PITCH TO THEIR STRIDES!
Here's Griffith's Advice To His Hurlers
"If the rear shoulder of a batter facing a Washing pitcher drops, you can be reasonably sure he's going to get a high pitch.
It's an order, suh- and a written one!
And it comes from the top- from Clark Griffith, president of the Washington ball club himself.
Quite dissatisfied with the way some of his highly-touted pitchers performed last year, the 85-year-old Griffith, himself one of the great hurlers of the game 60 years ago, recently dictated a three-page set of instructions to be mailed to each of the members of his pitching staff, telling them just what to do in almost any circumstance that might arise.
'One bad pitch can cost us a game,' Griffith says. 'Maybe, somewhere in those instructions, a pitcher might find a tip that will turn a defeat into a win. If so, I've accomplished something.'
He analyzes all the reasons behind all the advice he gives, too. For instance: 'If the batter's rear shoulder drops, pitch high,' Griff advises, 'since the dropping of the rear shoulder will cause the bat to swing with an upward motion and all balls will be hit in the air as flies.
'If the batter takes too long a stride, pitch high,' Griff's letter continues. 'The ball will look like a strike as it comes towards the batsman, but it will be above his shoulders after he takes his stride. There is only one place a high-pitched ball can be hit by such a batsman- into the air. A slow ball or slow curve is also effective against the batsman who takes too long a step.
'If the batter takes too short a stride and carries his bat in a high position, pitch low,' Griff cautions. 'Such a stride does not give a batsman sufficient arm movement to reach and meet such a pitched ball squarely.'
If the batter's front foot pulls away from a straight line toward the pitcher, he is to be pitched low and to the outside, the theory being that a batter with this characteristic will be too far away from the line of the flight of the oncoming pitch to hit it effectively.
'If the batter appears anxious, take plenty of time,' Griffith continues. 'With a man on base in scoring position, pitch curve balls, low. A low curve is hard to hit into the air for a long fly. Have some particular pitch in reserve for this situation.'
The Washington pitchers are now under written instructions to try to get the first pitch, whether a fast one or a curve ball, over the plate for a strike. Mr. Griffith doesn't believe in toying around with a batter to the extent of letting him start off with the upper hand.
He's also informed his pitchers that 'it is best to throw the ball at some particular part of the catcher's anatomy rather than at a mental object quite apart from the catcher.'
And he also doesn't want his pitchers to try to deliver a curve ball with a big crook in the arm at the elbow. 'It should be almost as fully extended as in pitching a fast ball.'
Here are some more decrees in Griffith's advice to his hurling staff:
'Be sure and mix up the time between each delivery. It is a mistake to take the same length of time between deliveries.
'All the necessary pitching motions are these: With the feet in proper position and the elbows resting on the hips, the hands are brought up in the front of the body belt-high. The ball is well-covered by the glove and the weight is on the pivot foot. With the body pivoting, the pitching arm drops vertically the lowest point of the arm swing, then ascends to the highest point assumed in order to obtain the natural delivery. The pitcher's hand should remain stationary until the pivot movement of the body starts.'
Mr. Griffith also makes known these philosophies of his:
'Control is the greatest of all pitching assets.
'If the batter is anxious, take plenty of time.
'If the batter appears ready to bunt in order to advance base runners, pitch high. Low balls are easier to bunt.
'Watch base runners out of the corner of your eye and also keep your eye on the plate without bobbing your head.
'A fast ball properly controlled is far more effective than the random pitching of either fast or curve balls.
'Remember a change in the position of the pivot foot will often help a pitch to achieve control.'
Mr. Griffith's memorandum to his pitchers also tells them how to go about practicing in order to be able to best follow through on these instructions. 'Practice pitching a fast, straight ball directly over the plate, belt-high. When this can be done satisfactorily, practice pitching over the plate, high or low. When the pitcher is satisfied with this part of his control, it is time to practice inside and outside ball pitching.'
However, there is an indication in this 'manifesto' of Griffith's that he realizes that there is a human equation involved in these credos and that, the truth of the business is, their issuance may not necessarily ensure a pennant overnight. For he not only set down that, 'To be a good pitcher, it takes a good constitution, condition, muscular strength, reserve energy, an alert mind, rhythm and much courage,' but, with what may be the touch of a sigh, he adds, 'Pitching is the most difficult position in the game.' "
-Harold Helfer, Baseball Digest, January-February 1955
HOW TO BUILD VICTORIES WITH BRICK
"Clark Griffith was a very good pitcher, also a very tricky one. He probably will not reveal any of his legerdemain to the members of his Washington staff, for he became one of the staunchest foes of trick pitching when the spitball and other freak deliveries were outlawed, like the reformed drunkard who becomes the most aggressive and unyielding of prohibitionists after being divorced from the bottle.
'There wasn't a trick in the book that Old Griff didn't know,' recalls Eddie Cicotte, 'and he added a number of his own invention.
'Old Griff had a brick embedded in the rear of the pitching box and he would step back and pretend to be rubbing the ball in the dirt, but what he actually did was rub it over the rough surface of the brick and get the cover fuzzy. In his home park he pitched the fuzziest ball seen in the big leagues.
'He didn't get the nickname 'The Old Fox' without good reason.'
Apparently what the Washington pitchers needed last year was a rough brick planted in the edge of the pitcher's box."
-H.G. Salsinger in the Detroit News (Baseball Digest, April 1955)
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