In "The Westminster Gazette" of November 25, Mr. Horace Hutchinson, writing under the heading, "The Simplicity of Billiards," said:—
It is quite certain that George Gray must also have a perfect, though it may be only instinctive, knowledge of the effect of imparted side on the object-ball—the side, that is to say, which is imparted to the object-ball by being struck by a ball which is, itself, rotating. There is no great mystery about this imparted side—it would be very much more mysterious if the effect on a ball when it was struck by another ball was exactly the same in whatever direction the striking ball was rotating. That, indeed, would be strange. Still, the principle and the use of imparted side, though they are recognised now, were regarded as dark superstitions a quarter of a century or more ago. John Roberts, jun., knew about it. I said to him once, seeing him play a loser into the middle pocket with the opposite side from that with which it was natural to play it, "I suppose you did that to bring the red back in the middle of the table." He gave me a very keen look out of that exceedingly cold and clear grey eye of his, and said, "Yes, I did—but the other fellows don't know about it." The "other fellows," however, did not take very long about learning; they know about it now. And there is no doubt that Gray knows all about it also.
It would seem to be time that this old fallacy of imparted side should be dealt with, and the impossibility of imparting appreciable side to an object ball, except when it is squeezed between two other balls or forced into a soft cushion, may be easily and simply demonstrated in the following manner:—
Place the spot white on the table with the spots lying horizontally and place the cue handy. Now spin the plain white as much as ever possible with the hand a foot behind the spot white, and strike it with the cue against the spot white with varying strength and contact, and even accentuating the spin. It will be found that the spot white shows no indication whatever of rotating on its vertical axis, and to our mind this settles the question.
Mr. Hutchinson tells an anecdote about John Roberts and imparted side, and we can also tell one that is current, but which we hesitate to credit. Roberts is said to have been asked by a friend whether it was possible to impart side to an object ball by means of side on the cue ball. For answer Roberts is said to have brought his shoulder smartly against one of his friend's shoulders, with the result that his friend naturally "spun round" a little. And Roberts is alleged to have then said that side could naturally be imparted in the same way from ball to ball.
But the two things are essentially different. In the one case there is a "purchase" or leverage obtainable between the two shoulders, and in the other there is none whatever, the area of contact between any two balls being not more than a pin point. Let the reader, to understand this, press two balls together and hold them up to the light.
Taking up now Mr. Hutchinson's Roberts anecdote, we think we know quite well what Roberts did with that middle pocket stroke, and why he did it, for it is a stroke that we have seen professionals do wrongly, and fail at.
In runs-through into any pocket (either middle or corner) there is a certain angle at which, if "the opposite side from that with which it is natural to play the stroke" be not used, a kiss will inevitably occur; and we suggest that what Roberts meant was that, desiring to bring the object ball into the middle of the table, and seeing that a kiss was on with the ordinary side, he used the opposite side, thus clearing the object ball out of the way by just a grazing space, making the stroke, and securing the desired position.
In this stroke aim is taken at the dead centre of the object ball, and it is the side on the cue ball, operating with the cloth after contact, that takes the cue ball in.
Reverting for a moment to the undoubted side imparted to an object ball by squeezing, the existence of this side is as easily demonstrated as the alleged ball-to-ball imparted side is disproved. Place a ball on the centre spot of the D and make a chalk mark on the side cushion of a match table half an inch out of baulk. Now aim dead centre at this chalk mark with full force, and the ball will come to rest in baulk instead of outside, as it would with a more gentle stroke or a harder cushion.
The writer some years ago mentioned this to a well known professional, who, before the stroke was made, expressed doubt, and said that a minute amount of side was probably unconsciously applied to the ball. But when he had himself repeatedly made the stroke with dead central striking, he freely admitted that the effect was as claimed, and said that, so far as he was personally concerned, it was a discovery.