| Show r i f P W 1 r t f m tJ ft 0 f h y eY 1 W it- it Y r k B A S E BALL en and ow 9 TY C OBB r I J 4 I J V n J fJ A h J 4 t u I y i. i 1 1 jj b j i r i r f t r. r Y r. r d i J k 4 t I J 5 be l re S iI S 'S f tt 4 8 f n A yi y tour our mighty lUngs Kings of Swat Gehrig Speaker Cobb and Ruth a 7 n 5 OW the Gi Great eat American National Sport Has H 71 h 11 Responded to the Clamor Clanton for fOl More Punch and Power P wet in the T Twenty four went f Years eat s Since hI y S S V t s ai 2 d m. m H He Bi Broke oke Into the Ma Majors of s y o iS k e g rl n yr r r rk M 55 Told l the Georigia Geor rd r As by f 1 igia to Peach Himself to I v C. C William Duncan Dunca Duncans e. e Y 4 t f v-V v s v years cars ago the great left left- left left- r JL hander bander Eddie Plank returned to his native town Gettysburg at the close of a S. S i successful season in the short short- short lived ved but but sensational Federal League As was their annual cust custom lm his ardent admirers gave him an official welcome at atthe atthe atthe the railroad station When the prelims prelims- preliminary 4 nary greetings had ended one friend sal said Tell us about Benny Kauff Is he he as alt great a ball player as Ty Cobb Cobo j I rte Say boy snorted Eddie dont mentIon men men- i tIon Kauff in the same breath with Tyrus Ius Mark what I tell you There is only one oner r Ty y Cobb k The famous southpaw knew whereof he spoke Reputation and records prove S there is only one Ty Cobb Alexander Alexanderi can an pitch and Babe Ruth can swat home i j. j runs runs but for round all ability Ty C Cobb bb S. S is the hc undisputed king of twentieth twentieth-cen- h-cen- h tury ury ball pla players ers f So without doubt his opinions opinions' concerning con- con the great national game are of more ore than passing interest You hear a a. lot of talk about the jinx and the methods ball players use to to break it U. says Tyrus The fans think fi is superstition but I call it r oy A jinx-breaker jinx is merely a a. means of getting a ball players player's mind in a differ differ- ent exit channel so that hell he'll grasp something new and forget the luck hard-luck streak In the old da days S 'S of 1907 1908 and 1909 when Detroit was riding high in the American League the club which gave us the most trouble was Chicago No No matter how good we were going you your r could depend on it that the White Sox 55 would give us a terrific battle That S S 'S preyed on the bo boys boys' S minds They were half halt licked before the series started y One day when I was walking toward towardS S the park I looked back and noticed a a. aS S i little fox terrier following me I paid no particular attention to the dog for awhile but it persisted In running after me r. r Finally I thought Why this terrier is areal a a- areal areal real Jinx-breaker Jinx and I 1 dont don't realize it it 1 So I took him to the clubhouse SS The boys thought the little dog was a 3 pip We called him Victory and took him on the bench with us We gave the White Sox an awful beating that day and the next day and the next day and you youcan youcan c can n depend ort on it that Victory stayed staged with n us until his spell wore offIn offIn offIn off In those days we had a real mascot 5 dressed up 5 I 1 dont don't mean one of these dressed up mascots but a ragged-looking ragged Negro boy named Rastus Its It's hard to bell believe eve but its it's the truth when I say that Rastus traveled a all over o the circuit with us cr r three years ears end he hasn't paid his fare yet et Neither has any anyone one else When we took a sleeper Rastus would sneak in the car and crawl under my berth Hed He'd stay there all night no matter matter matter mat mat- ter how hot it got in the car When we made a day hop like Uke from Philadelphia to Washington Washinton Rastus would bo be underneath underneath under under- neath a big pile of baggage The Pullman Pullman Pullman Pull Pull- man porter or conductor would never catch him because hed he'd never come into view until the train was in the station r L H Hd He was the great greatest t mascot I ever saw s and the greatest train rider in h his his- tory The boys on the ball club got a great ireat laugh out of him i 51 A itA few years ears ago when hen Detroit was playing an exhibition game in one of the Southern States Rastus came to my room to see me but you'd never have known S him him him-he he was a dignified d preacher But Im I'm sure his congregation doesn't know and Ill I'll never never- tell them s r t 1 B BELIEVE in doing almost anything to get get et a clubs club's personnel on a different dif dIf- ferent trend of mind when the victories are few and far between J Just t this year ear S I 1 was Invited out to dinner at the house ot of a friend m ln Philadelphia a. a The Athletics had pla played ed four cur games and the standing g was Won zero lost four four- After Alter some hesitation my hostess handed banded me a b cox box with a note which read Dear Mr Cobb h Pie dont don't feel offended but we w wish ish to 0 1 S' S S's Ty Y Cobb's Cobbs o bs b's s R Record cor fo for or 23 Y Years e ears r II A A MONG other things Ty Cobb has has' made more hits 7 evolved f t than han any other major major leaguer since baseball y from the stage He has piled up more more total bases made more extra-base