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Show Greatest Money Player An Intimate Impression of Eddio Collins of the White Sox. By BILLY EVANS, American League Umpire Oo!Hn made hli rtehi.it hh m. world! Tlf rrforrrr. F. ry ixo ount of the surnri thai 1 have nt liftnd nii tlmt the ;W-nrh4 flaltllnjr, taming und base rtinntnjr of Ol-Una Ol-Una was the out.-'iniirtinR feature of th "rU a. 11 didn't ahlite Id 011 o d-i-rt incnt. but all of them. All ColMna (ild in thdt frlt;i wft( to ht .4?9 In five (fame, Cretttrit nln hittt In twnty-ono tlmcii ut t, and ttr!!ntc four hi-c. In 1 l 1 Collin a -niu r'Rh! bark with anolhtr tal!r r-f rfynranrr. In tJ.U rrlei h" fJl bf low tho ..f't1 nar'-t. net (Inn mark f y.t b!u bMtlnn In a wny fraiurftd tha itririi. and whh. In a Inr mart, r-so:iai r for the ii. ever (h Olarta. In tie flnt jrmr of th erlfta, with tha cor' a tie n the alxth and -wo diiT, h k.i the Athletltft an oynlnr by hltttntc r-T two Iami. Krank (ilr fo'.j.w-d with a homa fin. Bering two rur.M and -winnlnif tha rame. 1 to 7. In tha third name, with ona down In lh" a:venth. Collinti hit n-ifrly. a:rtlnj a rnllr that arc red tvo runn and decided tha tame, 4 to 2. In the fourth rirn with the Ft: or a tie bite In the rrne, ar.d two do-rn, Coliinw hit wtfelv once more tart Ira; a r.y thut netted thre runa nd the frame, 4 to The reniar'-tAh'.o wurU of f'niUna In tr III? ierle vr'tii the Olantn. when ha hwtted .40? and fielded a mbl'.on. In ao freah In the mind of even' baseball enth i-c'.ait i-c'.ait that comner.t la a'irrf',uoua. yea, Cincinnati mu.t atop Kddle Collins to fee. nt ail eomfnrtab'.e. ' fCopyrlajht. 191. by O. E-.-n:ia.) WHO Is the creatent money bill j,'.ayr In the world? That 1 a Bft one, Kddie Culllr.a by a who;o city Mook. i ar.d a coup of apartment 1 houaes thrvwn In. Ther la no room fur 1 ari;i:;;rnt on that rclS- J" u'oney ball r'.Ter It !a :var.t t-"e r'ayer be-t alo to do h:g thl: fa at ino n.'j?t crucial mo-ir.er.i. mo-ir.er.i. 1 l' fcotbi".. hen two crak a'eveni bt!c on the rT-!i!:r,-n. tha rivals' cni-tys 'jsuil'r st nmt f'nyer or i';.rrn on the cpposina; eleven who must be .n;n.-i ( If thy are to w.n. Ta' kinmI Ur ; ba.-ehA.I. If the i'lnclntiAtl Red ure ;.b'.t to atcp WJ!o CcKlns. provided thef-5 two c'ubs me'. In the bl; show, then th.c National lra;uerB do r.ot ne-.d to worry j abut the outccr: of th- baeball cluslc. By Htopp-r.ir Kddl Coi'.lna, it U mv.ni that the Red.ea; p : t h rs r'.ust kf-ep hi:n j frurn etiu.ic on ihrouKi th mdl im tf ba.te hits or pud. o.;. If he should happen to R't on, then It be:or.:e.- ricrrjjry to j l::m frrn n'.M'.lr.r. In the field the j I'.cia :r.us: hit tr.em -n hard he can'l han- d.t trer-i. a:id that s s-..:i:e pri po-l".on. I as Kddle is rather some fielder. Kven thouh th) (!- tie him up pretty "-l o-t , the bat. tn the fie'd and on the baves. It li lmi'Oiiib'.e to k-p that hair trigger brain of hla fix-in working;, and th-r Is i no denyir.it that the thinking- apparatus I of Eddie Coiltna plays a moat impiriant ! c: ? in th workings of the. Chlca.go "SVhlte I Sox, ! Irrepressible Eddie. To rr.v way of thinking", no (creator obstacle ob-stacle loorr.f up in Th" pathway cf th iieda than th lrrepresfible Kddlo. True, tho Na lonul lea:'Jo represT.tative" will flr.d P.av tf.-ha!k a rr.at remarkable ba.-k-I -top. No dr.uht Eddie Clcotte and Iefy ! Wbiiarr.s will prove rather trubir,ome to ! the C.r.clr.r.ati hitters. Likewise. Jo-: , J Ja- k"-n. Ilappv Kelp -h, T'.w'k Weaver. Cl-.'.nk Gar.dll and the rest of the Pox will make thirds rather interesting for the R-d pitchers, but alwayp th" figure of F-dd:e Coiilnt lyorr.a up as the one big obstacle in the path of a National league victory. , If the Reds can s!lene the mental and phvairal batteries of the Rrat Fecond saker, they will come pretty close to going over a winner. Unless I am greatly mistaken. Collins is going to make a lot of trouble for the opposition, as has always al-ways been his custom In the big event or the year, from a baseball standpoint. "twIpp the Athletics met the New York G-an's In a world's serle.. In each one of those events. Collins was a main factor fac-tor in bringing about the defeat of the New York Giants. In every gam- he s'arr-d In pome department of the game. I' It wasn't batting In runs or scoring them himself, he was cutting off New York tallies by remarkable finding Pjays. The work of Collins against New ork onr-e caused Manager McGraw to remark: 'Eddie Collins is one of the greatest p'avers of all times under ordinary con- dltlona. When actma M thing la at -take bo -h'.nea even mor-p brllUar.tly." Kenie compliment. Herzag and Pennants. In a gieat muny iji:rt-ra liurk H'rx..g la rrjrartlad aa one of the bett Infleldrrw In the a;ame. National lena-.i cluba af rrndy and