The Slippery Elm Boys

[No Pepper]

Slippery Elm Boy Update 1906

Elmer Stricklett and Frank Corridon decided to call it quits and pursue other endeavors outside of baseball. Both had potential as coaches if not as players, but for both their experimentation of the spitball caused control problems they could never get over. Stricklett’s best year was with Minneapolis in 1904 when he went 15-20 with 134 strikeouts. A 37 loss season in ’03 with San Francisco derailed any confidence he may have had to make the bigs. His lasting impression on baseball may be with the emergence of Big Ed Walsh. Corridon never got a fair shake in Philadelphia since ownership changed hands. He pitched extremely well in Toronto but the big league magnate always brought in better talent via trade and mining other minor league teams.

Clark Griffith decided to concentrate on the front office side of baseball with the successful Pittsburg club and ended his long pitching career on a high note after a successful 1905. Bill Dineen was traded to Brooklyn by Boston and he responded with a slightly better year, going 11-2 in June and July but faltered to 4-9 the rest of the way leading some to believe the 30-year old can no longer handle the workload of a regular starter. In what seems to be a rebuilding process in Boston, the Americans traded loyal Tom Hughes in August to Seattle of the PCL, who was later released on account of a “dead arm.” Hughes managed to avoid a disasterous season by winning six games in July but by then the damage was done and he was off to the great Northwest. To pick up the slack in Boston, young Ralph Glaze’s raw saliva shoot caused some Boston infielders to grumble about the difficulty in grabbing all the ground balls he induced. Glaze’s 1.86 ERA is a bit misleading on account of all the errors behind him.

Ed Walsh

Ed Walsh is establishing himself as one of the best hurlers in the game and whose success in Chi-town is rumored to have spurned an intense fascination of the spitball among the nation’s aspiring moundsmen. He finished his third season in the “bigs” with his second consecutive twenty win season and led the league in strikeouts with 218. He’s beginning to show near pin-point control, as if he can will the spitball wherever and whenever he wants it. He walked only 5 batters in the month of September, winning 6 games, 3 being shutouts, in Chicago’s push to catch Cleveland.

Former teammate Harry Howell, who had a stellar 1905 campaign, packed his bags for California after a contract negotiation stalled with stingy magnate Charlie Comiskey. He promptly won 40 games for Seattle with 14 shutouts making any well-informed Chicagoan wonder what would have been if he’d been in town. Lefthander Noodles Hahn was traded by Cincinnati to Portland in the PCL where he got lost in the crowd but looked strong enough to warrant a return somewhere in 1907.

Jack Chesbro

Fellow star Jack Chesbro of New York has hit his stride with his second 20 win season, throwing the spitter on nearly every pitch. He’s clearly defied former mentor Griffith’s approach of using it only when needed, which has, along with Walsh’s success, has encouraged more to try the pitch. Slow Joe Doyle and Al Orth, formerly of Washington, have now joined Chesbro in throwing the wet one. The pitch may prolong Orth’s already long successful career while Doyle still struggles with controlling it, walking a less than bearable 134 batsmen.

Glenn Liebhardt

After three hard-working years in Columbus, righthander Glenn Liebhardt joined the Cleveland ranks and helped propel them to the AL pennant in 1906, winning 25 game in his rookie year. His performance is reminiscent of Earl Moore, who was mysteriously released by the club in January. Moore, known for his loud confidence and nasty sidearm delivery, disappeared, his whereabouts unknown. If a team can find him, he’d surely make them an instant contender next year. Also out of Cleveland by June was Cy Falkenberg who spent time earlier in the year with Columbus. After a three-hit victory in his only start for the Naps, he was traded to the Cubs where he struggled for two months until a 6-0 September found his groove again.

