[Illustration: Mathewson’s High In-ball--This is a most wicked delivery--the whisker trimmer. The thumb touches the ball very lightly and the forefingers grasp it firmly. This delivery is used mostly to drive the batter away from the plate so as to make the curve more effective. It is a dangerous ball to stand up against.] [Illustration: The Straight, Swift Ball--Mathewson gets tremendous speed with this delivery, said to excel that of the famous “Hoosier Cyclone,” Amos Rusie, when in his prime. The arm is swung straight over the shoulder, with no wrist movement.] [Illustration: The out-curve is produced usually by grasping the ball with the first two fingers and the thumb, with the back of the hand turned downward. The fingers are pressed firmly against the ball, which is gripped tight. The out-curve may be either fast or slow.] [Illustration: The in-curve is pitched with a side-arm motion, the ball being released over the tips of the first two fingers, the arm being swept around with a lateral motion. Some pitchers throw an in-curve by grasping the ball with all four fingers and permitting it to slip over the tips.] [Illustration: McGINNITY THROWING AN INSHOOT, THE BALL ROLLING OFF HIS FIRST TWO FINGERS.] [Illustration: HOW McGINNITY TURNS HIS HAND TO PITCH A DROP BALL.] [Illustration: POSITION OF THE BALL FOR AN OUT-CURVE AS McGINNITY PITCHES IT, THE BALL BEING RELEASED BETWEEN THE THUMB AND FIRST FINGER.] [Illustration: HAND JUST BEFORE THE “SPIT BALL” IS FREED, THE BALL SLIPPING OVER THE ENDS OF THE FINGERS OF CHESBRO.] [Illustration: ARM FULLY DRAWN BACK TO PITCH THE “SPIT BALL,” SHOWING THE POSITION BEFORE IT IS BROUGHT FORWARD, BY CHESBRO.] [Illustration: Drop-curve--The ball for the drop-curve is held in identically the same position as for the out-curve, except that the back of the hand is held directly down, the arm being brought straight over the shoulder at the moment of delivering the ball.] Transcriber’s Notes: --Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). --A Table of Contents (all versions) and a List of Illustrations (browser and mobile versions) have been provided for the navigational convenience of the reader. --Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. --Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. --Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved. End of Project Gutenberg's Won in the Ninth, by Christopher Mathewson