Small Pitching Staff Best, Says Old-timer.
Jimmy Ryan, veteran player and one of the best of the famous Chicago Colts, believes baseball is going back to the old days, when five pitchers were all the biggest club would carry.
“At present,” he says, “we find big-league clubs with ten or more pitchers on the pay roll, when three or four are actually doing the work. What is the result? Why, these regulars are liable to be fretty because they have to perform the heavy tasks and at the same time see six or seven men sitting on the bench drawing pay and performing no actual labor in championship games.
“‘Why do I have to do so much and wear myself out, when those guys are having it so soft?’ they frequently say to themselves. And you can’t blame them.
“Instead of a dozen high-priced men stepping on each others’ toes, I believe that the day is coming when six will be the limit any club carries. Manager Stallings, of the Boston Braves, has shown to the present generation that it can be done.
“Back in the eighties, when I was pitching, John Clarkson, another fellow, and myself would do the bulk of the work. And it didn’t hurt us any, either. We were in shape, and had to keep so.
“It was seldom one heard a pitcher say he was feeling bad then, or had a kink in the arm. He had to get out and work or lose his job.
“They can talk all they want to about baseball’s improving. But I fail to see it that way. We could teach the present-day players a lot about the game, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
“Hard work never hurt any ball player. You see what it did for the Boston Braves! It won them a world’s championship.”