Player       Team   W   L  SV  ERA   G   GS   IP    HA    BB   K   CG  SHO
F. Corridon                    - retired -    
E. Stricklett                  - retired -
C. Griffith                    - retired -
B. Dineen     BRO   19  17  0  2.50  39  39  342.2  327   85  107  31   1
T. Hughes     BOS   14  11  0  3.11  25  25  219.2  195   70   95  21   0 
E. Walsh      CHA   23  16  0  1.91  39  39  348.2  285   73  218  38   7
H. Howell     PCL           -statistics unavailable- 
N. Hahn	      PCL           -statistics unavailable-
J. Chesbro    NYH   20  17  0  2.21  40  39  346.2  302   80  195  32   2
J. Doyle      NYH   14  18  0  2.34  38  38  334.2  296  134  196  31   2
A. Orth       NYH   20  14  0  2.48  35  35  304.1  282   79  115  32   3
G. Liebhardt  CLE   25  13  0  2.01  38  38  339.2  283   99  149  38   5
E. Moore                       - no team -
C. Falkenberg CHN   15   6  0  2.50  22  22  197.2  169   65  100  17   2

[No Pepper]

Dynasties in Pittsburg and Cleveland Clash in ‘07

Pittsburg reclaimed the top spot in the National League standings by edging out a surprising Brooklyn squad. Pittsburg again did it with pitching, this time finding a rising star in Ed “Loose” Karger, who in his first year tied Rube Waddell for wins in a season with 28. Heinie Berger, who had toiled in Columbus for three years and pitched in relief last year with the Pirates, finally got his shot as a starter, with emery ball in hand, and racked off 22 wins. Brooklyn was led by Jimmy Sheckard’s league high batting average of .372. His mark was nearly 60 points higher than the next best hitter, and nearly 100 points better than his mark last year. Christy Mathewson quietly put together his best season for the Giants, who always seem a couple hitters away from toppling Pittsburg.

Final National Club Standings 1907

    Club     Won   Lost   Pct   G.B. Avg.  ERA    
Pittsburg     99    55   .643    -   .246  2.23 
Brooklyn      94    60   .610    5   .255  2.50   
New York      85    69   .552   14   .241  2.19
Cincinnati    74    80   .481   25   .240  2.67   
Philadelphia  72    82   .468   27   .233  2.15  
St. Louis     71    83   .461   28   .242  2.71
Chicago       58    96   .377   41   .222  2.97

Cleveland again reached the American League flag in 1907, on the shoulders of the league’s best offense and the rescue of Noodles Hahn from disarray in California. Hahn, another spitballer to call Cleveland home, enjoyed the same success as his predecessors by recording his best season with 29 wins against 10 losses. Philadelphia may have found some offense (finally) in newcomer Eddie Collins to help a talented pitching staff through the long season and seriously contend for a pennant in the coming years. Meanwhile New York fell dramatically no thanks in part to trading Jack Chesbro back to the PCL for peanuts. Chesbro responded with his best professional season, winning 39 against 5 losses.

Final American Club Standings 1907

    Club     Won   Lost   Pct   G.B.  Avg.  ERA    
Cleveland     94    60   .610    -    .264  2.24 
Philadelphia  87    67   .565    7    .251  2.28  
Boston        85    69   .552    9    .247  2.32  
Washington    80    74   .519   14    .235  2.11  
Detroit       79    75   .513   15    .241  2.35
Chicago       76    78   .494   18    .240  2.32
New York      61    93   .396   33    .249  2.69
St. Louis     54   100   .351   40    .220  2.65

World’s Series 1907 Recap: Pittsburg ends its campaign victorious against Cleveland in 6 games, 4 to 2. A game 4 melt down by American League’s best Noodles Hahn leads to a 13-6 defeat that the Naps never recover from. Bill Bradley goes 11 for 19 but its Pittsburg’s pitching, notably that of late-season call-up, rookie Ed Summers, that wins championships. It is the Pirates third such claim on the world’s best base ball team.

