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Show When B pitcher wins twenty or more games a, season, he is regarded as having hav-ing had a big year. As a matter of fact, a great many I managers when signing u pitcher to la bonus contract, set twenty as tho figure. I J ' If a pitcher Is able to win twenty games, most managers are perfectly 'willing to pay him a bonus of $1,000 or more for so doing. in the old .lays it wasn't considered ; quite as much of a feat as it Is to-I to-I day. This was due In a measure to I the fact that pitching staffs were ' much smaller, forcing the pitchers to ' work oftener. ' ; Some idea of what n creat pitcher Christy llathewson really w;ts, can be gleaned from the fact, that for tyolve consecutive years, he won 20 or more I games s That ls a record that pitchers will i be shooting at for a Ions time. Ma-I Ma-I thewson, because of tho easy manner I In which he worked, placed no strain on his arm. and for that reason v:is ,able to perform consistently year af-; af-; ter year. A soro arm was an unknown : thing to Matty. The pitching records reeal the fact that the pitchers of the days gone by hold most of the marks. Walter Johnson and Rube Marauard are a few of the record holders still doing active duty . Ed Walsh who ls to take a whirl 'at umpiring In the American league next season, had his big year In 1908 when he won forty game,- for the Chicago Chi-cago White Sox. It Will be many a year before some big leafruo pitcher conies through with forty victories, a ' a In the same year Christy Mathew-son Mathew-son won thirty-seven games for the Giants. In 1013 Walter Johnson wn thirty-six games for Washington. That I was Walter's big year in point of vlc-toiies. vlc-toiies. In 1912 Joe Wood with thirty-four thirty-four wins greatly aided the Boston Red Sox to win an American league pennant. see One big reason why s lot of theso pitching records will stand for years, Is that pitching staffs today are much larger . A pitcher is not called upon to work so otten. Some pitchers are more or less specialists. They work only against certain clubs or are used for relief work almost entirely. |