extra hits and scored more runs 3 1 He has led the American League in batting twelve times He Ie has lias led his league in in batting nine nine consecutive c times He a has made hits or more ten times He hit ut for an avera average d of or b better two twenty consecutive years I if He ba batted ted for or aboVe three times He holds the modern record for stolen bases also f the modern record for stolen bases in one season r rHe jl He has scored runs or more in eleven seasons H He e holds the American League record for total b bases ases in one game two sixteen sixteen two singles one double and three home runs At the end of the 1927 season he had served twentythree twentythree twenty- twenty S three years in the American League and his lifetime batting b average was 1 i Games At Bat Runs Hits Stolen Bases Aver i. i 2 2938 38 2190 Cobbs Cobb's efforts have not been confined to the offense In the field neld he has down through the years been n a great 4 i judge of fly Hy balls fast on his feet and the owner of a good 5 1 e 4 5 5 arm a y t r r r K S 'S g 4 r S 1 S Ty Cobb has stolen more bases than any other player in the history of baseball you would take this box of pepper and give it to the he members of the Athletics They leave for New York tomorrow and they'll need it Signed The boys at the corner grocery store I 1 wasn't offended I 1 grabbed that box and took it along to New York and showed it to the bo boys s All agreed it was wasa a good omen Well anyway Lefty Grove beat the Yanks the next day 2 1 and the following foIto day Rube Walberg shut out those sluggers 10 Can you beat It Ty failed to mention that in fn this same York New-York serI series s it was his hitting coupled with that of the other veteran Tris Speaker which enabled the Athletics to take two straight from the formidable Yanks and lend courage to their cause which seemed lost even so early carly in the season Ty hit ait a single and a triple inthe In Inthe inthe the first game and three singles In the second all produced at critical moments At the close of the first half dozen games he had hit safely in every contest compiling compiling com com- piling an average of and gaining the up runner-up position in his league Next to his ability as a hitter Cobb is 13 best known for his prowess on the base base- paths He stole stoic six seventy-six bases in 1909 five sixty in 1910 three eighty in id 1911 nl ety 1915 and sixty-eight sixty in 1916 Last season Frankie Frankle Frisch of the St. St to Louis is Cardinals was the leading base base- stealer of l Ws his s league and he lie Pilfered forty- forty eight sacks Just one-half one of Cobbs Cobb's total I in 1915 i Frisch is ls undoubtedly one of the best stealers base-stealers today but there are few tew others Asked for the reason for this decline In such a colorful phase of the game Cobb replied The stealing base department of the game game v has been neglected one base or one run doesn't t mean much a any more Now it Is is' is the one big inning and not the the- theone one one run that we play for Fifteen years ago a good team would want Its Us off lead-off man to draw a b base e on balls balIs get hit or hit and reach first Then he would either steal second and be sacrificed to tor third r or be sa sacrificed to second and steal third The pray play was for that one run Nowadays Ti a mana manager may follow that that- system if and d by the seventh inning have 55 pulled it successfully five times Then in m S one the seventh and JS his i iris his Pitcher will walk one one one- onet rut Jut t fielders boot a couple Some me slugger hits the ball out of the park and where is 13 your U run five Verun lead and have your stolen what good bases done yo you So So most of the time It doesn't pay the Player to take the chance to steal a base today unless s it is 13 late In the game and 1 one rut rui means a whole lot As the slugging slugging slug slug- ging continues to increase the Importance importance tance of stealing base-stealing will continue to decrease yr S 4 i t S kc c 4 ii Ty still swings swings the big stick for a batting balting batting bat bal ting average that is the envy of many t players half his years ky j y t The lively ball now in use has brought about m many ny many changes in the game How those balls go now that the wool is of better material and the center of cork and rubber I Just imagine playing playIng playing play- play Ing with this ball at street and Columbia avenue Philadelphia a typical time old-time ball park with small seating capacity ca capacity ca- ca and overflow crowds in the outfield outfield out- out field on big days Can you see fee ee the balls flying Into that overflow crowd Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig didn't play then but Frank Baker and Sam Crawford and others could slug then too cc THE E lively ball and the run home-run mania has driven the outfielders back near the fences of these spacious parks and has caused another change Now you rarely see a runner thrown o out t going from Irom first to third on a single Those plays used to be common Also Aiso It is unusual for lor an outfielder to nip a man manat manat manat at the plate as he goes in from second on a single The outfielders play so deep nowadays that they have to have arms that throw with the the speed speed eed of