Published June 9, 1927 Age 36
By Thomas Holmes The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
THAT source of entertainment and wonder, Ol’ Bill Doak, looks better in every appearance on the pitching hill. In his last start the venerable “bald eagle” looked every bit the marvelous veteran he was back in 1924 as the St. Louis Cardinals swung in futile fashion at his dipping spitball. The denizens of the Mound City who swore by Bill Doak 15 years ago when the veteran was a handsome blond kid couldn’t understand it.
“He’s baldheaded and not straw-thatched now.” was the way one fan put it. “Otherwise he’s the same Lumbago Bill.”
Doak came up with that St. Louis nickname in a curious way. Years ago, even before the advent of Branch Rickey upon the banks of the Mississippi, Bill was considerably troubled with pains in his back. Even his trusty harmonica could not drive dull care away. One morning Bill’s back was a bit more cantankerous than usual, and the report was broadcast that he was seriously ill. That afternoon he showed up at the ballpark and pitched a two-hit shutout or something like that.
Virtually the same thing happened on two or three other occasions. Hence the name, “Lumbago Bill.”
Had to Pitch His Own Games
FOR more than ten years Bill Doak was the one Cardinal dependable on the mound. It was not always that St. Louis had a pitching staff such as it boasts of now. Sometimes Doak was about all St. Louis had and he was always the ace of the staff.
Along about 1923-1924 Bill apparently lost his effectiveness. The fans thought he was approaching the long, long trail down which all pitchers must pass. But Bill Insisted that he was still capable of pitching effectively, that his inability to win in St. Louis was due to Rickey system of dictating every pitched ball, that such managing cramped his style, and that only he. and nobody else, could pitch his ball games.
Doak had his chance to prove his argument. When he was traded to the Robins for Leo Dickerman in the summer of 1924, he explained his point of view to Robbie and came to an amiable understanding. He was to receive no signs from the bench nor from the catcher. He was to reverse the usual order of things and give the signs to the catcher instead.
The first game in which Ol’ Bill tested his theory found him slugged out of the box. But for the rest of the summer the National League was just a freeze for Bill Doak, his spitter and his canny old skull. He won ten games in succession, allowing only nine earned runs over that period. His pitching was the making of the Brooklyn club that year. With Doak’s winning ability added to that of Vance and Burleigh Grimes, the club barely failed to win the jolly flag.
Has Won Five Games and Lost Three
Bill’s present comeback is unprecedented. He was alleged to be 34 when he quit the game to devote his good right arm to deed-signing on the Florida West Coast and he was supposed to have been several seasons older than that in reality. Constructed in gaunt and scrawny fashion, he never did appear particularly strong. When a pitcher like that gets along in years and quits, he usually quits for good.
But Bill came back and his record speaks for itself. You cannot go behind the figures which read five victories and three defeats for a club that has lost more frequently than it has won.
Hank Says It’s All In Bill’s Control.
ACCORDING to Hank De Berry, as good a judge of pitching and pitching form as there is in these United States, Bill is just as good a pitcher now as he was three years ago and a true wonder.
“Bill Is the only pitcher I ever saw who had really good control of a spitball.” says the veteran catcher, “and that’s why he is a great pitcher.
“Burleigh Grimes had a great spitball but he never could be quite sure where it was going. Like the majority of other spitball pitchers, he found it best to depend on a fast ball when he had to get one over the plate.
“Doak’s spitter will not break as sharply or as much as Burleigh’s or some of the other veteran pitchers around who use that delivery. But Bill can throw his spitter and hit a dime larked up on a wall 60 feet and 6 inches sway.
“Bill is actually as well off pitching his spitball in the pinch as he would be throwing a fast one. That explains plenty of things, among them the reason why Doak is still a great pitcher and will be as long as his arm holds out.”
Elsewhere in Today’s News: This young lady is a beauty prize contender for obvious reasons.
