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Show MOST ELIGIBLE MAN TO " SUCCEED TY COBB I George Sisler Kept Out of Professional Pro-fessional Baseball Until He Gained Engineering Degree j and Then Got a $5000 i Contract Bonus. ! BT J. B, SHERIDAN. I ' INGE GcorSQ Sislor, tho Mlchi- I san collegian, entered tho I ranks of professional baseball I in mid-summer 1915, ho has "been re-I re-I garded as tho man who would succeed I Cobb as king of tho ballplayors. That I was a largo order to All. Many goqd I judges of players and of baseball hoot-I hoot-I cd at tho idea of Sisler, a college boy, I being Cobb's successor. I Yot it seems to have come to pass, j in two seasons, that Sisler is second to Cobb, second only to tho mighty I ! Georgian and, to some extent, almost 1 his equal. SIsler's present batting record is, all U things considered, better than the h great batting rocord of Cobb. L The averages at this writing are: Cobb, .375; Sisler, .353. Cobb has been on tho greatest batting bat-ting spree of his life. Ho has just finished hitting safely in thirty-three I games. He has hit .500 and over on several scries. No such hitting spreo has ever been known in basotiaii. i Yet for all of Cobb's mighty work. Sisler is but .22 points behind him. ! Add to this that Cobb has been play- 1 i iug with a team that has been climbing, climb-ing, while Sisler has been playing with a team that has bcou declining; that I Cobb has had twelvo years' experience I I in the major league and one in tho minor leagues, where Sisler has had ' just two years' experience iu the ma-j ma-j jors and none in the minors, that Cobb 1 is sound as a nut, while Sisler has been playing with a sore thumb, a sore heel and two bad ankles, and you ( will understand why Sislcr's record i has been so wonderful. Cobb Had Assistance. Sisler has not scored the runs that I Cobb has scored because the St. Louis i team has not the men behind Sisler ' that Detroit has behind Cobb, Sisler has batted in a lot of runs. So has Cobb. In point of runs scored and bases stolen, Sisler is far behind Cobb. I In scoring runs and stealing bases you must have assistance from other players. play-ers. Sisler has had no such assist-I assist-I ance. Cobb has had it. J Therefore, to make a fair compari son between Sisler and Cobb, we must take them on batting only. In that regard re-gard sisler compares very favorably ( With Cobb, j It cannot be truthfully said that Sis- jler at all approaches Cobb as a force in a ball game, as a base runner or as a run. scorer. But Sisler has clearly made good the claims friends made for him, that ho is the most eligible man baseball had to succeed Cobb. Of this j .there can be-no doubt, I George Harold Sisler is quite a young man. He is 25 years old and I was born near Akron, Ohio, of work-j work-j jng people, from whom the best ath-j ath-j letes always spring. The lad was in high school when he first attracted attention. at-tention. A minor league umpire Damped Dam-ped Tennant was the original discov-I discov-I v rerer of Sisler. He saw him pitch a .game of baseball for his high school -.team. Sisler struck out some twenty of his opponents that. day. Tennant brought the matter to the notice of Lee -Fohl, -manager of the Akron profes--slonal baseball club, who now is man- ager of tho Cleveland American I League team. Fohl asked Tennant to I sign Sisler, then 17 years old, to an I J Akron contract Tennant fulfilled the 1 commission. Sponsor Was Displeased. I When the principal of the high School learned that Sisler had signed a contract to play professional ball ho A j was surprised and displeased. Ho had taken a great Interest in the young athlete and had planned that he should I take tho engineering course at the 'University of Michigan. Of course, j Sisler could play professional baseball and also take the engineering course, .but the high school principal had an eye to SIsler's all-around welfare. To Jthat end he wanted Sisler to takepart jn athletics in college, to play on the ; baseball and football teams. If he was a professional athlete, Sisler could not take part in college sports. And taking .part in college sports materially materi-ally assisted a young man through col-)ege. col-)ege. ' So, before the yoiingeter had played a game or worn a uniform for Akron, . 