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Show HIGH OR LOW BALL WAS ALL THE SAME Buffington Fooled Batters With His Big Drop. In the early eighties the batsmen had the privilege of calling for a high or low ball when at bat. The high ball had to pass the zone from the neck to the waistline. The low ball from the belt to the knees. The hurler who possessed a good drop ball was getting by with wonderful results. In the days of the 50-foot pitching distance dis-tance the down shoot was much more effective than It is today for the reason rea-son that it didn't break until right on top of the batsman, so the man at bat could not tell much about the height it would pass the plate. Charles Bufiinglon, with the Boston and Philadelphia clubs from 3 SS3 until ISO-'!, was considered one of the high-class high-class hurlers. Buliington had a drop ball that was a beauty and when he had it working right it was practically unhit table. Bulf was tall and his height enabled him to start this delivery de-livery high and it would sweep down on tiie unsuspecting batsman like a kingfisher diving after a trout. Buf-lington Buf-lington pitched the ball with a high overhand swing and in its course toward the plate it would look to the batsman like a high ball, the kind lie called for. Its deceptiveness fooled him into swinging and he invariably would miss the ball by a foot. The batsman who called fur a low ball would gaze at the evident high one started by Buff and let his bat settle over his shoulder, when the ball would suddenly duck down and p.isa over the plate at the height called for. In 1SS1, while pitching for the Boston Bos-ton club, Buliington fanned 402 batsmen, bats-men, which is the record for the National Na-tional league for a season. In a nine-inning nine-inning game against Cleveland, played in 18S4, the big hwler fanned 17 men, which is the second best record in major league baseball. |