[No Pepper]

Final Statistical Leaders 1907

  National League          

Batting Average          
J. Sheckard   BRO   .372          
*F. Molina     NYG   .316        
E. Flick      STL   .300        

Runs Batted In              
*N. Jolley     STL   96             
*S. Green      BRO   87		    
*J. Turner     PIT   86		    

Stolen Bases		   
J. Sheckard    BRO   43		   
H. Wolter      CIN   40		   
T. Leach       PHI   39               

Wins			   
E. Karger    PIT    28	   
N. Rucker    BRO    26		   
*W. Scates   CIN    23		   

[b]Earned Runs Average		  
*W. Scates     CIN    1.36	  
C. Mathewson   NYG    1.73		  
N. Rucker      BRO    1.91	   

Strikeouts		   
*W. Scates     CIN    287		  
*G. O'Donnell  STL    267
C. Mathewson  NYG    236	   

  American League

Batting Average
S. Crawford   DET   .314
M. Grady      BOS   .313
B. Keister    BOS   .312

Runs Batted In
*P. Stroh     BOS   89
*B. Musser    CHI   81
*E. Anderson   DET   77

Stolen Bases
D. Jones      STL    65
B. Keister    BOS    50
C. Milan      WAS    49

Wins
N. Hahn     CLE    29	
H. Berger   CLE    25
W. Johnson  WAS    25

Earned Runs Average
R. Glaze      BOS    1.73
W. Johnson    WAS    1.75
B. Jacobson   WAS    1.75

Strikeouts
*R. O'Connor   WAS   270
W. Johnson    WAS   260
*A. Gomez     NYH   254

Of some concern is the presence of fictional players among the leaders in several statistical categories. It's interesting to see the dominance in the NL's RBI ranking. Most of these players have low average, high power ratings/stats, with one hitting as much as 23 home runs this year. Will "Dopey" Scates was a 31 year old free agent that was created when I formed the two Class-D feeder leagues in the preseason. I (in)advertently set an Amateur Draft with 2 rounds, culling from feeder leagues only, but left the historical import option checked. In so doing, major league imports were drafted early by non-historical ML teams and a number of fictional free agents with high current ratings were created automatically.

I'm seriously thinking of disbanding the fictional PCL, already not liking the 2 player limit on foreigners I've put in both leagues that can trade with one another. With the MLB and PCL finances the same IIRC, I'm finding a lot of "dumb" trades by MLB ridding it of its star pitchers. I'll inactivate trading between leagues and see if that helps and reset the draft so that eligible feeder league players must be signed instead of drafted. Things are getting complicated with mixed historical/fictional leagues but it's well worth the learning experience.

[Carplos]

I tend to keep "trade between leagues" off because it doesn't really work well, because like you said, MLB teams (or whatever your top league is) will make dumb trades with lower league and foreign leagues. This is why I want a "cash only" option so that teams can buy players, which generally makes more sense. Since I usually play as the commissioner only in my universes, I sometimes intervene and make lower teams "sell" players to higher teams.

Of course, this only applies if you're doing a setup similar to real life as far as talent distribution, finances, etc. go. If you're doing a fantasy universe where all things are equal, then it's a nifty feature.

[No Pepper]

You are very correct Carplos, thanks for chiming in. I did not anticipate the extent of the trading. I didn't much mind it early on before 1903 when it 'fit nicely' with 'contract jumping' but back then I didn't allow foreigners in the majors either. Couple this with my small roster sizes (18), ghost minors, and the 'major league ready' imported players, player movement was at times too free or too restricted. Recalc may also be playing a role because several of "the Boys" have had great seasons only to be traded for nothing, released, or sent to the minors. My PCL actually is an equal league (a slight mistake on my part) and they still make 'dumb' trades and the players created within aren't equal (strike out more and hit for more power). This will have some implications for the Federal League when it comes, if I choose to add it.

It would seem for historical universes it's best to keep things straight cut and simple or else its a slippery slope.

