Clipping:Brush back pitches
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| Date | Saturday, November 15, 1890 |
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| Text | There are very few pitchers in the profession who are above the despicable trick of pitching the ball at the batter to drive him from the plate. They will do it. Especially is this practice followed when a batter is very successful. It is not the intention of the pitcher to hit the batsman. What he wants to do is to put the ball in as close as possible without hitting h9im. Such a procedure makes the batter nervous. He is likely to become timid, and when he does the battle is half won. No batter can succeed without confidence. He must go to the plate with the intention of smashing the ball. He can not think of nasty inshoots or his own personal safety from hard thumps, and accomplish a great deal with the stick. Some pitchers take advantage of this fact and bulldoze their way into success. Back in 1882 and 1883, before the rule was adopted inflicting a penalty for hitting a batter with a pitched ball, some unscrupulous pitchers did little else than pitch at batters. They were sure to pitch the first two balls right over the batter's territory. Thus it was an easy matter to fool the poor fellows. The Cincinnati Club had a great pitcher in 1882 and 1883, but the moment the hit-by-a-pitched-ball rule was enacted his powers began to wane, and in 1885 he was out of the business. He may not have hit batters maliciously, but the fact remained that he soaked more men than any pitcher in the country. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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