September 1, 1914 Age 23
The Pittsburgh Press
Willie Doak of the Cardinals was teaching Hub Perdue how to throw a spitball. Hub has steaming speed and a curve that will go around a barrel. He figures that his repertory will be complete when he masters the spitter.
“Spitball pitchers are more or less four-flushers.” said Perdue. “Two-thirds of the time they are only bluffing. They seldom throw a spitter unless they are up against it. Fooling the batsmen is their real stock in trade. I made the New York Giants believe that I had a spitter in the first game of the season in 1912. I was pitching for Boston. The contest was played on the Polo Grounds. The Giants put me in bad in the second inning. Fred Merkle was at bat. I pretended that I had a spitter and struck him out. On my way to our bench I overheard him say:
“Gee, that guy has a spitter that breaks a foot.”
“After that I stalled beautifully and pulled the wool over their eyes. Made ‘em believe that I was another Ed Walsh. Shut ‘em out, 2-0. Just shows you how easy it is to get by if you know how.”