Clipping:The furore of the curve
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| Date | Saturday, December 2, 1876 |
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| Text | The feature of the pitching of 1876 was the furor for the curve which set in with the advent of Devlin, Bond, and others of the swift underhand-throwing class. Many an inexperienced club-manager got possessed of the idea that he had secured the man when he had got hold of a pacer who had the curve. In fact, in semi-professional circles there was a perfect rush for this class of pitchers. Even veterans in the art of club-management lost their heads at one time during the season in their efforts to place a strong curve-pitcher in their nines. They all lost sight of the important fact that a swift curve-pitcher who has not thorough command of the ball is more costly from his wild delivery than he is effective from his speed and curve. Borden's errors, through his want of command of the ball, cost the Boston Club the loss of games which had a very demoralizing effect on their team in May and June, aside from the disadvantageous position the record of defeats placed them in by depriving them of that prestige of victory which had previously helped them out of so many tight places. In the selection of that veteran straight pitcher McBride—who was sadly out of practice—another important fact was lost sight of, and that was that the general introduction of the curve-delivery made the sight of the batsman so keen that had become a comparatively easy task to punish even the best of the straight pitchers. The Hartford Club, in their possession of two curved-line pitchers [Bond and Cummings], appeared to give them a winning lead in the campaign; but the early part of the season's play of the Hartford team showed that there was an inherent element of weakness in their team, which more than offset the advantages they otherwise possessed. |
| Source | New York Clipper |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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