Walter Johnson, the American League pitcher (Washington), depends on his fast ball with a jump on it, his slow ball for a change of pace, one swift curve, and almost perfect control. He can throw other things, but these are what he does throw. Christy Mathewson, the great pitcher of the New York Giants, depends on his famous fadeaway, a high in-shoot, a slow ball, and a swift straight one-plus almost perfect control. Edward Walsh, the phenomenal steelarmed man of the Chicago White Sox, uses speed, a spit ball, a slow ball occasionally, a jump curve, and a plain, straight, not very hard ball which looks like a spitter and is n't. He also has magnificent control of the ball.

Now just as there are no two faces in the

Finish of the drop ball.

HOW TO PITCH A DROP BALL.

Posed expressly for ST. NICHOLAS by Dixie Walker, Washington, American League.

Note that this powerfully built pitcher pitches a drop over the side of his index-finger. Other pitchers sometimes release the ball over the ends of the fingers, with the back of the hand up.

you naturally. It is likely to be some variety of the out-curve, because this curve, as previously explained, is thrown by the hand and arm and wrist in a position which is a continuation of the natural curve of hand, arm, and wrist in throwing. The ball, firmly grasped between thumb and first two fingers, is brought over the shoulder with the ordinary throwing motion, and the back. of the hand is turned to the pitcher's right and slightly down as the ball is let go, so that it rolls off the sides of the index-finger and faces of both fingers, which serves to give it the necessary revolution from right to left to curve it to the pitcher's left and the batter's right. By bringing the hand directly down over the head and having the back of the hand toward the batter, the ball is made to revolve from top toward the bottom, or in the direction of its motion, so that it becomes a drop ball-dropping from its revolution, and not from impact with the air, as a spit ball drops.

Now, somewhere between these two, out-curve and drop-curve, is the out-drop. The position at

Start of the in-shoot.

Finish of the in-shoot.

HOW TO PITCH AN IN-SHOOT.

Posed expressly for ST. NICHOLAS by WALTER JOHNSON, Washington, American League.

things must be experimented with by the individual until he finds which variety of this curve he throws with the least effort. For if he throws a slight curve with little effort, he may throw a sharp or wide one with greater effort; whereas, if a slight curve takes "all he has," he cannot, well, increase the speed or latitude of that particular curve. So it is very important to find the curve that you can throw most easily, and make that the basis of what you will develop.

But whatever the curve which seems to be most natural to your build and habits of throwing, and which seems to jerk and twist your arm the least in delivery, try to develop it not only with the arm and hand, but with the whole body. Having a good "motion" means a great deal to a pitcher. It means that every muscle in his body, almost, is used in his pitch, and that, as a result, he can get greater speed, a wider curve, a sharper break, with less effort on any one muscle than he could

great "speed king" who pitched balls so hard and fast that none of his catchers could keep a good record all the time, had an almost perfect "motion." Walter Johnson, who, some players say, pitches as speedy a ball as ever Rusie pitched, has a perfect swing to his body, and uses not only his powerful arm and shoulder muscles, but those of his back, his thighs, and his legs, in his speed ball, so that he can finish a game almost as strong as when he began it. Mathewson's work has long been remarkable for the smoothness of his motion-he seems to propel the ball with his whole body, using his hand and arm rather to guide the ball than to propel it. Bender, who led the American League pitchers last year, has a long body, every bit of which gets into his throw -and similar instances might be multiplied without number.

The secret of good "motion," like that of control, is practice-only in this case the practice consists in throwing, throwing, throwing, using the arm as little as possible, save as a guide to the ball, and getting all the propelling effort possible by starting the pitch from a position in which the body is bent backward, stepping forward, and swinging the body from right to left so that all its muscles back up and supplement those of the arm.

Having mastered the elements of pitchingcontrol, and a good body swing, or "motion"-a great deal of progress is made toward pitching a good game. But without some knowledge of how to apply what you know, you might as well toss the ball up to the batter and let him hit it. Recruit players breaking into the Big Leagues often start out with tremendous batting averages-for a dozen games or more. Then the pitchers discover their likes and dislikes, find out what they can hit with ease and what they hit with difficulty, and promptly the new-comers' batting averages shrink tremendously.

Of course any lad soon catches on to the peculiarities of his fellow club-members who stand at the plate and face his pitching. But suppose you go to the other side of town or to a neighboring town, to play a nine you never saw before -what sort of balls are you going to pitch those batters? Use speed, and trust to luck? Make every pitched ball different from the preceding one, in the hope of fooling the man at bat? Throw two balls in the hope of their being called strikes, stick one over, and then trust to your infield to get the batter out at first?

None of these systems will do. You must study the first batter the first time he comes to the plate, and deduce what you can from his size,

his hold on the bat, his position at the platelater, when he has hit, you will have more data to reason from for his next time up. If the batsman holds his bat "choked," that is, several inches from the end, and, instead of swinging, chops at the ball, your best play is a low ball rather than a high one. "Choked bats" don't reach so far down, and are less likely to connect well with low balls than with those between waist and shoulder. Does the batter hold his bat at the extreme end and stand there waiting, swinging his bat in wide arcs? It is the trick of the free hitter-one who wallops the ball when he does hit it, and strikes out with a loud swishing noise of fanning air when he does n't. Free hitters rarely face the pitcher; they stand facing the plate or three quarters of the way between pitcher and plate (Fig. 2). The ball that this type of batter likes least is that which comes close to him on the inside of the plate. He likes it least because, even if he does hit it, it is usually with the handle of the bat, resulting in a slow roller or a little "pop fly." Change of pace is a great weapon against the swinging slugger, or free hitter: a fast ball well outside that he may

center. The chances are he will then hit too eagerly, and before the ball gets to him at all, or, if he does hit it, will drive a decided foul to left (if he be a right-hander-see Fig. 3).

