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From Eugene Murdock’s Baseball between the Wars, page 199, speaking with Ray Haworth:

“Q. Would you go over the other team’s hitters with your pitcher before the game?

A. Yes, most clubs meet and go over the other hitters; I know Brooklyn did and Detroit did most of the time; especially in the first game of a series. You would go down the batting order, in fact, all the hitters… Some were highball hitters, and some were lowball hitters. What we would concentrate on were the “holes” you could pitch to. Like a fellow might be “tight and up” or “down and away.” Some fellows were dead fastball hitters. For example, Bing Miller was the best curveball hitter of all time; we just couldn’t throw him a curveball , he’d wear us out. We’d try to pitch him tight, in on the hands. Well, you watch these fellows play over a period of time and you learn where the “holes” are. And the holes are not very big for the top-notch hitters in the big leagues; you have to draw that line very fine. Where so many pitchers in the minor leagues had great stuff, but not make it in the majors, they just couldn’t draw that line fine enough. As the hitters move up to the big leagues the holes get smaller, and as the pitchers move up he draws the line finer, so everything stays even. But looking at it in another light, the pitcher, if his control is not fine enough, or the holes on the hitter are too big, look out – neither one of them is going to stay in the big leagues very long [chuckling]… We used to tell players in spring training that we were sending them back to the minors for more experience as a hitter. He’d say, “What’s wrong? I can hit just as well as the guys you’ve got out on the field.” Well, we’d answer, we don’t really decide that. It’s the fellows on the other team that decide that. They won’t let you stay up here until you are ready. Then they begin to accept it.

If you jump 60 years into the future we have

JOE BUCK: Tony, when they say a pitcher has “good stuff,” are

they referring to the ball movement or velocity, or are they

referring to how well the pitcher is hitting the catcher’s target?

TONY LA RUSSA: “Good stuff” always means the type of speed

and movement of a pitcher, referring to his velocity or movement.

It does not refer to a location. Often scouts will research young

pitchers, and they’ll be really turned on when they talk about

somebody’s “good stuff.” A lot of your high draft choices are

players with lively arms —their velocity is in the 90s. They have

biting, breaking balls. That stuff is very exciting, because the

potential is, when you add location, it’s going to be very difficult to

hit. What you’ll find in the big leagues, there’s as many guys who

are pitching successfully in the big leagues that don’t have very

terrific “stuff,” but really have terrific location. In fact, if you wanted

to pick a big league pitcher that’s going to be successful, and you

had to sacrifice one or the other, location is the thing that gets

outs. “Good stuff” that’s not well located does not very often get

you enough outs over the course of a game. Obviously, when you

have someone who has really good stuff and really good location,

such as a guy like Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson, then you’re

talking about the premier guys that nobody hits.

JOE BUCK: Is it ever a good idea for a pitcher with an 0-2

count to not waste a pitch and instead go right after the hitter,

go right after the out?

TONY LA RUSSA: This is one of the areas Dave Duncan has been

so remarkable. For years there was the idea that the 0-2 pitch

could no way be put in play for a base hit, and that paralyzed

pitchers so much that the 0-2 pitch was exactly what it’s called -

a waste pitch. When you only have so many pitches to retire a

hitter, why would you want to waste any of them? If you have a guy

at 0-2, the most important thing you realize is that he’s at the

biggest disadvantage he’ll be in during the entire time at bat. You

can’t have a guy at a greater disadvantage than 0-2. Instead of

doing the guy a favor by wasting a pitch that gives him even one

ball and starts to give him a little feel that he might be able to save

the at bat, you want to try to bury the hitter right then and there.

Normally, it involves having an idea what the strikeout pitch is.

That involves the hitter and the type of pitcher. It may be that the

guy has a killer curve ball, maybe he has a killer forkball, or maybe

he has a fastball he throws by guys. However, the 0-2 count is

something to remember, because the hitters are very vulnerable.

You should go for the pitch. It gives you the best chance to get

them out, including a strikeout on that very pitch. Do not waste any

pitches.