Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 241, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1919 — GOOSE PITTMAN DEMONSTRATED HOW HE COULD HIT WALTER JOHNSON’S CURVES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOOSE PITTMAN DEMONSTRATED HOW HE COULD HIT WALTER JOHNSON’S CURVES

Louis Lamer, who played independent ball in California after leaving "college and might have ■ been in the big league had lie not decided that he. preferred = to settle down -in Los Angeles and make more money at something 'else, sends this one as the funniest thing he ever saw in a ball game, and it must have been a splitter at that: “Walter Johnson came out to southern California after the 1910 season closed in the East and was engaged to pitch for an independent team at Santa Ana. The manager of the team Johnson was with booked dur ball club for a game and we were all. wondering If we wotn<r~l>Fabte to.get a f< >ul off Johnson, who was at topnotch form. Pittman Was a Character. “On our team was a player we called Goose Pittman, who was quite a character. He talked about what he could do and just how he could hit Johnson’s speed. He had it all figured out. “Johnson put over the first two strikes on Goose so fast he did riot

even see them, but then Goose began to work his system. He sort of squatted down and took agood beadon the pitcher’s box, with his bat ready to swing and waiting. He was going to slam away as soon as he saw Walter winding up. figuring he’d about get his bat around when the ball got to the plate. Fired Ball to First Base. “Johnson brought his arm up and fired the ball over to first bage, trying to nab the runner there. Goose was all set and as he saw Johnson's arm go up he swung wildly, going all the way round. Of course he hit nothing but the atmosphere. The crowd roaredand Goose threw down~hisi bat and shook his head. ‘My Gawd I such speed,’ he said,/I never even saw it.’ “And then, Johnson, having got the return from first base, really did pitch one over and the umpire said it was the third strike. “Pittman had to take a lot of joshing for being the only man who was ever known to swing at a ball that had been thrown to first base.”— Sporting News.

Walter Johnson, Who Throws Remarkably Fast Ball.