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Show RIXEY ONE OF MOST UNIQUE CHARACTERS Tall Virginian Pitches His Twelfth Year in Majors. Eppa Rixey closed his twelfth year as a pitcher In major league company with record of 15 gumes won for the season. Not so grund, you say? No, and yet not so bad. The veteran won 13 out of 29 games, pretty good record for anybody's pitcher; especially espe-cially with a club that did not finish one, two, three In the pennant standing. stand-ing. When one considers that the average major league life of a pitcher Is less than ten years and Ills full bloonit of effectiveness Is five years or less, the 19114 record of the tall Cincinnati Cin-cinnati pitcher Is rather Impressive. And especially Is this record Impressive Impres-sive when one considers what ltlxey did for his team In 1923. Pitching his eleventh blg-lengue year, the Virginian won UO and lost 13 games. Thla feat was somewhat some-what overshodowed by the marvelous record of Lutiue, who pitched on the same team that year with ltlxey and led all pitchers In the world by his performance of 27 victories and only 8 defeats. ltlxey really" had one of his great years In 191, and considering the strain on his ancient arm while compiling com-piling that record, his 11KM showing of 15 victories Is an Impressive one. It Is shown here that ltlxey, with his 20 victories In 1923 was six years past his full pitching bloom. The percentage oi big-league pitchers who win 20 games after their tenth year on the big time Is mighty small. Possibly not mors than a dozen such pitching giants appear ap-pear In the majors during a decade. ltlxey himself Is Just as Impressive as his pitching averages. lie Is thi tallest man In baseball, standing six feet five Inches In height, and he ll also the slenderest man In baseball An Impressive figure Is Rixey when he bends forward from the hips to deliver his curves. In spite of hli height, he fields his position with precision pre-cision and skill. Itixey Is also one of the smartest of the ball players. IU is a graduate of the University of Virginia, Vir-ginia, coming straight to Philadelphia In the National league after thret years on the mound for his college. But when It comes to disposition, Itixey leads them all, either In baseball base-ball or any other walk of life. He has the best disposition on record Anyone who has spent a day with the tall pitcher around the clubhouse, on the bench, on the practice field, or In the hotel lobby; under any kind of weuther conditions, playing condltloni or state of the pennant race, or harassment har-assment that falls to the lot of the children of man, Itixey Is always smll ing, pleasant, cheerful, . Jesting, not only refusing to let his own troublei worry him but driving away th troubles of those with whom he comet In contact. .A remarkable type, this man Rixey. nis value to bis club in the matter of disposition would seem to be worth about as much as his pitching ability. It Is simply impossible to withstand his pleasant smile, his sense of humor and his happy, boyish ways. Twelve yeurs of campaigning In clubhouse and on field have left no visible marka upon this veteran's character. He Is Just as light-hearted and as gay and -as full of enthusiasm as the last-Joined recruit. But let us understand RLxey, Under this smiling exterior and this pranklshness, this apparent unsophls-tlcatlon unsophls-tlcatlon of the rookie, Hetb a strong, manly and dependable character. Itixey Is a man of superior intelligence, intelli-gence, a man of thought and study, who besides having mastered the profession pro-fession of baseball, has also mastered the profession of dentistry. But he elects to look on the gay side of life and to get every speck of Joy and brightness And humor that he can out of any situation that arises In his most Interesting and colorful existence. |