Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1919 — PITCHING ARMS ARE LIABLE TO CRACK AT ANY TIME WITH LITTLE PROVOCATION [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PITCHING ARMS ARE LIABLE TO CRACK AT ANY TIME WITH LITTLE PROVOCATION

Pitching arms are as fragile as Dresden china. More than one young flinger nearing the crest of his career has had to pop out of the pastiming because he was unfortunate enough to derange his hurling apparatus. A fresh case bringing this thought to mind has been the experience of Ferd Schupp, the brilliant New York southsider, who in 1917 pitched the Giants to a pennant by winning 24 games out of 28 starts and followed this feat by blanking the White Sox 5 to 0 in the fourth game of the world’s series that fall. Break Down of Schupp. When the season of 1919 opened Megraw thought he had one of the best pitchers in the country, but something happened to Schupp’s arm and the big winner of 1917 could only pitch 33 innings in the whole season of 1918 and was officially charged with one defeat and not credited with any wins. It was thought that a long rest would restore the strength to Schupp’s arm, but on the training trip it was soon evident that the trouble had not been removed, and while McGraw held on to the lefthander he finally traded him to St. Louis. This is rough on Schupp, who now is just twenty-seven years old, and had a big future and a fat pay envelope ahead of him. Case of Chalmers. There never was a more pathetic case of a pitching career ruined by an injured arm than that of George Chalmers, the former Phil. Chalmers came to the Phils in the fall of 1910 and his debut was to blank the Giants. In 1911 he showed promise of developing into a star. But something happened in the fall of 1911. After the close of the season Chalmers went on a playing jaunt to Cuba with a number of other Phils. On the way over while skylarking on the deck of the steamship Chalmers

fell down a companion way. It would have been an ordinary accident for anyone except a pitcher. His pitching arm was under him as he fell and ligaments were torn. Chalmers did not pay much attention to the Injury until the following spring when he found he could not use his arm. He never was able to pitch many games after that and in 1915 was sent to New York only to be released shortly after the training trip. Pat Moran decided to give him another chance and regained him and he won eight games and lost nine in that season, but he never was the Chalmers of 1911, although once in a while he did show streaks approximating his fermer greatness. He was soon sent to the minors, when still under the thirty-year mark. Pat Moran often said that Chalmers would have been fully as great as Alexander had it not been for that damaging tumble on board ship. Joe Wood’s Arm Gone. Joe Wood of the Red Sox was the master flinger of the American league in 1912 and topped a remarkable season in the championship race by pitching Boston to victory in the lengthy world series that year. The strain of that; year was so severe that Wood’s arm gave way and he never was of much account to Boston after that. In 1912 he won 34 games, but in 1913 could turn in only 13 wins, quite a slump. Later Wood was sold to Cleveland and seeing that he could not pitch again he went into the outfield and started a second successful professional career, this time as a gardener. And yet Wood was only twenty-three years old when he hurt his arm. There are many more Instances of budding young pitchers Wlth fame before them who were suddenly rustled out of the baseball arena because they injured the delicate machinery of their wings.

Pitchers With Deranged Hurling Apparatus.