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Show H BY J. B. SHEHIDA17. Hj - 7 T HAS been Bald that there aro BBJ U CX moro methods of poisoning a M dog than by filling hla stomacn M -with molted buttor. So, too, BBj there are more ways of keeping BBjl J batters from batting In a baso- BBJ J ball gamo than by throwing tho BBJ ' s bal! past or through their bats. BBJ The "knuckle ball" Is one of these ways. B "When Eddlo CIcotto now don't say "Si-cot" BBJ nor yet "Sl-cottay," but "Sco-koto" pltohod BBJ Chicago against St. Louis on April 14, 1917, his BBJ namo -was Hashed all ovor tho United States, BB Canada, Alaska and the island possessions of BB the United States. Evorywhorn an American BBJ lives, in tho trenches of Flanders, Africa, ate., BBJ it is known now that CIcotto pitched a no-hit BH gamo. BBJ Great Is the famo that follows tho pitching of BBJ a no-hit game. Few pitchers havo dono it as BBJ many as ono each year, perhaps. Joseph McEI- BBJ roy Mann, a student at Princeton College, was BBJ the first man to pitch a no-hlt gamo. That was H against Tale, May 29, 187G. In 1S76 Gcorgo Wash. BBJ Ington Bradley pitched a no-hlt gamo for St. BBJ Louis against Hartford. On July 12 the first per- BBJ feet no-hlt, no-man-to-flrst game was plcchod BBJ by J. Lee Richmond, a left-hander, for Worcos- BBJ ter, Maes , against Cleveland. This Richmond BBJ must havo been somo ballplayer. Batted In seo- BBJ ond place and had six assists tho day ho made BBJ his famous record. BBJ Lots of them have pitched no-hlt gamed since BBJ that time. Larry Corcoran, tho famous White BBJ Stocking, pitched threo no-hlt games between BBJj 18S0 and 1884. Jim Galvin pitched two between B 1880 and 1S84. Tho famous Cy Young pitched BBfl three no-hlt games in twenty-thrco jcara, ono BBS of them a no-man-to-flrst affair. Young pitched H his first no-hlt gamo In 1897, his last in 190H, BBS eleven years later. Addio Joss pitched two no- BBJj bit games, one of them a no-man-to-flrst soiree. BBfl Mountjoy of Cincinnati pitched a hltloss game Hj agalnBt Toledo in 1SS3. Brcltcnotcln of St. Louis H pitched his first no-hlt game In 1891, his second Hl seven years later. Atklsson, Terry, Kilroy, Wey- Hl hlng, Seward and other old-tlmors all got In Hl their no-hit games. Bordon and Devlin pitched Hj no-hlt games in 1S75. But the honor of having H pltohod tho greatest number of no-hlt gamos H yoeB to Jimmlo Galvin, a St, Louis boy, who be- can in 1S76 with tho St. LouIb Reds and -wound 1 up twenty years later with Pittsburgh, H Galvin was a great pitcher. Ho pitched two H no-hlt games within six weeks. On July 4, H 1876, ho held Philadelphia hltlcas, and on August H 17 repeated against tho Cass club of Detroit. BBB Tho same J. Loo Richmond pitched two no-hlt BBB games within sixty days for Worcester against H Chicago and Springfield in 1879. KImbcr (Brook- H ljn, 1884), Mclntyro (Brooklyn, 1904), King H (Chicago, 1890) and Wlltso (Now York, 1908) BBB all pitched ten innings without a eafo hit "being BBB made off them. King lost his no-hlt tcn-lnnlng BBfl came, H One No -Hit Game a Year. BBBI Harry Wormwood, a minor leaguer, went BBBI eleven hltlcas Innings for Fall River In 1910. BBBj Tonoy, no- with Cincinnati, then with Win- L Chester, Ky went sevantoen innings, struck out H nineteon batters, jet lost, 1-0, May 10, 1909. H Wolfgang, now with tho Chicago Americans, 1 wont ten innings of a no-hlt, no-man-to-flrst game. Justus of Lancaster, Ohio, 1910, pitched four no-hlt games in ono season, but theso wore in a small minor league No-hlt games avcrngo ono a year. All told, Jim Galvin has tho best H record of no-hlt gamos. Ho pitched four of them H in major lcaguo company two in 1S76, ono In Hl 1880 and ono in 1881. Galvin way a short, stout Hj fellow, a native of St, Louis, and without doubt Hj U- vcrv great pitcher. i So, wo see, pitching a no-hlt gamo la tho event ( of a season. They now avorago about ono a year , In each major league. CIcotto put tho fans out of , expectancy qulokly In 1917. Tho season was but ; four days old when ho put a no-hlt gamo on the books. Tho little Wolverine had been trying for fourteen