The Storytellers Ch. 10

"Talked what up, Bill?"

"That he invented the curve ball. Wuzn't anyone disputed him, and he talked it up for years. Damned if they didn't put him into Cooperstown along with the really good ball players."

Bill reached into his right hand pocket and pulled out a plug of tobacco. Taking a bite, he seemed to relax a little more, and after expectorating into the cuspidor, he resumed talking.

"Teams tended to put the best fielder at shortstop. Remember, no one was using a glove. Well, maybe a guy here and there, but until Al Spaulding donned one, making it fashionable, damn few players used one.

"Don't think that ball didn't hurt when you tried to catch it. Mostly they blocked the ball with their chest, then pounced on it and then threw to first. The first baseman had to catch that throw.

By the way, that was Spaulding's position after he quit pitching. As a catcher, I stood maybe ten or twelve feet behind the plate. I would try to catch, or block the pitch on the first hop. I might mention that plenty of balls got past me."

He laughed, and added, "Me, and every other catcher. What helped wuz that base stealing was not a big thing back then. So if a ball got by me, and let me be honest with you, at least two or three got past me every inning, mind you. Still and all, I wuz considered a good defensive player. Well, the game wuz rife with errors in those days. Think about it. Player's hit the snot outta the ball, just like they do today, and for the first 250 feet or so it moved like greased lightning. Well, the players' hands would swell up after catching it slightly off center. As for me, as a catcher... well, hardly a day went by during the season that I wasn't soaking my mitts for an hour or more after a game.

"Did I mention that I wuz a lefty?"

"No, you hadn't, Bill. You mean you hit lefty?"

"Yeah, and I threw left-handed too. Not many catchers did that."

I nodded, and made a note to that effect.

"Anyways, we had relays from the outfielder to the shortstop or second baseman, as the situation dictated. And the infielders and outfielders would shift their positions to play the hitters. And then there was bunting aplenty. It was and still is, a very effective way to move runners around into scoring position. A bunt is actually difficult to defend in that when properly placed -- and back then there was plenty of that – the player fielding the bunt had to make a split second decision as to where to throw the ball. He couldn't just concede the base to the runner and content himself with throwing to first base for the out. That puts runners in scoring position, and is the purpose of the bunt in the first place."

Bill stopped talking and strolled over to a large cabinet, where I thought the church stored its hymn books. He opened the cabinet and reached in behind a row of hymnals and took out a small brown bottle, and took a swig.

"Cough medicine," he said, with a wink.

I already considered him incorrigible and so ignored him, waiting until he resumed talking again.

"Now, in some respects the game still had some adjustments to make. For instance, a ball was fair if it bounced in fair territory, even if it then went foul. Fella name of Ross Barnes hit over .400 in '76 by perfectin' the "fair-foul bunt," which was nothin' more than bunting the ball into fair territory and then having it roll foul. Well, that wuz in play, and more often than not he would beat it out for a base hit. Then too, if you walked, and mind you, that took nine balls, you were charged with a time at bat. Though on reflection, I can't say all that many guys actually walked."

He appeared thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "Oh, you'll like this one. The batter would tell the pitcher where he wanted the pitch; that is, high or low."

He paused, "You know, it just occurred to me..."

I felt that he'd been saving this for me for some time.

"...Baseball is the only sport where the team that has the ball is on defense."

I thought about what he'd just said, and slowly nodded my agreement. "That's true, isn't it?"

"So while there weren't many walks or home runs back then, there wuz lots of base runners, thanks to all the errors and singles. That would be the major difference between the game of say, 1875 and that of 1920 – all those errors. I mean there wuz three or four an inning, or did I already say that? So the winning team usually scored around twelve runs a game, with the loser averaging around eight."

"Some time during the '76 season, I began wearing a glove. It helped considerably in that it allowed me to move closer to the batter. It sure saved my hands -- and I'd stand with my knees bent, no crouching mind you, that was years away...."

Bill appeared somewhat distracted and fidgeted with his hands. I coughed to catch his attention, and his head snapped up alertly, and he said, "Where wuz I? Oh, yeah... back in'93, I was long gone as a player, in fact I wuz looking for my new, um, self by then."

I didn't tell him he had been discussing 1876, and he continued speaking about 1893.

"That year they moved the pitcher back to 60 feet, six inches, which it still is today. Of course by then the pitchers could throw the ball however they damn well pleased.

And there was one last change that made a big difference. In 1900, home plate was changed from a square to a larger five-sided slab, increasing the size of the strike zone. This produced fewer walks, fewer hits and fewer pitches per batter. The following year, pitchers got another break when the National League declared the first two foul balls, strikes. No longer could a hitter like Billy Hamilton slap away pitch after pitch, tiring the pitcher out until he grooved one that Hamilton was waiting for."

I interrupted Bill's story, saying, "You mentioned that you were looking for your new self, a moment ago."

"Yeah, you may recall, our mutual friend gave me a certain power..." He let the sentence die.

"I do recall his mentioning it. Would you mind going into the details of what and how you used that power?"

"Tired of hearing how the game's changed?" he said with a sneer in his voice.

"No, but it seems like the right time to bring it up."

"All right," he said, reaching for the bottle of whiskey and taking a long slug before restoring the cap to the bottle and placing it back in its hiding place.