[No Pepper]

Slippery Elm Boys Update 1907

It appears that the career of Bill Dineen, now with Brooklyn, is coming to a close as the 10-year veteran was kept in relief duty and limited use all year. Former teammate Tom Hughes stayed in California after being released by Seattle and did not catch on with a team.

Ed Walsh pitched even better this year, his fourth in the majors, but Chicago’s offense was weak this year and failed to support the rising star. Harry Howell was welcomed back to Chicago but experienced a similar fate as the team fell from contention into the second division. The steal of the year came in Cleveland with the signing of Noodles Hahn, ex-Cincinnati star. The return of the lefthanded spitballer made fellow Slippery Elm Boy Glenn Liebhardt expendable, who spent the full year at Columbus in disbelief. Former Nap Heinie Berger made the best of his opportunity to start in Pittsburg and was a key contributor in the championship season. Troubled Earl Moore resurfaced only to announce that he was hanging up his cleats.

Hooks Wiltse of New York and Beany Jacobson in Washington are the new breed of spitballers, branding their own mark on the leagues to the tune of being southpaws. For Jacobson, 1907 was his best effort in his five year career, and his 1.75 ERA was tied for second in the AL.

Jimmy Dygert repeated last year’s performance in Philadelphia and benefited from an improved offense this year. He joins veteran Eddie Plank, young Chief Bender and Jack Coombs in a tough Athletic rotation. Jack Chesbro again found himself in California, this time via a trade which ended up being a contract dump by the Highlanders. It was a mistake as Chesbro completely dominated the PCL as the Yankees fell on hard times and into the second division. That led to “The Curveless Wonder” Al Orth’s first professional 20-loss season. Overall, Orth has 220 career victories, second only to Griffith’s 238 among those who tossed the wet one. Meanwhile, Cy Falkenberg lost 28 for the lowly Cubs, walking 130 in a frustrating year after being traded from Cleveland.

Player       Team   W   L  SV  ERA   G   GS   IP    HA    BB   K   CG  SHO
B. Dineen     BRO    4   2  3  2.81  19   2   57.2   57   22   18   1   0 
T. Hughes                          - no team - 
E. Walsh      CHA   18  18  0  1.84  40  39  357.0  280   63  213  33   2
H. Howell     CHA   16  19  0  2.54  37  37  336.2  295   80  138  31   2
N. Hahn	      CLE   29  10  0  2.15  39  39  356.0  306   35   98  37   7  
G. Liebhardt  CLE                - minor leagues -
H. Berger     PIT   22  16  0  2.54  39  39  343.2  274   92  186  36   4 
E. Moore                           - retired -
H. Wiltse     NYG   20  18  0  2.30  38  38  340.0  308   83  150  36   5 
B. Jacobson   WAS   19  18  0  1.75  38  38  340.0  281   81  138  36   4
J. Dygert     PHA   22  13  0  2.26  39  38  335.0  271  102  167  33   2
J. Chesbro    PCL           - statistics unavailable -
A. Orth       NYH   13  21  0  2.55  35  35  304.0  317   78   86  29   1
C. Falkenberg CHN   10  28  0  2.90  38  38  326.0  297  130  155  33   3

* EDIT - In my rush to get to 1908 I overlooked Jack Chesbro's NO HITTER against Philadelphia that occurred on July 4, 1906. This is the first no-hitter among those dedicated to the saliva shoot. Chesbro is a bit of an enigma for being shuttled to California and back, especially when his success with the spitter mounts each year.

[No Pepper]

Waterloo Sunday Courier
April 4, 1908

The Lulus hosted Burlington for the third game of a 4 game set Saturday morning. Manager Flemming decided to pencil in the young Charles Carpenter, of Des Moines as the day’s starting pitcher against Jim Hill. The 18 year old right-hander managed to get two quick outs in his professional debut before two Pathfinder safeties rattled the rookie. Wide with a nervous fastball, Carpenter walked the next batsmen but regained composure and struck out the next, his second in the inning. Carpenter again faced a challenge in the second by surrendering a double but managed another strikeout after a bit of wildness. The Lulus plated a run in their half of the inning with the help of two errors. Vigue scored on Mackey’s single who later killed the rally when he was caught sleeping at second.

