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Show SOME ESSENTIALS OF SUCCESSFUL PITCHER Must Have Strength, Endurance and a Good Arm. (Bv CL LUNDGREN. Baseball ' 7 Coach, University of Illinois.) The pitcher should have more physical phy-sical ability than the average ball player. play-er. That is. he must have strength, j endurance and a good arm. His work requires from an hour and a half to , two hours of hard going, while If he I lets down for a second the opposing j hatters will soon find him an easy vie- I tini. Probably the most essential re- j duirement of a pitcher is control, then , comes speed, curve, change of pace, j By control we mean the ability to j pitch the ball at the spot that is de- j sired at the time desired. After de-elding de-elding where the ball should be j pitched, it does not necessarily mean J the ability of the pitcher to get the ; ball over the plate, but rather the ability abil-ity to pitch to a batter's weakness or away from the place where the batter hits the ball hard. The pitcher may not have a good curve ball or a good fast ball, but there , are very few who cannot get control by hard work and practice. Id warming warm-ing up never throw the ball In a haphazard hap-hazard fashion, but each time with a definite Idea of where you wint the ball to go. The position of the pitcher in the I box Is very Important. He should stand comfortably, with his body re- j laxed, and take plenty of time In sizing j up the situation. j There are many different forms of j winding up In starting the delivery, i Whatever the style there should be no ' useless swir.g'ng of the arms that will serve to tire the pitcher out. In be- j ginning the delivery start the body and arm forward together, bringing the arm with the ball as far as the shoulder, after which It Is brought forward with a hard snap and pu-di. The elbow I should be bent oi.ly very slightly when coming over the shoulder. The body should follow well through ! as the ball is he;ng pitched, and the fielding position adopted at once. This enables the pitcher to start quickly for a hit ball which may come Into h'.s territory. j One very common mistake that pitchers pitch-ers make Is that they us their arm and not their body with the arm. In ; pitching. Absolute co-ordination be- i tween the body and arm is neivsscry ' If the greatest amount of e:Tectivoness Is to be reached. ' In pitching a fast ball, grip the ball i with the first two fingers across the narrow part of the seam. This will ; give you a firm grip. Be oarvful not to crowd the ball too far down Into the palm of the hand, but rather well out toward the end of the fingers. Then i allow the ball to come off the end of , the fingers with a hard snap of the ; wrist and fingers nt the end of the . arm motion. j The curve ball Is thrown with exactly ex-actly the same arm motion ns the fast ball, the only difference being In the wrist and finish of the arm motion at the end. The ball may be held with the first two fingers, the long finger being along the scam of the pan or both lingers across the scam of the ball. The first part of the arm motion is started the same :i for the fast ball, but the finish differs In that n hard drive down across the breast la made with his arm. giving the wrist A quick snap that causes the ball to revolve. re-volve. The aiis of rotation of the ba'l should be perpendicular with the direction di-rection yon want the ball to curve. Do not allow the ball to leave your hand too high oer your shoulder, but rather drive down hard across the breast. Tn curve well, a curve ball should break from the waist down. |