four-teen years of professional baseball llfo to pitch that no-hlt gamo. Ho had pitched many ono and two hit games. Ho was second pitcher In point of effectiveness In tho Amorlcan Lcaguo in 1916. Only ono and three-fourths runs had been earned off him to tho gamo. Thus It will bo scon J that CIcotto was entitled to pitch a no-hlt ' game. He kept hovering around tho two-run-a- ' gamo mark during tho previous Bummer. He ' -nas due. ' CIcotto is In many rospocts liko Jim Galvin, tho greatest of no-hlt pitchora. Liko Galvin, CI- ' cotto Is Bhort and stout. Ho attributes his early good form in 1917 to tho fact that ho is thinner ; than ho has been for years. Ho Is short and etout. Flesh piles up on his chest and undor hlfl arms. When ho Is fat ho cannot pitch very woll. CIcotto has been playing professional ball for fourtcon ears. Ho nevor had a great fast balL Ills curvo was good, ho 3ajo, but whon ho grow fat ho could not use that curvo to best advan- i tago. He had to beat tho batters with something other than speed and curvo. Had to poison tho i dogs otherwise than by choking them with buttor. but-tor. So ho Invented tho "knucklo ball," It Is a freak delivery, this knucklo ball. Cl-cottc Cl-cottc Invented it, and is Its greatest exponent-Many exponent-Many other pitchers havo tried it, somo with moro or less success Earl Hamilton did wonderful won-derful work with It in 1912. Then ho lost control con-trol of It. Many othcrn trlod It, They ubo it now and then to this day, but CIcotto Is tha only pitcher who admits that tho "knucklo ball" is rcsponslblo for a grcator part of his success. Ball Does Not Hotate. Tho delivery Itself 1b a variation of tho old slow ball, Tho pitcher grasps tho ball, in bo far an ho can, between tho thumb and tho knuckles i of tho first and second fingers. Tho third finger lies extended along tho ball. Tho result Is that tho sphere doos not rotate. It sails or "slides" up to the batter. It may be Ball Is a Hobo npHE "knuckle" ball is the hobo of balldom, its ji - course, even when under "control," being entire- i; ly beyond the influence of the pitcher, so far as the j; "break" at the plate is concerned. i Without the spiral motion that causes a curve ball : to do the will of the pitcher, the knuckle ball, floating ji up to the plate, gathers a pad of air in front of it and : then veers, no one in advance knows whither. j; It is a hobo! thrown with variations of pace, alow, medium or reasonably fast. When It is understood that th fast and curvo balls an governed by very rapid rotation, it will also bo understood that tho "knuckle ball," coming absolutely without any rotation what over", surprises, and, to some oxtent, puzzles the batter. Instead of a whizzing, spinning epherj which looks about tho size of a poa, a great, big globular affair comco up, grinning liko a full moon. It seoms to bo easy to hit. Tho fact la that it catchos tho batter off balance. Ho la expecting a fast ono or a curvo, and Is "sot" for that sort of boll. Hero comoa a lazy, loafing, loaf-ing, soft-looking ball, Boomingly as big as a football. Tho ballistics of it Is that Just as It rcacho3 the point whoro it makes good hitting, tho ball takes an entirely lnotpllcablo "shoot" and drops, it seemB, into the ground. This dlsappearanco of tho "knucklo ball" Is easily explained. Tho sclcnco of ballistics teaches us that air packs up In front of any projected mlssllo and forms a cushion. The density of tho air JUBt in front of a riflo bullet, or a baseball, or football, or even balloon, H greater than tho donslty of tho air on either Bide of said moving projectile. To pierco this air cushion, tho riflo bullot Is given a rotary motion. That Is what rilling is for. Thu bullet bores Into tho cushion of air as an auger bores Into soft wood. If tho bullot did not havo this rotary or boring motion tho cushion of air in front of it would divert it from its mark and mako its final destination uncortain. That Is why a emooth-boro musket Is lnaccurato In bullot dollvory. Tho cushion of air in front of tho bullot that docs not rotato dhorts tho mlssllo and makes aim uncortain. The rifling of tho plcco gives tho