Trouble found Carpenter in the third frame, again after two outs. With men on first and third, the young pitcher fooled Lenard again, this time a soft fly to center. In the fifth inning, the Pathfinders barely lifted the bat of the shoulder as a walk, two tough chances and a wild pitch led to two tallies against the Lulus to make the score 2-1. The boys failed to score Wolfe after his two-bagger and Carpenter’s wildness continued in the sixth. After a hit batsmen and another strikeout, Carpenter surrendered a triple to left which unnerved him and an ensuing wild pitch allowed Burlington’s third run to score. But just as quickly, Carpenter fired a strike past Newton again for a strike out to end the rally. Carpenter has a quick fastball with a wonderful change of pace. His curve is a bit raw but a solid frame and strong wrists look to solve that during the course of the summer's schedule.

Baserunning woes continued for the Lulus as Vigue was cut down stealing second to erase a lead off single. In the bottom of the seventh, our town’s fanatics began chanting “Chuck, Chuck, Chuck!” before every pitch of the young hurler. Two slow balls later led to dramatic strikeouts which fired up the crowd even more. The Lulus responded to the cheers and scored three runs on sharp base hits by Stearns and Vigue. Thomas relieved Carpenter and the Lulus wrapped up the game in short order. The location of the fourth game, on Sunday, is not known. Kitts is expected to take the mound.

Charles "Chuck" Carpenter

Pitching line: 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Carpenter is now 1-0 on the season for the Waterloo Lulus, Central Association, Class D.

[Carplos]

Pitching line: 6 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. Carpenter is now 1-0 on the season for the Waterloo Lulus, Central Association, Class D.

Not bad for a professional debut.

[No Pepper]

Carpenter Learning Life in Class D

In his inaugural month to what we all hope is a long career, Chuck Carpenter is quickly learning the realities of life in Class D ball. The 18-year old has talent but right now it's untapped potential as a lack of control frustrates his composure on the mound for the Lulus. Currently slated as the number 3 starter, Carpenter has gotten regular work in the month of April, having started well enough to receive longer looks from his coach Flemming. Flemming is a great field manager with a penchant for developing young talented pitchers. However, as stated before, Carpenter currently faces some control problems, namely with his sub-standard curveball.

Chuck's curve was extremely hittable and he suffered four straight losses following his strong debut. He surrendered more than 5 runs in each of those starts, progressively walking more batters while striking out less, hitting a low on April 22 when he gave up 10 runs in 5 innings of work against Oskaloosa. Flemming corrected a slight flaw in his release point and in his last start, although giving up 5 runs in 7 innings, he rebounded with 7 strikeouts.

Carpenter's accumulated statistics through April 30:

                    W   L  ERA   G  GS   IP    HA   BB    K   CG  SHO
1908  Waterloo  D   2   4  5.21  7   7  46.2   58   25   26    1   0

Reminder: I'm still taking signups for 1908 (2 slots still open!) and beyond if you wish to add a fictional player to my dynasty. Please see the signup thread for details.

[No Pepper]

Cincy Duo Powers Reds Past Pirates

Left-handers Rube Waddell and Roy Hitt are making a difference for Cincinnati this year who finally return to the top of the standings for the first time since the turn of the century. Waddell is his usual stellar self, having just gone through his former stomping grounds and pummeling the Pennsylvania nines the past three games, giving up just one run and striking out no less than 6 batsmen. Rookie Roy Hitt has made Cincy fanatics forget about the departed star Noodles Hahn by showing the toughness of a veteran in his youthful 21 years. Waddell has 4 shutouts in 12 wins with a 1.54 ERA and is tied for the lead league in strikeouts. Hitt is 11-4. Pittsburgh is not far behind the Reds but its once strong offense has fallen from grace and struggles to score runs despite leading the league in hits and home runs. Honus Wagner is the lone star of the lot, hitting an impressive .331, nearly 90 points higher than the league average. Otherwise, steady Jim St. Vrain leads a solid pitching staff with a 10-8 record. The Giants seem perpetually stuck in third place, this year managing perhaps as good a pitching staff as there is with Mathewson, Wiltse and Ames, but not able to hide the large shortcomings on offense to make any push to the top. The Cardinals break into the first division on the laurels of 38 year old journeyman Mike Grady who has gotten better with age, hitting .336.

