Show VHO is the greatest h itter hitter that VV ever knew it seemed to us that the best way to round out this argument was to go in a direct line to ono one who wai wasa master at applying the ash so I 1 looked up ty cobb author and producer of more than base hits no ty name cobb lie he named shoeless joo joe jackson A ill lt tell you wily why jackson belongs on an ty cobb top P cobb sald said back in those years we not only had to swing owing at a dead ball but also a ball that was doctored in every known way wo we had the spit ball tile the emery ball the fuzzed up ball a ball that would do a lot of queer things and come at you with odd dips and breaks so the good hitters of that period had to choke the bat and go in tor for punch hitting all except jackson joe alu took ills his full owing awing and lie was often up there from to 1 I know I 1 could never have lilt ab above ove with that lint type of swine owing only jackson Jack gon old joe had the eye and the smoothness and the timing to do that I 1 used to wonder why lie ho d strike out at least twice I 1 a game taking tailing a full cut at a ball that hopped and ducked from the t treat reat anent it got either by emery or thumbnail or saliva taking nothing away from babe baba ruth nuth the babe never had to swing at a slippery or fuzzed up ball in those days you could lead the lengua league with 10 or 12 homo home runs the trick stuff hod had ended before babe i moved to the outfield in 1010 ive often wondered what joe jackson would have hit against the pitching and the livelier ball that came in around 1020 the some same might go tor for nap cajole another great natural hitter who dian didn I 1 t have hava as deep or as full a lash as jack son used with the livelier ball jackson and would have had infielders playing back in the outfield to keep keea out of af hospitals in one of the tha old th ners games played in boston with the lively ball lajolla La Lu jolea joles line drive hit the center field fence and that was after cajole was through 1 bout about I hitting I 1 asked ty if he was ever tempted to become a slugger not with that dead fuzzed up ball lie he said 1 I always belld believed ved in playing percentage and the percentage was all against a free swinger ng I 1 in those days day later la on I 1 tried a few times to go out for distance but by that time I 1 had been around nearly 20 years and it was a little late in life to change my swing or learn new tricks you cant change ake th e habits habit 1 1 of 20 years in anything like ahu a hurry r if you can change them at all but I 1 remember a series in st louis where I 1 decided to take a chance on the slugging side find and as I 1 recall it I 1 picked up five home runs in two games walter johnson was the greatest pitcher I 1 ever faced ty went on except ed walsh in 1008 1908 when he won 40 ball games and saved 10 or 12 others but when you speak of 0 great pitchers how can anyone overlook loo k cy young cf had been pitching IS 15 years before I 1 came to the tigers but he was still a great ercal pitcher lie won something like ball games which Is more than most pitchers ever worked in cy was a big burly fellow and lie he could tilde hide that ball better than anyone I 1 over saw ile he would turn his back to you in 0 windup and the ball would be on you before you knew what was happening cy had fine speed a rood good curve ball and perfect control lie could pitch into a tin cup lie ile was also smart and game the great thing about walter walte r johnson was that you knew a fast ball was coming but it hol help P you never had to worry about a curve in those days from walter or any change of pace just speed raw speed bunding blinding speed too much speed the answer Is that johnson still holds the shutout shut out and the strike out record with a better hitting better scoring ball club johnson would have had several 40 game seasons 0 on n the winning side some day look up the records and see sec how many I 1 to 0 games he lost I 1 can see that long rubber right arm unwinding now with the ball on top of you before you could even blink no wonder a lot of ball players used to get sick on the day johnson was to pitch crazy stunts I 1 I 1 asked ty what was the greatest thrill he got out of baseball on the oases bases he said 1 I liked to run and at times try out a few crazy things such as scoring from first on a single or scoring from second on oil an outfield fly every now and then id take a crazy chance where I 1 actually had no chance at till all I 1 knew that but I 1 I 1 also alio knew that a certain amount ol 01 crazy running would put more pressure on in ill the defense and d maybe start a little hurrying |