The pastime of bullyragging the pitcher by the coachers has lost its popularity recently. The wily coacher must first judge the temperament of a pitcher before he dares to undertake to get on his nerves. Clarke Griffith, formerly the manager of Cincinnati, has a reputation for being able to ruin young pitchers just attempting to establish themselves in the Big League. Time and again he has forced youngsters back to the minors by his constant cry of “Watch his foot” or “He’s going to waste this one.”
Photo by L. Van Oeyen, Cleveland, Ohio
Baker out at the plate trying to stretch a triple into a home run. This picture shows Catcher Easterly of Cleveland waiting with the ball to touch Baker. The home-run hero of the Athletics is shown in the picture starting the fall-away slide in an effort to get away from Easterly. Harry Davis is approaching the plate, and Jack Sheridan is awaiting the outcome at the plate.
The rules are very strict now about talking to pitchers, but, if a complaint is made, Griffith declares that he was warning the batter that it was to be a pitchout, which is perfectly legitimate. The rules permit the coacher to talk to the batter and the base runners.
Griffith caught a Tartar in Grover Cleveland Alexander, the sensational pitcher of the Philadelphia club. It was at his first appearance in Cincinnati that the young fellow got into the hole with several men on the bases, and “Mike” Mitchell coming up to the bat.
“Now here is where we get a look at the ‘yellow,’” yelled Griffith at Alexander.
The young pitcher walked over toward third base.
“I’m going to make that big boob up at the bat there show such a ‘yellow streak’ that you won’t be able to see any white,” declared Alexander, and then he struck Mitchell out. Griffith had tried the wrong tactics.
A story is told of Fred Clarke and “Rube” Waddell, the eccentric twirler. Waddell was once one of the best pitchers in the business when he could concentrate his attention on his work, but his mind wandered easily.