National Club Standing, July 1, 1908

    Club     Won   Lost   Pct   G.B. Avg.  ERA    
Cincinnati    43    29   .597    -   .245  2.24 
Pittsburgh    40    34   .541    4   .240  2.28   
New York      36    32   .529    5   .248  2.27
St. Louis     37    34   .521   5.5  .251  2.34   
Brooklyn      33    35   .485    8   .226  2.42  
Chicago       35    37   .486    8   .248  2.80
Philadelphia  30    38   .441   11   .228  2.65
Boston        27    42   .391  14.5  .247  2.89

Cleveland Set to Grab Pennant? Or Looking Over Shoulder?

Cleveland maintains its dominance over the American League with the best record in baseball, but its edge is slight in that four other nines are within 6 games of the top spot. Each club sports a better pitching staff than the Naps, and if their league-best offense should slump or falter down the stretch, the throne may be usurped by any one of them. Field Manager Nap Lajoie leads the charge to the pennant with a .306 average but is showing signs of slowing down. Noodles Hahn is the only pitcher of note, who although having lost some zip on his fastball, has gotten the outs when he needs them, going 11-1 and only walking 9 in 109 innings. His efforts negate Ed Killian’s horrible start of 5 wins against 11 losses he’s given up nearly 1.5 runs more than the average pitcher. Detroit fashions a very fine right fielder in Cobb, who after three years seems to have learned the ropes of American League pitching, hitting a hot .365 with a league high 100 safeties. Sam Crawford is having his worst year but a number of pitchers are having career years to pace the Tigers. Ed Hughes and Bumpus Jones each claim an ERA under 2 while Bill Bernhard, 37, is capping a fine career with a steady performance while taking rookie Eddie Cicotte (8-7, 2.18 ERA) under his wing. Philadelphia’s Chief Bender is having a career year with 13 wins against 5 losses. A 1.41 ERA and 92 strikeouts put the tall Indian near the top in pitching categories but it’s Chicago’s Ed Walsh that has everyone buzzing. Walsh is a can’t miss attraction, winning 16 of 20 games started. He leads the league in strikeouts with 103 and sports the league’s best control. If Chicago can continue to ride the wave of its wet wonders (the Sox sport 3 spitballers in its rotation) and can hope rookie Tris Speaker (Boston released him last year) continues his success, they’ll be a contender to break Cleveland’s string of AL pennants.

American Club Standings, July 1, 1908

    Club     Won   Lost   Pct   G.B.  Avg.  ERA    
Cleveland     42    24   .636    -    .273  2.48
Detroit       38    27   .585   3.5   .251  2.10
Philadelphia  40    29   .580   3.5   .252  2.23  
Chicago       39    30   .565   4.5   .262  2.19
New York      39    30   .565   4.5   .267  2.43
Boston        28    41   .406  15.5   .240  2.45  
Washington    25    42   .373  17.5   .225  2.76 
St. Louis     20    48   .294   23    .215  2.77

[No Pepper]

“Chuck” Carpenter has coped well in what is becoming a hitter-dominated Central Association. The league batting average is .293 and scores nearly 3 more runs per game than the American League, which is hitting at just a .248 rate. Waterloo is currently in second place, 50-34, four games back of the Ottumwa Packers. Carpenter has migrated to the end of the Lulu rotation, but is third overall in wins with 10. A lack of command has resulted in a team leading 71 walks and perhaps explains Fleming's quick hook, allowing the raw 18 year-old to go the distance only twice in 21 starts.

