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Show SOTHORON IS GIVEN NEW LEASE ON LIFE Without Spitball Brown Pitcher Was Failure. Regain of Confidence Makes St, Louis Tosser Think That Former Skill Mas Returned Held Cardinals Cardi-nals to Four Hits. Allan Sothoron, Brown pitcher, is blooming. again. He's got his spitball and his old confidence back. Giving spltballers a continued lease on life meant more to Sothoron possibly pos-sibly than to any other of the 16 major ma-jor league pitchers now qualified to use the moist delivery. Without the spitball Sothoron was a failure. He was started against the Cleveland Cleve-land Indians in the opener last year without his 'spitter. They peppered Allan Sothoron. him off the hill. Later In the season he was reinstated as eligible to throw the wet ball, but he made. a poor comeback. come-back. That one game turned him from a winning pitcher into a loser. His pitching average for 1920 was .324 as against .625 for the year before, be-fore, when he used his pet delivery all season. "When Cleveland beat me in that game I got the idea in my head that I wasn't there as a pitcher without a spitball,", says Sothoron. "I had depended de-pended upon it too much. The spit-bnll spit-bnll isn't the only ball I throw, but it fits into my system. "After that disastrous game with the Indians I couldn't regain my old confidence, even after they gave me my spitter hack. Confidence is a thing i that any winning pitcher must have. ! "A pitcher might have a fadeaway as good as Mnthewsnn's, the sliced of ; Walter Johnson and the control of Bal-e Adams, but unless he thinks he ; cau master the hatters who face him : he is helpless. I'm going to he all right again this year." The fact that Sothoron held the Cardinals to four hits and beat them in an exhibition game indicates he Is his old self. With the apparent comeback of Sothoron the Browns' pennant chances are looking up. |