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Show , I or l I 1 0 0QCE Q/CE Q CE / T HE aE discussion Involved a . Tounl young TounlfeUOw youngfellow youngA THE fellow feUOw by the name of Stlmweiss Sttrnweiss Stirnweissthe , the Yankee second baseroan baseman . . The Thegeneral Thegeneral Th Thgeneral general a agreement eement was that br his bli flne floe e ] 1944 record placed him on top of all an allsecond ansecond , second basemen from both majorleagues major maJC & ' | leagues Especially EspeciallT Ms his hie base run run- run running - " , ning nlng in a year where base runningwas runningwas running runningfrith was mOVlDg moving back ntttt tttfft 1 $ 4 > lat lat'pith " frith 'With With 'pith pith ' ' the Great Auk Aukamong Aukamong Aukamong among the extinct extinctspecies extinctspecies extinctspecies extinctspeciesAt species speciesAt At this point pomt I t be- be began be began - gan San to think of the thet thetgreatest the-greatest the greatest - greatest percentage percentagebase percentagebase percentagebase base running ot of all allUme alltime alltime Ume time A short whUe while whUelater whilelater whilelater later I was luck lucky luckyenough luckyenough } ' enough to run tun tnt iiit6 iiit6the intothe the holder of thisrecord thi thIs thIsrecord * | record a tall taU slen Alen slender Alender slender der t fellow now by theGrantland theGrantlandlUee the Grantland GrantlandlUee GrantlandlUeename G antlandBlcename Rice Ricename name of Max Carey"No Carey"No Carey Carey"No "No No " , , " Max Mas aald said , . * . ' I was never nevermuch nevermuch neverronch much worried about even the lad last ladand lastand fastand and smart Stirnweiss SUrnwelss Stirnwelss breaking breatdng wftwo-year wftwo year mT my mTtwoyear mytwoyear two-year two year - - record As I recall li It I - made Sl 54 attempts to steal one sea sea- season season season - - son and & , got ot away with 52 of these theseTIle theseThe theseThe TIle The next ned nest : year I J tried $ 52 SZ $2 2 . steals .teals teals and andget andget ndgot get by bT with . 48 4.8 So out .r r of . I 106 109 at- at attempted attempted at attempted . - - tempted steals I was thrown ont out ontIDnly outonly outpnly " ' completing what whatyou whatyou whatyon IDnly only sta six sIX ' times , you might call 100 Jaunts from Irom first firstto firstto firstto to second I 1 think my mT average for forthose forthose torthose those two years was around 96 99 percent per percent percent cent . ' ' As you get older you begin to tothink tothink tothink think more about any record you youmight youmight youmight might have made In my opmJon opinion opmJonbase opinionbase opinionbase base running Is 15 tar far more Impor impor- important importaut Important - tant taut than many managers seem toa tothink to a * think It Is You Youll U 11 see good hit- hit hitters hitters hit hitters . - - ters who get on pretty prett , . oftenwho oUen often oUenwho oftenwho who are fast enough stealing steahng may may- maybe maybe maybe - be three or four tour times tunes a year Clubs Clubsfail Clubsfail Clubsfall fail to realize reahze realise that good base steal stealers stealers stealers ers can upset a pitcher more than thanalmost thanalmost thanalmost almost any other factor fac'tor factorI ' . I II 11 ll tell you why : , , " ' Mercury Mercwy : Max Maxcontinued Maxcontinued Maxcontinued continued 'I I ' I never toed tried to steal oft ofta ofta offa a catcher In my life h.te hte . I Ignored thecatcher the thecatcher thecatcher catcher completely I always stoleI stoleoff stole I | off the pitcher getting my lead leadwhen leadwhen leadwhen when It was too late for him hun to tochange tochange tochange change his pitch . . . Don Don Dont t think thmk this thishelped thishelped thishelped helped him any the next time tJme I Igot Igot Igot got o on For pne Qne one thing thmg It broke up uphis uphis upbis his concentration concentraUon and a pitcher s a scomplete acomplete scomplete complete c ' concentration ncentratJon Is a big part partof partof partof of his job It wasn t easy for him to tobe tobe tobe be thinking thmking of the runner on first firstand firstand firstand and also putting that ball where he hewanted hewanted bewanted wanted it to goJ goBase goBase go 3 J 3Base Base Running Runmng Wanted Wanted'I 1 1'I 'I I ' ' I know lmow the fans like hke bke base run running running running thani thant ning a lot more base running rumung than thanthey thanthey thanthey i t they are getting gettmg today . ' Who is the ballplayer that so somany somany somany many rate as the greatest of ot