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Show TY COBB RATES JAMES BAGBY AS SMARTEST PITCHER IN BASEBALL j fr ' 'I v t 0! - (ft . : Photo Npl f Who wouiu you name as one of the smartest pitchers ever In baseball? Kiglit offhand you would say Christy Mathewson, would you not? In the opinion of Ty Cobb, Jim Baby of the world's champion Indians is entitled to the honor. This is what Ty has to say about the Cleveland tlinger, who won 31 games last year: "Bagby is the smartest pitcher I ever faced, and I'll tell you why. He hasn't a very goad fast hall nor a very good curve. He has a pretty good slow ball, with almost perfect control. Bagby knows he hasn't enough natural ability to fool batters, so he makes a study of them. He knows the strong and weak points of every batter who faces him, and he pitches to their weak points. If a bat ter is weal; on a low curve, that is all he will get from Ba"gby. If the same hatter should get a hit off a low curve, it does not make any difference to Bagby, nor does he change his tactics. He knows in the long run by pitching low curves to this batter the percentage percent-age is all in his favor, and that is all he will pitch. Nothing will swerve him from his course. "They'll get a lot of hits off Bagby, but he wins because he Is pitching percentage baseball pitching to the weak points of each hitter and not the strong points. He has perfect control of what stuff he does command and can put it any place he wants to. "Bagby Is an instance of what concentration con-centration and practice will do for a pitcher." |