Every American League pitcher has had to get acquainted, early in his big-league career, with a droopy, lackadaisical figure who plays shortstop for the Chicago White Sox and who comes up to the plate, sometimes limping, as if he had been called on to move a locomotive with a crowbar. The name of this apparition is Lucius Benjamin ("Luke") Appling. Droopy Luke spits a casual stream of tobacco juice, chats in a friendly Southern drawl with the umpire and opposing catcher, and usually complains that he is feeling just terrible. His symptoms may...
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