'the "high school principal Induced him to reconsider bis determination to play professionally. Sisler's father, who ,wns very eager that his son should succeed in colloge, refused to give hjs assent to his son playing professional baseball. S'o Sislor went to collogo and did not play professional ball just then. But ho became a baseball ohattel, a subject of barter just tho same. Tho. Akron club was owned by tho Columbus Colum-bus club. So, when Akron finished its short season, it transferred Sisler's contract, siguod by a 17-year-old boy, to Columbus. Columbus, In turn, transferred trans-ferred the contract to Pittsburg. Thereby hangs a tale. Sisler went to Michigan and played baseball. He came under the eye of Branch Rickey, then coach of tho Michigan baseball team, a former big league player and later to be manager man-ager of tho St Louis Americans, and presideut of tho St. Louis Nationals, Sislor was fortunato In meeting Rickey, a first-class coach, an energetic ener-getic and able all-around baseball man. Rickey at onco saw tho merit in Sisler as a ballplayer. Ho treasured him as the apple of his eye. Outclassed College Players. Sislor made a wonderful rocord as a college baseball player. He pitched, played first base and tho outfield and was the team's best batter. Michigan played all tho great colleges of the East and Middle West Sisler simply outclassed all the college col-lege players ho compoted with. Hq pitched wonderful games, ho made two and three doubles, triples or homo runs in almost every game. In fact, ho was tho entire Michigan team. Sisler Sis-ler would have made a great football player, too, but Fielding Yost, Michigan's Michi-gan's great football mentor, advised him that his baseball future was too brilliant, too valuable to be risked by playing the glorious but unprofitable game of .football. "You sh.ouJd.mako a wondorful football foot-ball player," said Yost, "and I would lovo to have you on my team. But you are a" poor young man and have a small fortune waiting for you In baseball. base-ball. My advice to you is to take no chances of being injured In football and to make baseball your only athletic ath-letic study." As may bo Imagined, a college player play-er who was shutting out opposing teams, striking out from ten to twenty-one batters right along and filling the score book with singles, doubles, triples and homo runs, as well aa playing play-ing first base and the outfield, attracted attract-ed a lot of attention from professional baseball clubs. Sisler was embarrassed embar-rassed with offers. Ho refused them all until he had graduated in engineering engineer-ing at Michigan. Tho Pittsburg club, however, let It be known that Sisler was under contract con-tract to it Pittsburg had bought tho contract Akron had transferred to Columbus Co-lumbus and that under baseball law clubs which attempted to deal with Sisler were subject to fine and reprimand. This statement of the Pittsburg club kept most of the major league teams away from Sisler. Branch Rickey, however, was a lawyer as well as a basoball coach and major league player. Rickey felt that Sisler's contract, obtained "when he was 17 and ropudlated by his father, would not hold in the state courts or the courts of baseball. Rickey had formed a connection with the St. Louis club, In fact, had entered its employ em-ploy aB a scout for young players and had plans to become its president He wanted Sisler for two reasons. Tho first was that ho loved tho lad whom ho had taken from high school and coached through four college seasons, coached in studies as well as In Baseball, Base-ball, and because, as future officer of tho St Louis club, he wanted a great ballplayer. Repudiated Tonthfnl Contract So, when Sisler finished his engineering en-gineering course and was ready to accept ac-cept an engagement as a professional baseball player, Rickey advised him to disregard the contract he had signed with Akron and to offer his services to as many clubs as he could and to accept ac-cept what appeared to him to be the best offer. Sisler took this advice. Ho offered his services to six major league clubs, among which were Pittsburg and the St Louis Americans. St Louis mado Sisler the best offer. It was something like $5,000 cash to sign a contract and $2,500 a season salary for two seasons. Rickey mado this offer for Sisler. It may be that ho had tho "inside track," that he knew what other clubs had offered of-fered Sislor and "raised the ante." The chances aro that Rickey, knowing just how great a player Sisler was, was in a position to offer more for him than any