bullet tho rotary motion essential to accuracy. Tho Ball and tho Air. So it is with pitched balls The rotary motion glvon them by tho pitcher controls tholr motion, Tho fast ball will shoot In or up for tho rcaBon that tho pitcher imparts a Dido or upward rotation rota-tion to tho sphere. Tho curve ball will break out or down bocauso tho pitcher gives it a rotary ro-tary motion that actB whon tho air cushion becomes be-comes so denso that It afreets tho forward movement of tho missile. But the floating, nonrotating "knucklo ball" has no rotary movomont to tako it past tho air cushion in any doBlgned direction. It packs up an air cushion in front of it. When tho nir cushion becomes so denso as to Impcdo its progression pro-gression In a direct lino forward, the "knuckle ball" docs one of throe things, It takes a Bhoot olthor Btralght ahead, to tho right or to tho left and downward. Not even tho pltchor can foretell In what di rection the ball Is liable to break. It is very difficult dif-ficult to obtain control of this ball, Just as It is extremely dllllcult to hit any object with a smooth-bore musket. Difficulty of control is the reason why so few pitchers successfully use the "knuckle ball." Tho fact that tho "knucklo ball" Is llablo to break any ono of three ways makes It extremely dlfllcult to hit. In tho first place, tho batter Is surprised to aoo the great, big, whlto globe or butter floating up smiling at him. Ho Is expecting expect-ing a ball of different pace and a ball that Is rotating rapidly. Tho unexpected paco throws his atroko out of time. Ho may recover his bal-nnco bal-nnco and hit. Just as his bat Is about to meet tho ball the latter drops, It seoms, into tho earth. Tho spltball alwajs breaks ono way down. There havo been pitchers who could, It is said, break tho spltball three was In, out or down. Theso hao been very fow. Mathowson's famous "fadeaway" broke outside and away from tho batter. Thoro Is but ono speed to the spltball and ono to tho "fadeaway." You cannot 'vary paco on them. You can throw tho "knuckle ball" In as many various speeds as ou can control. con-trol. CIcotto says that ho can change tho pace on tho "knuckle ball" at will, but that ho never can toll Just what direction It will take aftor It breaks, Varies the Pace of Ball. "I use It very frequently during a game," said tho latest no-hlt pitcher after hla great gamo at St. Louis on April 14. "I vary paco on It, and very frequently I do not ask It to break at all. I throw It with some rotation. When I know a batter Is going to hit when I know and ho knows that I must lay a strlko ovor tho plate I pitch tho "knucklo ball" with as llttlo rotation as posslblo, bo that It may break as well as possible. pos-sible. Tho dlfforont paces decolvo tho batter, and tho break simply makes It impossible to hit safely oae by tho greatest fluke. "Tho spltball has but ono pace fast. Tho 'fadeaway had but ono pace medium slow. I can pitch tho 'knucklo ball' at any paco from medium fast to dead slow. "I began using this ball whon I was a kid. It wao alwayB Impossible to hit, but I found it vory hard to obtain control of it. It was not until un-til I Joined Boston in 1908 that I began to get control of tho 'knucklo ball.' Even then it ovadod mo for months at a time. Whon I got it going right I was hard to beat. Even now I ofton lose control of It. "I Joined Chicago In 1912, and began to do bettor bet-tor with tho diflloult dollvory. I had troublo, howoor, with my gonoral control. I had boen a allm kid, but I was growing fat. I weighed 1JB pounds whon I had my first ongagomont with tho Sault Sto, Mario team, way baok in 1903. I wolghod 100 pounds in 1913. SInoo that timo 1 havo tilod to keop down to 170 pounds, but I find it hard to do bo, "ThlB year I mado a Bpoolal offort to reduoe my weight, I am down to 170 poundw, lighter than I havo boon In ton Bonsonu, I find that my control la botter than It ha3 oor been, To ihls iSr T " "w y Mix I v' " - &0y ll I attribute my early success this season. You sec, when I am fat I can't get my arm to follow through with my pitch My upper arm hits mv right breast and won't go any