Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 228, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1915 — GREATEST SLOW BALL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GREATEST SLOW BALL

Wise Men of Baseball Never Agreed on Old Question. Hard Hitters Watched for Clark Griffith's Teaser, but Never Seemed Ready for It—Peculiarities of Other Men.

A baseball fan has asked, to decfffie an argument, for the name of the pitcher who, In all baseball history, had the greatest slow ball. That question has been put to the wise men of baseball many times, and they have never agreed. Old Hoss Radbourne, Clark Griffith, Hank O’Day, Virgil Garvin, Christy Mathewson, Otis Crandall, Russ Ford, Fred Falkenberg and Eddie Summers have been named.

Summers, with Detroit in 1907, and part of 1908, had a wonderful slow ball. It was his “knuckler.” After a time gripping the ball tore his finger nails to the roots, and he lost the grip that made him a winner.

There are four good present-day slow-ball hurlers —Russ Ford, with his “soap-bubble” ball; Falkenberg, with his "reverse emery;” Mathewson, with his “fadeaway,” and Crandall, with his “snake curve.” Crandall went to the majors at an age when most pitchers are nearly all in and his arm was none 100

strong. He was a wonder for a few innings, and McGraw used him to finish games for faltering fast-ball pitchers. Batters say Crandall’s slow ball floats up as big as a balloon, but when hit won’t go anywhere. The trouble is, watchful batters can tell when the ball is coming, for Crandall has to

expose his peculiar grip of the ball when preparing for delivery. Ford mixes his slow ball with speed and the “spitter.” Falkenberg says he copied his slow one from Virgil Garvin when both were with Pittsburgh. Falky grips the ball far back in the palm of his hand, holding it between the butt of his thumb and the palm and releasing the pill without friction, so it hardly revolves as it sails to the plate. Matty’s fadeaway breaks in on top of the bats of right-hand batters so even if they bit it they cannot send it far. Batters always watched for Clark Griffith’s slow one, but they never seemed ready for lb Griff had an uncanny knack of pitching just what the batter did not want.

Clark Griffith.