other person. To the other major leaguo. clubs Sisler was just a crack college player. Crack college players rarely are of big league caliber. Hence, big league clubs cannot reasonably offer them such a largo sum as Rickey offered Sisler. Sisler joined tho St Louis Americans. Ameri-cans. Rickey was then tho manager of that team. Sisler mado good right off tho reel. Rickey had claimed that Sisler was an American League pitcher, pitch-er, an American Leaguo hitter, an American Leaguo first baseman and nn American League outfielder. These claims seemed to be ridiculous. ridicu-lous. Had Rickey merely claimed preeminence pre-eminence in ono department of tho game for Sisler he could have been credited. But when he said that Sisler Sis-ler was a great major league pitcher, a great major leaguo first baseman, a great major leaguo outfielder and a great major league hitter, the baseball world rose up and, like the Irishman when he saw his first giraffe, said: 3Takes Good on Jump. " 'Tain't so. There ain't no such animal." But there was. Sisler proved himself him-self to bo all, and more, than Rickey claimed fqr him. He beat great pitchers like "Walter Johnson and Guy Morton Morton was having a wonderful year then in special spe-cial games by close scores, Ho lost to Morton, 2-1, In an extra inning game at Chicago, and the following week beat Walter Johnson, 1-0, In St Louis. Sisler repeated and repealed his wonderful won-derful pitching. He was a trifle wild,-as wild,-as might be expected from a boy who was having his first season in any league and who was playing infield and outfield when not pitching. But Sisler made good as a major league pitcher right at the jump. Rickey says today that Sisler can win any championship into which his team may go because ho can win three games in ono series. Rickey insists in-sists that Sisler has tho best curvo ball of any pitcher in baseball. When Sisler was not pitching ho ' was playing first base, and when he was not pitching or playing first base ho was playing tho outfield. Rickey's team was in a frightful slump and it had to draw peoplo at tho gate. So Rickey was using Sisler as his drawing draw-ing card. Tho young man was getting more press stuff than Charlie Chaplin over got and Rickey was working that to tho limit. He had Sisler In to pitch against all the b03t pitchers in tho league, advertised the game so that people would come out to see tho college col-lege wonder. Then ho advertised Sisler Sis-ler to play first base against Chaso or to play center field against Speaker, all to draw money enough to keep his club going. Sisler made good In every way. He beat Walter Johnson on the rubber, he gavo Cobb a game at tho bat, he played play-ed a dandy first base, though not quite as good a ono as Chaso, and he played a fine center field, though not so good a one as Speakor. Yet, If ho failed to equal Cobb, Chase or Speaker in their specialties, ho made good all around, proved to the satisfaction of tho baseball base-ball world that ho was the most likely man to succeed Cobb as tho greatest of ballplayers. Sisler is really a great pitcher, but he hurt his left shoulder in a basketball basket-ball game and it stiffens up on him after pitching a-hard game of baseball. So It was deemed wise not to risk his arm on the rubber. He can play a splendid first base not three men exceed ex-ceed him there, though he is sCHI green in the position. Wcnk on Overhead Flies. He has played a flno outfield, though he is not expert In going back on fly balls. Without doubt he could play as great an outfleld as any man had he practice in that department i We have already spoken of what Sis- : ler can do at the bat. His hitting is : practically equal to that of Cobb, ; though he has been handicapped by a 81 HE'S ALSO A I DEPENDABLE PITCHER 1 soro thumb, a soro heel and two sore ankles during June and July. Just the same, he hit almost .500 in those months. When it is understood that experts agree that it takes four years of play out there every day, to properly school a young man in the mechanics of baseball, base-ball, SIsler's early exccllenco Is all the more remarkable. It is true that ho has had four years of colego baseball, base-ball, but college baseball really means about ono month's play, especially at a Northern college such as Michigan is. It is true that the boys begin practico In March, but anyone who has been through a Michigan March knows what slender opportunities It