Sport: Speed Balls

Atop Cleveland’s 52-story Terminal Tower stood Ken Keltner, Indian rookie, one day last week. One by one he tossed a dozen baseballs down to the public square 708 feet below. Ten of them missed their mark. Two of them dropped into the mitts of his Teammates Henry Helf and Frank Pytlak. Catchers Helf & Pytlak wiped their brows and stuck out their chests. They had broken the altitude catching record set 30 years ago when Gabby Street caught a ball thrown from the top of the 550-foot Washington Monument. Mathematicians estimated the balls’ speed at 138 miles an hour. The balls that missed the mitts bounced six stories into the air.