Where the free-batter

doesn't like them

Where he does

like them

Fig. 2. The batters who stand sidewise to the plate can reach low balls with ease.

Snappy hitters-men who choke their bats and hit with a choppy motion, rather than a swingwill generally do more execution against a slow ball than a fast one. Not having to start their hit so soon, they are not so easily thrown out of balance as is the swinging hitter who must begin his swing some time before the ball reaches him, and who, therefore, on a slow ball he has n't recognized, either fans or fouls to left.

Batters who do not fear the ball, and step well into it at the plate, not infrequently take the heart out of a pitcher by hammering his best curve ball before it has fairly had a chance to break. Such men should get balls as close to them as possible, and high or low, according to their manner of standing at the plate. Always remember that a man who stands sidewise to the plate can do anything he wants with the average low ball, but has difficulty in hitting a high one; whereas a man who faces the pitcher squarely can handle high ones easily and low ones with difficulty.

Batters who are timid-who "pull away" as they bat-are the easy prey of the pitcher with control-all he has to do is keep the ball on the outside corner of the plate. As the batter is

ing them to left) than they do on slow ones, which they recognize and which they unconsciously wait for, driving them to right. The diagrams show why a fast ball is usually driven to right and a slow one to left, but this is not a hard-andfast rule. But it is a noticeable fact that pitchers of the Rusie-Johnson type, who have extreme speed, do get a lot of strikes by the foul route,

In some cases the pitcher may to a certain extent control the direction of the batsman's hit. That is, by knowing where the batsman usually hits a straight, fast ball, he can, by giving him a decided in-curve, or a decided out-curve sometimes, cause him to hit to right or left of his usual direction (see Fig. 6). Of course this little strategy won't always succeed-the batter won't always hit as expected-but it succeeds often enough for most Major League teams to notify the outfield and the infield by signal what sort of a ball is to be pitched to a batter, so that they may know what is the most probable result should the batter succeed in hitting it.

In the same way (see Fig. 7) the pitcher may control to some slight extent the probable direction of the hit, by knowing the batter's usual style, and changing the speed of the ball accordingly. This is not a particularly sure method, but often, with a canny batsman, it is of advantage in getting two strikes on him by the foul route, first, perhaps, with a swift ball, and, second, with a slow "teaser."

Of course there are a great many individual peculiarities which have no general applicationevery boy will have to master those of his opponents as practice shows him their weaknesses. Some can't hit a slow ball at all, others kill slow balls every time. Some batters will hit every time at the first ball if it is within reach-these should always get the first ball well outside the plate. Other batters almost never offer at the first ball-a straight, plain, swift one through the heart of the plate should be the first pitch to lads of this disposition. Some batters hit all fast balls

There are times when you must consider not only what the man at bat can do best, but what he is likely to try to do. Thus, with a man on third and less than two out, the sacrifice fly is often attempted. The hardest ball from which to hit a long, high sacrifice fly is a high ball. Naturally, therefore (unless

this particular batter is one who hits all high balls particularly well), in this situation, keep the ball up. Similarly it is harder to bunt a high ball than a waist-high or low one-bunting a ball from a

shoulder-high

pitch is easily seen to be difficult. On the other hand, with a very speedy man at the plate who often chops the ball straight down, in the hope of it making a high bounce or two during which he can beat it to the base, keep the ball low.

Right Center

Fig. 7

It is highly necessary that the young pitcher realize the importance of having the same preliminary attitude previous to all pitches, and the same variety of "motion" in all deliveries, otherwise the batter will soon recognize that your little step backward before you pitch means a fast ball, or your slight hunching of the shoulder means a drop, or whatever telltale motion you make means some one particular pitch. One of the reasons for Mathewson's great success with his fadeaway is his uncanny ability to pitch it with the overhand motion-the same motion he uses on his straight ball and his high in-curve. He could pitch his high in and his fadeaway with less effort and perhaps greater effect, if he could use his arm any way he pleased. But he cannot. He must use a motion which gives no indication of what is coming-so, indeed, must all pitchers. It is in this point, too, that the lad whose slow ball is but his fast ball thrown easily, fails so lamentably-any one can see what he is doing while he does it. Take a pitcher like Alexander, of the "Phillies," or Marquard, of the Giants, or

Left

---Center

grip and the last wrist flick, which does the business without any telltale hint to the batter.

While, perhaps, more properly belonging to the chapter to be devoted to fielding, a few words seem necessary here on the pitcher's duties outside the box. A pitcher might have every known delivery, deception, speed, slow ball, curve, fader, drop, everything, and still be hopelessly a "Minor leaguer," if he did n't watch bases and hold runners on, as well as field bunts and cover first base.

Barney Pelty, pitcher of the St. Louis. "Browns," recently stated that, in his opinion, it should be the pitcher instead of the catcher who was charged with a stolen base. Suppose the pitcher does n't hold the runner glued to first. He gets off with a fifteen-, perhaps a twenty-, foot lead. The pitcher takes a bit of a wind-up, and the runner is twenty-five feet from first

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