farther Thus 1 hao been pitching with a short, Jerkj motion, which Is not good for control " Clcotte is a native and rcsldont of Detroit. He got his first ongngemont In his natle stato, at Sault Ste Mario After ono season thoro the Detroit club algncd him The then manager, a clover chap named William Amour, thought CIcotto was too light to succeed in the major leagues. Ho sent him to Augusta, Ga. "Arnour and Detroit could not see mo as a pltchor," said CIcotto, ,rbut I did my homo town o good turn when It Bent me to Augusta. On tho same team with mo was a groen joung outfiold-or. outfiold-or. He was wild and would mako any number of mistakes and 'bono' plaja, but ho could hit tho ball a mllo now and thon, he was fast, and ho was burning with ambition. "I recommendod this joung man to Detroit. They accepted my rccommondation nnd signed him. He Is still with them. H1b name Is Cobb.' . Sold to Lincoln. If Dotrolt appreciated what CIcotto had dono for It In rocommcndlng Cobb it did not show ita npprcolatlon by rotalning tho llttlo pitcher. He was sent to Indianapolis. He did not Btlck in that company, but rotrograded to Dcs Moines in a lower clas3 league. He did well thore. Dotrolt Do-trolt recalled him again In 1907, but could not oo him as a pltchor. They sold him outright to Lincoln, In tho Western League. CIcotto had another an-other good ear and Boston took a chanco on him in 1908. Ho stuck after flvo yearB trying. Wolght began to worry CIcotto now. Ho did well in 190S nnd 1909, but not so woll in 1910. In 1311 hu had a bad year bocauso his wlfo was vory 111 during tho summer. So Boston rolonhci him to Chicago for tho small sum of 51500, walvor prlco, Clootti did good work for Chicago, Pie linn boen tho club's leading pitcher for Boveral years, Ho oannot be worked very often, but when ho does pitch, hla team and tho speota-tors speota-tors know that tho club that beatB him will hao to play boll, Like Lnjole, DMbuo, Rondeau, r,bricjue, olo,, CIcotto Is a French Basque. Tho Basque pro? H Inces of Franco and Spain aro peopled by an K ancient race, derived genealogists do not Know K, exactly whence They wcro In France and K-Spnln K-Spnln before tho Celts, who were In DuroP E ooforo the Teutonic races. Thus, thp BasQU M hac been In Europe longer than any oth'f p, people They have a language which dlfler I from French and Spanish, and tho people then- K.-soles K.-soles are radically different from their FrencS ft, and Sranlsh countrymen. As far as can be soon, the Basques are th ' original ballplajers of tho world. Tho great"4 of anclont ball games Is known to tho Basque by tho Spanish name, "pelota" or "ball" I' known as "Jn! All" in America, and Is plajed lo great courts all ovor Spanish-America. Tb -Ico Palace In St. Louis was originally built for a pelota court during tho world's fair of l01 The ball used is harder nnd faster than a ' ball, Is about the alzo of a pool ball and ,J tnrown against a rock wall by players who osj curved baskets attached to the left hand tT V the purpose. Pelota Is a wonderfully inter"1 t lng gam and calls for tho highest type cI m trained athlete. Only Basques play PeIoti K They aro an extremely vital people, and, thong" m numbering less than 2,000.000. produce notab!' K men. Generals JofCro and Foch, heroes of tb m groat world war, aro of Basque extraction a" B birth. K- The Basquos aro a - cry independent, liberty loving people. When Don Carlos was flshtln K to bocome king of Spain, ho solicited tho ' ol tho Basques. It was granted him on conditio Bv that whilt ho might call hlmsolf king of tn Br other provinces of Spain, ho must bo contont w m bo known as presldont and plain Don or "i"8' B tor" in tho Basquo provlncos. Tho Frenr, M Basquos nlwnyo refused to acKnowlodgo ""' H poverolgnty of Napoleon I., or of any oth'f Frenoh ooverolgn or government of whloh tb B did not approve B Clooltq keepo buay U winter, He haa a fr," B age In Detroit, which takes a lot of hla tlm. p' K hunts and llshba whenever ho enn find lels"- K A wife nnd two daughters repreaent hlu fan"-' S He Is .1' yenra old and enema to have ran' qi ysara of pitching lefl In hla right arm, Jjt |