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Old 01-23-2024, 09:53 PM
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ValKehl ValKehl is offline
Val Kehl
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Manassas, VA (DC suburb)
Posts: 3,565
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Growing up, I loved baseball, and because I wasn't very good at it, I did whatever I could to get on the field in Little League and Pony League, including some pitching. Not having much of a fastball to go with my dinky curve, in an effort to throw batters off stride, I frequently threw a submarine fastball and curve along with my regular three-quarter arm pitches. My influence for the submarine pitches was Ted Abernathy, who reached the majors with my beloved Washington Senators in 1955 and had a bit of success. I'm not aware that any of his baseball cards show him pitching in this manner, but it is mentioned on the back of his 1960 Topps card (not my card - the pic below is borrowed from the Internet).

My collection of cards of all the 1924 Senators players includes cards of Byron "By" Speece. In 1924, his only year with the Senators, Speece appeared in 21 games, pitched 54.1 innings and had a 2.65 ERA. In the 1924 WS, Speece appeared in 1 game, pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 earned run. Speece played professional ball until age 48, his last 3 years being with the Seattle Rainiers of the PCL. Below are his 1943 and 1944 Centennial Flour cards, which show and mention his submarine pitching style.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg s-l1600.jpg (207.1 KB, 264 views)
File Type: jpg 1943 & 1944 Centennial Flour - Speece - fronts.jpg (202.9 KB, 263 views)
File Type: jpg 1943 & 1944 Centennial Flour - Speece - backs.jpg (200.9 KB, 267 views)
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Seeking very scarce/rare cards for my Sam Rice master collection, e.g., E210 York Caramel Type 2 (upgrade), 1931 W502, W504 (upgrade), W572 sepia, W573, W575-1 E. S. Rice version, 1922 Haffner's Bread, 1922 Keating Candy, 1922 Witmor Candy Type 2 (vertical back), 1926 Sports Co. of Am. with ad & blank backs. Also T216 Kotton "NGO" card of Hugh Jennings. Also 1917 Merchants Bakery & Weil Baking cards of WaJo.
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