alltune alltime all alltime7 tune time time7 ' His Isla name Is Ty Cobb Cobb Cobbwas Cobbwas Cobbwas was a great hitter but he was just justas justas justas as good a base runner And one of ofthe ofthe ofthe the main things all aU old timers tuners re remember remember remember member about Ty Cobb was his hJS bril brilliant brilliant brilUant liant base running runmng that upset many manya a defense detense Cobb would steal trom from from60 6 50 ( ) to 98 96 90 bases each year His total totalas totalas totalas as I recall it now is close to 900steals 900 . [ steals You can understand how howmany howmany howmany many games all this must have won wonCobb wonCobb wonCobb Cobb ran much w wilder der than I ever evertried evertried evertried tried to His Rls Idea was not only to toget toget toget get an extra base but also to crack crackthe crackthe crackthe the morale and steadiness steadmess of thecatcher the thecatcher thecatcher catcher the pitcher and the intleld infield intleldNow infieldNow InfieldNow Now and then he made hopeless at- at attempts attempts at attempts . - - tempts just to keep them guessing guess1Dg ' fes Yes . , It was Cobb s base runnmg running runningthey runningthey they runnmgthey always talk about You re- re recan recall re recall - - call can In the recent world series In St StLouis StLouis StLouis Louis what so many manT were talking talkingaboutf talkingabout talkingabout aboutf about ? It was the 1931 1981 scries serIes where wherePepper wherePepper wherePepper Pepper \ Martin l\lartin l lartin starred to t * . beat the theAthletics theAthletics theAthletics Athletics , and they were talking talkingabout talkingabout talkingabout about Pepper s a base running'As running 'As As . ' ' As you know lmow John McGraw and andEd andEd andEd Ed Barrow always picked HonusWagner Hanus Honus HanusWa HonusWagner Wa Wagner er as the greatest ballplayer ballplayerof of all time even over Ty Cobb and andBabe andBabe andBabe Babe Ruth Wagner of course was wasa wasa a great shortstop and a great hit bit- bit bitter bitter hitter - - ter But Honus didn d1dn dadn t stop there He Hewas Hewas Hewas was also a brilliant base runner runnerCarrymg runnerCarrying runnerCarrying Carrymg Carrying his 200 pounds Wagner Wagnerotten Wagneroften Wagneroften otten often stole more than 50 bases ayear a ayear ayear year which is one of ot the tbe main mam rea reasons reasons reasons sons for his selection by two such sucheminent sucheminent sucheminent eminent baseball authorities , ' ' I can t recall even an attempted attemptedsteal attemptedsteal attemptedsteal betweenthe bctweenthe steal in the recent games bctween between betweenthe the Cardtnalt Cardinali Cardinals and the Browns No Noone Noone Noone one tried ta to bother the pitchers by byeven byeven byeven even faking takmg a steal This ThJs gave eachpitcher each eachpitcher eachpitcher pitcher a chance to keep his full fullconcentration fullconcentration fullconcentration battie concentration on handling handlmg the bat tIe The answer was 82 92 strike outs in outsin six aix , games ames tor for a new record recordI I know the crowds like base run runfling running ning fling running and base stealing They get a thrill athrill out of ot seeing aeelug some fast run runner runnor runner ner nor take his ws whirl from trom first to second see sec seeond secand ond and If II it he be makes It he be is 1s only one hit onehit away from trom a run It If h li he " doesn t ttry try he is as two hits away from trom a run rununless rununless rununless unless It happens to be a long blow blowa 1\ 1 a \ 1double double or a triple But teams today todayare todaylire lire are punch.the punchthe waiting tor for the one big puncb punch . , . the one big Inning mnmg InningThat InningThat hadRuth That was alright affright when you had Ruth Butnot and Gehrig Gellrag on one club But not nowadays Most of them now are areone areone one areone Especiallyone and two base hitters Especially one base hitters bItters These could dnve drive drivein dnvein in a lot more runs it if that man on first onfirst would only get to second A Alot lot of us used to get there Why can t tthey they plentyin get there now ' There is plenty plentyup in the way of speed today to pick pickup up forany torany 35 or 50 stolen bases a year tor for any fairly fast tast man mau mauI manI manI I know lmow a great thousandof thousandsof many thousands * of doThe tans fans feel about it just Justus just.as justas . . as I do The game has been throwing one awayone ot of its greatest arts . 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