ai.rio'ia to bid for hla ervlc-s. hen a cbib in the running for the pennai.t In tb Natlr.ul n-rda an In-fleld( In-fleld( r. 1 hn n.ur.aaer and club owner of aid team ln-niidutcly atari to put over a dial for Hr-r-tu:. At one time Ih-re wi fonaldenible 1 dlvu.'iliin among the adherent of the I I two lea-j-a. mn to who wu the brtter ball player, lierma; cr Colin. a That eorr.rH-I eorr.rH-I won brln-ci to mind a rat hrr Interesting I ronvemktion I had with lleriog in the flr.al gam of the I'M 7 Rrla. I wa I worklna; tlio tan' In that gam, and waa ! In a position where I could carry on a j conversation with the New York aecond M:kT, li'm had Junt iwur.r at and mlaaed 1 a bad ba'i. it who low and oulaMe. Afl '"olllr- a-vunit and mlFwad Hube Bnton'a fast breaking curve, Heriog rarnarkad to me: "That In the firt bad ball I have Feen Colilra strike at In the three world's aerlea that 1 have played agalnat him." On the very next bull, which was another fat breaking curve, that was a perfect strike, Collins swung and htt safely. It had not worried him In the least, bera'jhe Benton had made him look rather fooii.h on a curve ball. lie came right bArk by slapping 3ust as good a curve aafeiy to left. In New York's half of the lume Inning Collins, by two remarkable playn. one to hi right and the other to hLs left, bad cut off what would have bf en hits with the ordinary second packer. As th Giants resumed their places in the field. I was amused and interested by Herzog remarks re-marks to me anent Collins. "He Isn't Human." "Po they have been comparing j"n with that fellow," remarked Buck. "Thev are all wrong. That guy isn't human. However, How-ever, his work is Just caufllng- me to realize how good a lot "of people were kind enough to think I am. It Isn't fair to Collins, though, to compare me with him." said Buck with a laugh. "A compliment com-pliment nke that coming from a truly great ball player, a rival for premier honors, perhaps gives you a better Idea of the real ability of Collins than all the statistics In the world. During the season of 3918 Manager Kid Gleaeon of the Chicago White Box dropped out of major league baseball. In 1917 he had been the right-hand man to Manager Rowland of the 8ox. There ts no doubt that he was of great aid in helping Rowland Row-land to put over a pennant winner. In 19 8, without Uleason, the Sox were nowhere In the American league race. True, Rowland lost a lot of his atars, because of the demands made by war. Likewise, the spirit of '17 was lacking because of the unsettled condition of the national pastime, but the one big flaw In the Rowland machine that year -et-aa the absence of Kid Gleaeon. Near the close of the season Gleason, who was living in Philadelphia, dropped Into the hotel where I stop when working in that city. Naturally our subject of converpation waj baseball. Gleaaon was much disappointed at the showing" of the Hox. He had held out hope for them from tho very start, believing that once the club got going, there would b no stopping, but the Sox never did fitart Now that Gleason seems certain to put a winner over for Chicago in 1(19, his remarks re-marks that day appear prophetic. "Great Ball Club." "Don't care wherfl the Sox finfeh 1 li is year, It la a great ball club," said Olffa-Bon. Olffa-Bon. "I think I would be a pretty good manager on that club. Believe I could just about win a pennant. The team has any number of star players, and an Ideal man Tor a captain. That fellow Eddie Collins In the greatest player I have ever seen in my long career, and I have seen a lot of them. .... , . , "Never saw him do a dumb thing in hli life, and incidentally he Is forever keep Ing some of his teammates from making slii) With Collins to direct the play on the field, with that gang making bae hits and runs, I think I could s'.t on the ben-h and handle the club from there without much trouble. There 1 a ball club worth managing." When Kid Oleason made those remarks to me I know he hadn't the slightest Idea that he would be managing the Chicago club the following year. As a matter of fact Gleason was certain ht. was out of baseball for good, because ho was prospering pros-pering In other lines of endeavor. In act, he had a bit of grouch over something that had come up the year previous. All of which goes to prove that Kjd Gleason Is a prcttv wise inolvldual, and further tends to prove my contention that ns a money ball player Collins is the one best bet. I am not overly strong for statistics, but, Just to show what Collins has done In past big events, I am going to recount some of his worthwhile deeds. Shines Everywhere. In the 1910 world series, when the Philadelphia Phila-delphia Athletes startled the baseball world by defeating the supposed Invincible Chicago Cubs four games out of five. |