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Show sportught Double Play Break-Up Perilous I By GRANTLAND RICE SOME TIME BACK Dr. George Bennett, the noted medical and surgical expert from Baltimore, Balti-more, was talking about the "double play break up" at second. ItRf "This is the play used to break up double plays," he said. "It is the most dangerous play in baseball and should be abolished. abol-ished. It should be abolished because it is unfair and The chances are nothing will be done about the play until two or three stars are wrecked, possibly for life, and then some change will be made later when it is too late for the already Injured. Most Graceful Player "Help us settle an argument," writes L. F. "Who, In your opinion, Is or was the most graceful ballplayer ball-player you ever saw? Among those mentioned by the group were Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, Joe DiMag-gio, DiMag-gio, Joe Gordon, George Burns and George Sisler." Nap Lajoie is the most graceful grace-ful ballplayer we ever saw in action. One proof of greatness is that we ran't recall any spectacular play Larry ever made. He made every type of play seem easy. There was no waste motion. For example, In covering second on a steal Lajoie La-joie used only his gloved hand. He had the knack of sweeping the ball to the base-runner with one motion. This grace extended to the bat. You never saw Lajoie crouched and tense as most hitters are today. He would stand at the plate with the bat in his left hand and tnne it up just in time to swing at the ball. In spring training, pitchers would test out Lajoie's timing. They would get to him the first day or two in camp before his batting eye was adjusted to the ball. They would throw in front of him, back of him, in the ground at his feet, over his head. But Larry kept knocking the ball back. On a hit and run I've seen him throw his bat at a wide pitch and single over first base. Lajoie was no small man. He was over six feet and he weighed around 200 pounds. Ketchel and Greb The meeting of this pair would have been a ring classic. The west still goes with Ketchel. The east rides with Greb. Of the two Ketchel was the better puncher. Greb was much the better boxer. Philadelphia Philadel-phia Jack O'Brien outboxed Ketchel for nine rounds by a wide margin and then finished the 10th dreaming of the hour, after the manner of Byron's Turk. Ketchel practically beheaded O'Brien. Kid McCoy might have been a tough opponent for either Ketchel or Greb at his peak. The Kid was a brilliant boxer and a punishing puncher. Greb at his best almost annihilated annihi-lated Tom Gibbons and Gene Tun-ney Tun-ney In one season. This was the worst beating that Tunney ever got. I also saw Greb take Jack Dillon apart. 1 ' cowardly and also Grantiand Rice because it hurts more ballplayers than you know. I've had any number come to me for treatment of back or leg injuries in-juries due to collisions at second base. I can't understand why baseball base-ball tolerates such a play. It will end or shorten the careers of many ballplayers in the course of time." Dr. Bennett In 100 per rent correct. In the first place the play is unfair and cowardly. The player handling the ball, shortstop or second baseman, has no chance to protect himself. him-self. His job is to take the throw and make the relay to first base. The base-runner, coming to the bag, has a clear shot at Ills unprotected opponent. The opponent is often completely at the base-runner's mercy. The player handling the ball can have back muscles torn loose or his legs or knees badly damaged. A recent example was the Eddie Joost case. Joost is one of the star veterans of baseball. He was Connie Con-nie Mack's most useful player, or one of his more useful players, at least. He was taken out by Cliff Mapes of the Yankees in a recent game. But the main trouble was he wasn't merely taken out of that particular play. He was taken out for the rest of the season, or the better part of it. He may have been taken out for the rest of his career. Certainly Mapes didn't intend to wreck a fellow player's baseball career. But in the speed and heat of action such as this play calls for, it is impossible to tell what the result re-sult might be. There is no one who knows more about the handling of ballplayers in trouble than Dr. Bennett. When he rates this play the most dangerous and useless in the game he happens to know what he Is talking about. One of the first moves at the next fall or winter league meetings should be to abolish this play. Baseball Base-ball isn't supposed to be football. The two games are entirely different. differ-ent. Baseball is more a game of skill than football can ever be. |