Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1914 — SPITBALL IS IN DISREPUTE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SPITBALL IS IN DISREPUTE

Wise Pitchers in Big League*/Have Cast Moist Sphere %) Shortens Careers./' The spitball is falling into disuse* says the Philadelphia Public Ledger. / Very few of the twirlers in the biff leagues are using it today, and those ,j who do are using it sparingly. The < wise pitchers have cast it aside, knowtag that even though the use of the 4 ' moist fling may add to their string of victories, it will the Shortening of their careers. Jack Chesbro used it back in 1904 * when he almost pitched the Yankees into the leadership of the league. But the use of the spitball practically ruined Chesbro as a star performer. Ed Walsh used the spitball for several years, and his success was pbenomen- / al. But the price was high, for Walsh’s arm today is in such condition that he never knows whether it will serve him the full rou|e or whether a kink will appear and force him to surrender the hurling job to a relief pitcher. Jeff Tesreau used the spitball to a great extent when he first landed oh major league soil. But he isn’t doing it with such reckless abandon as of yore. Jeff soon leaded that the spitball vkiuked” the arm, if used freely, and now he throws it only in emergencies. There are several other pitchers in tbe big leagues who still throw the spitball, but they are throwing it just about a half dozen times during the game. Some of the fans believe they throw it oftener because of the deception practiced by the pitcher—of putting the ball up hear the mouth and seeming to lubricate it. Batters aren’t 3 food of spitbaHs. They hate to see.

them coming. So the pitchers who have discarded the use of the dampened twister very often bluff at pitching one. The passing of the spitball comes as good news to the lnfielders. In the years when the spitball was generally used errors were frequent on account 1 of the spitball. A pitcher would gloss the ball freely with saliva* and slippery elm or tobacco juice, a batter would hammer it to the infield, the inflelder would grab it and start to throw, only to find that the slippery ban had glided from his fingers. Quite often when the Infielder was able to get the ball away in the direction of the base J the ball would take a wild slant and result in a horrible error.

Ed Walsh of Chicago White Sox.