Cicotte showed no traces of such a spot yesterday, but i u?naily is much in evidence. When the Yankees were at Comaker park four weeks ago they did some doctoring doc-toring of thpir own to offset the effects of the treatment which, thev contend. Cicotte givps to a ball. Eddie beat them that da v. but dd not weave anv such sn jll over them as on days when h- had the delivery working prop-erlv- The box score showed nine hits, mid some nve were cut off by the sresrt f-eidinc of Collins and Kisberg. Shaw-kov Shaw-kov pitched for the Yankees, and he found it difficult to control the ball that bad been so much doctored. Jn the late innings the Yanks decided , that they were handicanoiner Slnwkev and let the ball alone. C'cotte showed more in the lat e innings than in the earlv frames, and his only strikeouts of the game, thr-re in number, came in the last three mnings. Yanks Are Puzzlers: New York pl.ivers contend tat Cicotte uses the paraffine and dirt system to sret the peculiar twists on the ball. Per-1 Per-1 haps this is tlie true story, perhaps not. t At ;:iy rate. Cicotte has something tht no olhrr pitenr has. and as long as bo ! can got hv without disclosing the secret I or infringing on the rules as interpreted by the umpires he deserves all the credit that unusual success ca!:s for. Two vears :ipo it was arcued that one side of tjie ball was roughened and the other sb'nd up to cet the peculiar broak. I.Mer came the cracked-seam theory. The onlv evidence from the, stand cons'sts of the rapid discoloration, wiili no apparent reason, and tho eacer-ncss eacer-ncss not to let certain balls get out of p!:v. Then a eain it must not be foreot ten. thjit the ball, after petting trie neoessarv massairc must be thrown in a certain way. and that adds to the mystery of I it. C'cotte seems to be the only one !that knows a'l about that, or at leas 's the only one to pitch it with success. Hals off to Mr. See-kotl He shows m something mcrv t'me he pitches, and the other fellows still are trying to figure nut just how be does it. |