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Show I TY COBB'S HINT ON HITTING AT PORTSIDERS IS WORTH HEEDING iillliftplplllftlii Many of the great hitters of baseball are left-handed batsmen. They are great hitters because they can hit port-side port-side pitching as well as right-handed, and their ab:lity to do this was the result re-sult of mastering the mind. They hit left-banded pitchers because they thought they could and kept on trying. Ty Cobb, sporting an average of .370 a season for 15 seasons, was a "sucker" for a left-handed pitcher when he started his major league career. ca-reer. He believed he could hit lefthanders left-handers and set about to overcome the handicap that was his by physical habit. hab-it. And, after diligeut effort, he was just as effective against the port-siders port-siders as he was against right-handed curvers. Cobb had left-handers pitch to him until he was accustomed to the style, and there is no reason why other left-lianded left-lianded batters cannot overcome the handicap as Cobb did. A good way to master it would be to cease talking about it and another would be to bat against left-handed pitchers in batting practice as much as possible. |