El Paso Herald/May 2, 1913
Complaining of Phillies About Depression Back of Pitcher’s Box is Admission Twirlers Also Violated Rule—Brooklyn is Up and Coming
NEW YORK, May 2.—And now the “squawk of the trimmed sucker,” which the poet used to sing about, is heard in the land. Charley Dooin, by his next friend Bill Locke, of the Phillies, has protested the games played here, claiming that the diamond did not comply with that section of Rule 9 which avers that the slope from the pitcher’s plate to every base line and the home plate should be gradual.
The Dooin delegation claims that there was a hole, or depression, back of the pitcher’s rubber, which bothered Messrs. Brennan, Chalmers, Moore and Seaton, although the protest does not explain why the hole did not also annoy the Giant pitchers.
Manager McGraw, of the Giants, is not much disturbed by the protest. He said that during some of the rainstorms ground keeper John Murphy scooped the mud out from behind the pitcher’s box, and because he did not happen to have red clay to fill in the cavity he let it remain as it was for the time being. When the Dooin bunch made a kick McGraw showed the depression to John Heyden, secretary of the National League, and explained the circumstances.
Pitching Delivery Illegal
As a matter of fact, the Philly protest is a tacit admission that their pitchers are guilty of an illegal delivery, because, if the hole is back of the rubber, the heaver has no business back there anyway. The rule says he must have “both feet on the ground and in front of the pitcher’s plate,” and so any pitcher who complied strictly with that rule could not possibly be disturned by a depression back of the rubber.
However, the majority of pitchers get behind the plate so that their feet may secure a purchase on the rubber, which is clearly illegal, although most umpires let them get away with it. Twirlers like Lew Ritchie and, on their own confession, the Philly hurlers, are notorious violators of that law of delivery.
“Well, if the series goes to protest, maybe they’ll give us that game that was taken away from us because Klem wasn’t looking when McCormick made the hit,” said McGraw dryly, when discussing the claims of the Philly management. “There is nothing to the kick about the hole.”
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Make no mistake about the ball club which William Dahlen has amassed over in Brooklyn. It gives the east another strong representative in the National League, making three in all, counting the Giants and the Phillies with Boston as the only real weak sister to repel the western invasion.
Dahlen not only has a good infield, but his suburban detachment compares favorably with any in the league. Young Stenger is apparently no bloomer, but has come to stay, and if he lives up to his present form he will soon be classed as one of the great outfielders of the country.
Dahlen’s pitching staff is a formidable one, too. Headed by the only Napoleon Rucker, with “Lefty” Allen as chief aide, the hurling corps collected by the Brooklyn chief should carry the team along to first division honors—long the dream of the Flatbush Fusileer.
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Since Theodore Goulait was dispatched to Joe Kelly at Toronto, McGraw has only three or four recruits left. Frank Smith, the right handed twirler from Traverse City, Mich., is still with the Giants, and so is Ferdinand Schupp, the young side-wheeler.
Joey Evers is also present, and the disposition of this trio is still a matter of doubt. It is certain that Jim Thorpe will be carried throughout the year and practically certain that McGraw will cling to Claude Cooper, the sensational young outfielder.
(Source: Chronicling America, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88084272/1913-05-02/ed-1/seq-9/#date1=1910&index=16&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=DAMON+RUNYON&proxdistance=5&date2=1913&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Damon+Runyon&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1)
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