- Blond Bill Doak Is the hero of the Cardinal squad today.
- Lee Meadows working on new pitch
- Players visit Chief Wilson who is suffering from la grippe
March 16, 1916 Age 25
By Harry F. Pierce The St Louis Star and Times
SAX ANTONIO, TEX., March 16. Lee Meadows is taking lessons from Jack Warhop on how to pitch an underhand curve. When he masters this shoot he will possess the most complete assortment of deceivers owned by any pitcher in the Tener circuit. In addition to his sharp-breaking overhand curve, Meadows has a spitter, a fast ball, a sidearm curve and a slow ball. Imagine how he will be able to mix ’em up for the batters when he gains control of the underhand shoot.
Meadows intends to use the underhand delivery against right-hand batters this season, so as to conserve his strength as much as possible for his spitter and overhand curve, which he will dish up to the batters who swing from the left side. He has also acquired a change of pace that should enable him to achieve greater success this season.
The spectacled box artist is a deep thinker and a thorough student of the game. He isn’t satisfied to be an ordinary pitcher. He wants to develop all of his talents until he reaches the highest pinnacle of success in his chosen field. To be rated the best pitcher in baseball is the ambition of his life, and he will not be content until he achieves that distinction.
DUTY OF A PITCHER.
Meadows considers it a pitcher’s duty to give his catcher as much assistance as possible in preventing runners from taking a big lead oft the bases. With this object in view he has spent considerable time in perfecting his throw to first so that he can now zip the ball over to the initial cushion without glancing in that direction until the throw is made.
A pitcher must throw mighty quick to catch a runner off the bags in the big leagues. With a catcher like Frank Snyder behind the plate, there is never any danger of the runners taking too great a lead, but any pitcher who establishes a reputation for picking the runners off the cushions will make Snyder’s job easier and it’s a safe bet that the big backstop will enter no objection.
Jack Warhop is another Cardinal slabman who believes in holding the runners close to the hassocks. Warhop would rather go hungry for a week than to let a baserunner get a lead of 5 feet off first while he is pitching.
The former Yankee seldom caught anyone off first during his last years in the American League, but this was due to the fact that the runners would not take a chance while he was on the mound. Many National Leaguers, probably, are not aware of this, but it will not take them long to learn.
LIFE SAVER DOAK.
Blond Bill Doak Is the hero of the Cardinal squad today. Doak saved Second Baseman Al Betzel from a watery grave (or at least thought he did) at Medina Lake yesterday afternoon. Betzel returned to the Travelers’ Hotel with the rest of the fishing party last night, apparently none the worse for the experience.
The players went out on the lake in skiffs yesterday morning. There were two or three in each boat. A majority of them rowed up the river about six miles to the dam, the point where the Medina River enters the Basin. The depth of the river at this place is only ten or twelve feet.
CALL FOR ASSISTANCE.
Betzel and Leon Ames, who were in the same skiff, were fishing near this point about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when their boat struck a snag and capsized. Ames succeeded in swimming to shore, but he was so exhausted when he reached land that he could render no aid to Betzel, who floundered about in the current in a desperate effort to pull himself to safety.
Realizing that Betzel was in desperate need of help, Ames yelled for assistance. Doak, who was fishing in a cove about 200 yards up stream, heard his cries and rowed to the scene in all haste. A few minutes later he pulled the half-drowned athlete into the boat and took him ashore, where the three built a fire and the two unfortunate fishermen spent the balance of the day drying out their clothes.
SAFE AT HOME.
When Doak pulled Betzel into his skiff he noticed that the husky little infielder had some fishing cord wrapped about one of his hands, “What have you there. Bruno?” inquired the rescuer. “Fish,” replied Betzel. and at that he yanked the cord out of the water. Four black bass were at the other end of the string.
Betzel probably could have swam to safety but for the fact that he did not want to let the fish get away from him. Two of the bass he had caught weighed about four pounds each and he did not want to return to camp with a story about the fish that got away. When the rest of the party pulled up at the floodgates of the dam late in the evening and compared their catches, they discovered that the two four-pounders were the largest of the total of twenty-five brought in by the party.
WILSON STILL ILL.
The fishermen returned to the hotel last night, tired and hungry. They turned the twenty-five bass over to the chef, together with a large jack rabbit which Dan Griner shot with his trusty 22. Griner, by the way, was Doak’s fishing partner, but while Blond Bill was performing the heroic rescue, Griner was ashore hunting rabbits.
Tom Long and Bob Bescher, who spent the day at Austin, reported upon their return that they had visited Chief Wilson, and that the veteran outfielder is still very weak from his recent attack of la grippe. Wilson requested them to ask Huggins to permit him to stay at home,