shots to make these plays Home runs are popular these days day and andI I say Give the people what they want I am not one of those fellows who say Things aint what they used to be 1 believe baseball is 13 just as treat neat a a- gam e To i 0 now as it was fifteen or twenty years year s ago and if you dont don't believe there are sa a apt lpt pt of people who share that opinion drop in at some league big-league park on a Saturday afternoon Some writers try t to o tell ten us that golf and football and tennis tenni s have cut in on our pur game and are pressing g it for honors as as s the national pastime I cant can't see it Baseball is played throughout through through- out the country every day for six months and more people are watching watching the games game s every year Its It's increasing and not de decreasing decreasing decreasing de- de creasing in popularity Youve seen all the great ones play fo for r nearly twenty-five twenty years Whom would yo you u put on your twentieth-century twentieth star all r team Ty was asked In the outfield I 1 would place Babe Bab e Ruth in left Tris Speaker in center an and d ed Joe Jackson in right My first-base first selection would be Hal Ha 1 Chase At second base Ill I'll call for a tir til between tween Eddie Collins and Larry La- La La joie Rogers Hornsby Is a splendid hitter but the fielding ability of Eddie and Larr Larry y give them the call in my opinion I 1 will name Honus Wagner as th the e greatest shortstop of this century an and d will give third base to Jimmy Collins Collins' I Ilave lave designated this as a tury team because I am not familiar except by reputation wi with h the deeds df d t f the nineteenth century stars such as Po Pop Anson and Ed Delehanty The outstanding catcher Is hard t to o pick but Ill I'll name Ray Schalk always alway s a brainy and dependable worker Eddie Plank who in his fourteen years year with the Athletics won nineteen games game s or more a season for nine years Is m my my y choice for left-handed left pitcher Waddell 11 had more stuff than Plank but Plank wa was S steadier and lasted longer Eddies Eddie's s lifetime lifetime life life- time record was games won and 19 3 games lost for a grand percentage of 62 3 That's har hard l to beat eat As for my best and th the theman theman e man I consider the best pitcher best pitcher of th the e century I will not name Alexander o or r Mathewson Mathes lson son or Walsh or Bender or Joss Jos but 01 Old 1 Cy Young Nowadays a pitcher is isa isa a wonder if he win can twenty games or o r better a season for two seasons Well Ol OlCy Old d Cy Young averaged twenty games a season season sea sea- son for twenty five years and then add ad d eight more to that In other word word- C Cy y won ball games In his major league ue career is iY Tyrus Cobb 9 famed veteran of the American League stilt still plays and loves the f game he entered a quarter of ofa a century ago time Old-time fans who saw and read about the great Ty Cobb knew himon him himon himon on the field as a fire So far as his ability was concerned they called him the Georgia Peach But when it cameto came cameto cameto to to his fire and spirit they referred to him as the Dixie Daredevil or the ferocious ferocious fe te Tiger It is my belief that while he is playing ball a ball player belongs to the public says Ty It Jt is hi his duty to treat people as courteously as possible and by that I 1 mean until strangers become offensive and abusive Every man no matter how small his position in life has a few friends and some some influence and if given the high hat attitude by a ball player will go home and knock that player In particular particular particular par par- and baseball in general The same thing holds true on the ball field I expect to be razzed in decent fashion away rom from home bt br do not feel that any r ball player should have to be abused and stand for personal remarks being hurled at him The one time in my career when I went into the stands after a spectator was years ago and azul only after his re remarks remarks remarks re- re marks had become unbearable A ball player who has risen to the majors and been beena a success owes more tc tt the game game ame than the game owes to him Base Baseball all is bigger than any anyone one individual So it is is' is up to him to give his best el- el ef efforts forts to the clu club owner manager team and fans as long as h he can cc SPEAKING n PEAKING of the manager maager brings tc u my mind Connie Mack the real reason rea son why I am back in the American League this year A number of people have reminded me that I am so situated financially I can retire any time and the they wonder why I am still playing ball bali T Tc Tc them I will give three answers The firs firs' is that I do love to play baseball 1 I lovi love the game Just as much today as I did before I 1 entered the major leagues back bacI in the days when old George GeorEe Leidy used to talk to me for hours about the wonderful won won- things in the big leagues and encourage en en- courage me to keep on going ana and never give ewe up Another reason Is my strong sentimental attachment for a great manager man ager and a great gentleman Connie Mack When I needed a friend In he American America League Connie Mack offered me a did Job on his team and 1926 |
