the ball to spin in a certain way to cause it to change its course and thus to deceive the batsman.  The art of curving a ball was discovered in 1867.  Before that time all that a pitcher needed was a straight, swift delivery.  The three general classes of curved balls used to-day are the out-curve, the in-curve, and the drop.  There are also other modifications called “the fade away,” “the spitball,” and others.  Curve pitching will only come with the hardest kind of practice.

In general the spin is given to the ball by a certain use of the fingers and the method of releasing it.  It is necessary to conceal your intentions from the batsman in preparing to deliver a curve or he will divine your intention and the effort may be wasted.  All curves are produced by a snap of the wrist at the instant of releasing the ball.  Excellent practice may be had in curving by pitching at a post from a sixty-foot mark and watching to see the effect of various twists and snaps.  Pitching is extremely hard on the arm and practice should be very light at first until the muscles become hardened.  Even the best professional pitchers are not worked as a rule oftener than two or three games a week.

A good baseball captain always tries to develop several pitchers from his team.  It is of course very desirable to have a “star pitcher” who can be depended on, but if the star should happen to be ill or to injure his fingers on a hot liner or for some reason cannot play, unless there is a substitute, the effect of his absence on his team will be to demoralize it.  For that reason every encouragement should be given to any boy who wants to try his hand at pitching.  If a game is well in hand it is usually safe to put in a substitute pitcher to finish it.  This is done in college teams for the reason that no amount of practice is quite like playing in an actual game.

It may be said to guide the beginner that the method of producing curves varies greatly with different pitchers, but that in general the out-curve is produced by grasping the ball with the first and second fingers and the thumb.  The grip for this curve should be tight and the back of the hand turned downward.  The out-curve can be produced either with a fast ball or a slow one.

For the in-curve a swinging sidearm motion is used, the ball being released over the tips of the first two fingers with a snap to set it spinning.  It may also be produced by releasing the ball over all four fingers.

The grip of the ball for the drop is very similar to the out-curve, but in delivery the hand is brought almost directly over the shoulder.  In all curves the pitcher must have extremely sensitive fingers and be able to control them with almost as much skill as one requires in playing a piano.  We must keep in mind which way we desire the ball to spin to produce the required curve and then to give it just as much of this spin as we can without interfering with our accuracy.