“The nasty, slimy, and unsanitary spitball should be made illegal, and that will do away with a dozen or more kindred deliveries that are cutting down batting and depriving baseball fans of that which they enjoy the most- hard and clean hitting.

“It is folly to attempt to stop other freak deliveries and still permit the spitball for it gives the chance for disguise under which other deliveries are prepared. The so-called emery ball is nothing more or less than a polished and a rough surface on opposite sides of the ball, the air resistance bringing about an almost unhittable shoot.

“As it is now, a pitcher with a good spitter or emery ball makes monkeys of almost all batters and turns the game into a one man band.”  

“I feel that the era of trick pitching through which we passed some years back and more when we had the spitball, the emery ball, the shiner, etc., really kept our pitchers from acquiring the fine art of throwing the curve and the fast one.”

“The spitball is a freak delivery that was adopted by old pitchers who had gone stale on legitimate deliveries. It is not natural and a mistake was made in allowing its use in the first place. Its use is unsanitary and has an unsavory atmosphere from every angle to both spectators and the players…Hundreds of close games have been lost through wild throws made by fielders who had to throw the nasty, slippery ball.”

“If the spitball were legalized today, it would probably hurt more pitchers than it would help. It’s a very delicate pitch to throw and usually it goes this way and that. A pitcher would get behind and then have to come up with something else to catch up.”

“I’ve nothing against the spitball, and it undoubtedly would help the pitchers. But it would open the way to every deceitful pitch in the book.”

“The spit ball is a novelty, I’ll admit, but it ruins a pitcher’s arm in time. If Ed Walsh, for instance, had never used the spit ball, he would have had no trouble with his wing. The same applies to Russell Ford, who seems to have lost his effectiveness last season.”

[Note: Russell Ford threw the emery ball, which took an unpredictable flight because one part of the ball was roughened by a piece of emery paper, usually hidden in the glove.”]