View source for Clipping:A wager that there is no such thing as a curve ball

{{Clipping
|Type of Date=Day
|Date=9/22/1877
|Title=a wager that there is no such thing as a curve ball
|Text=<p>One of the best known base-ball men in the country, excepting Harry Wright, and a resident of Cincinnati, declares that no pitcher ever curved a ball in its delivery, and, moreover, declaring it an impossibility to do so.  He says he will deposit $1,000 in bank to cover a bet which any gentleman wants to make with him to that amount on the above proposition.  To test the matter he will have three stakes driven, fifteen feet apart, in the positions indicated in the cut below [illustrated in the original], and he will wager as above that no pitcher can deliver the ball so that it will take the direction indicated by the black line, or  in the reverse order passing around the other side of the first stake. … He declares that what is called the pitcher's curve is merely a straight delivery, caused by the position of the pitcher and the manner in which he holds his arm.  Without the resistance of a substance which touches only one part of the ball, this gentleman says , the laws of philosophy teach him that a curve can not be produced, and as the pressure of the air is equal on every part of the ball's surface the theory of the curve is impossible.  We shall not take sides on the question, but invite discussion of it through these columns.  Should any one desire to accept the gentleman's bet, they can hear from him by addressing the base ball editor of the Enquirer.</p>
|Source=Cincinnati Enquirer
|Submitted by=Richard Hershberger
|Origin=Initial Hershberger Clippings
}}