Recently however, Chuck has upped his game. After a dreadful 8-run barrage in 3 innings against Kewanee, Carpenter rebounded with 8 scoreless innings in a win against the front-running Packers. Chuck has helped his own cause, hitting .271 with a triple and 11 runs batted in (currently 4th among Central Association pitchers.

                    W   L  ERA    G  GS   IP    HA   BB    K   CG  SHO
1908  Waterloo  D  10   6  4.84  21  21  145.0  167  71   68    2   0

[No Pepper]

THE "SPIT" BALL
Renewed Protest By Manager Napoleon Lajoie
Notwithstanding the Possession of Great "Spit Ball" Pitchers the Cleveland Manager Declares That this Delivery Injures Base Ball

Special to "Sporting Life," August 3, 1908 [The real article I’ve adapted this from appeared in “Sporting Life” on August 3, 1907]

Cleveland, OH., July 31 - Although four "spit" ball pitchers helped him win three American League pennants and two of the four were responsible for the Naps winning the World's championship in 1904 [notably Earl Moore and Cy Morgan], Manager Napoleon Lajoie, of the AL pennant winners, is in favor of doing away with the "spit" ball. "I warned Somers against the evils of the 'spit' ball two years ago," said Lajoie recently. "He laughed at me and said baseball was more prosperous than ever. That may be all true, but I would be willing to wager that the crowds would be even larger if it were not for the 'spit' ball. Somers was on the Rules Committee when I begged him to have a rule inserted prohibiting a pitcher from moistening the ball, but he thought that my fears were groundless."

AN INJURY

"In my opinion the 'spit' ball is doing a great injury to the game. In the first place, it is not natural. In the second place, it is not cleanly. Lots of people do not like to go out to the park and watch a pitcher slobbering all over a ball. Thirdly, the use of the 'spit' ball lengthens the games, as pitchers who depend upon the 'spit' ball consume so much time applying the moisture. Another reason is that when a 'spit' ball pitcher has good control of his 'spitter' the opposing team can consider itself lucky if it gets a hit. I do not care what some others may say, but a hit off a 'spit' ball is nothing but luck. The fans went crazy over Wednesday's game in which all hit the ball hard and the fielders had a chance to make some fine stops and catches. That's base ball. The rooters like to see the ball hit or a fine piece of fielding."

DEMORALIZES FIELDERS

"Then again, with a 'spit' ball man in the box, the fielders behind him are more liable to make errors in consequence of the slippery condition of the ball. Furthermore, a fielder with a nonspitter in the box knows generally where to play for the batter. With a 'spit' ball pitcher at work, it is much guesswork with him. A left field hitter may hit to right field and vice versa. It is said that 'spit' ball pitchers would not have to be feared because they would be unable to control the ball. Such talk is ridiculous, for any good 'spit' ball pitcher has as good control as any of them who do not use the delivery in question. Two years ago, when I made the first kick against the 'spit' ball, Chesbro and Howell were practically the only 'spit' ball pitchers. Now we have Walsh and Mattern of Chicago, Washington has Jacobson and Philadelphia Dygert, New York Orth, Boston Kroh and Pruiett, St. Louis Lake. And many have already crossed lines to play in the National League and many more take it up in the minor leagues. Thank goodness Chesbro sits in California this year.”

TIME TO ACT

"By another year there may be twice as many and it would be no surprise to see all the pitchers within a few years using this delivery which injures the game. Now is the time to act. Let the league instruct its umpires to call every ball pitched in which the pitcher uses the saliva a ball and this delivery will be killed in short order. Then we will see a stop put to star pitchers being made of twirlers who have nothing but plenty of moisture with which to dampen the ball."

[To pile on the irony, Lajoie is a two-time batting champion and best fielder recipient, at both shortstop and second base. One wonders if the recent takeover of first place by the once lowly Athletics lit the fire.]