affords for play at baseball. Tho weather is cold in Michigan until May 15. Tho college baseball season ends June 20. So Sisler really had one months of play each season where he should have had from five to seven months to get tho schooling in the mechanics of the game. Sisler's greenness, his lack of the polish which practice alone gives a ballplayer, Is apparent to this day. He Is just beginning to "make pitchers pitch." In previous years he had the amateur's weakness of going after everything ev-erything a pitcher tossed him". The skilled batter always waits for the "good ono." Sisler, in his fourth major ma-jor league season, is beginning to wait for the good one. This explains his excellent hitting in 1917. ' Many players hold that Sisler is the superior of Chase at first base. I cannot can-not subscribe to that belief. Sisler may, some day equal or surpass Chase. At present. Chase knows how to make plays that Sisler has never dreamed of. It would be a good thing for Sislor If he could see Chase piay a few' of his good games. Presumably Sisler can do anything that Chase can do. Ho has two legs, two eyes, two arms and two hands. He has not had the experience that Chaso has had, and he has yet to show the initiative, the originality of the peerless Callfornian. Is an Ideal Athlete. So, too, it is presumablo that Sisler may excel Speaker in the outfleld, or Cobb on the bases. He is as fast, if not faster, than oither of the old stars, has a good arm, too. But he has not had tho experience of either Speaker or Chaso, nor has he shown tho rare originality of either. It may all como to him, though. Batting Bat-ting has como to him. Not that ho could not hit, not that batters may bo made when not born; ho is simply getting get-ting the experience that years of dally play alone can give. Sisler Is Uie Ideal athlete. Ono hesitates hes-itates to say just how good a boy he Is, lest tho reader bo led to believe him a mollycoddle, which ho is not. Sisler does not smoke, drink liquors, enew or use any sort of bad language. More wonderful still, he nevor cared much for the ladles, though as attractive to them as a good-looking and much-published much-published young athleto can be attractive. attrac-tive. In fact, when Rickey told a reporter re-porter that Sisler did not drink, uso tobacco to-bacco or warm language, or go with the girls, th.e reporter once more said. " 'Tain't so. There ain't no sich animal." ani-mal." But there is. Sisler is all of these ' things. He rarely uses language of any sort, cool or warm. He is as silent si-lent as marble. That he ever drank no one can prove. No one ever saw him drink liquor. Nor uso tobacco. He married the first girl he over knew, ' a co-ed at Ann Arbor. Sisler is as modest as a girl. You can make him blush by rallying him just as you might niako a country girl of 17 blush, by rallying her. He is so backward that he will not open his mouth among strangers. Ho is very sonsiltve and cannot enduro "riding" I or "roasting" in a ball game. Very II quiet, he will fight quickly. He has I been known to wreck a clubhouse II when goaded into battle. For Sisler I is strong as a young lion. , I S I A Sagacious Bird, M A very curious nest is made by the I tailor bird of India, a tiny yellow crea- fl ture. To escape snakes and monkeys, "kB? this bird takes a dead leaf, files up in- jlB to a tree, and with a fiber for a thread H and its bill for a needle sews the leaf H to a green one hanging from tho tree. I The sides are sown up, an opening to tho nest thus formed being left at the I top. The leaf, apparently hanging I from a twig, would never bo taken for I a nest 0 On tho Reverse. E "Oh, madam," said Jane to her mis- I tress on returning from an errand, "there's been a young man following B me!" "Indeed!" replied her mistress. "Yes, madam, I know he was a-follow- I ing me, because ho kept looking round I to see if I was a-coining!" ., H U Father and Son. H The Son When I reach your ago, H dad, I rope I'll know more than you IH do." m The Father When you roach my iW ago, son, I hope you'll know as much as you think you know now. 'V&gljjS 3Tude to Order. H Biggs Smawley claims to be a self- JH mado man. mBt Biggs Well, if you ever saw him JH when his wife is around, you would IB :hink he was mado to order. .1 H Poor STeniory. Bounder I always enjoy the jokes :ircus clowns get off. , flj Rounder Becauso why? H Bounder Because I can't remember 1 MM hom from one year till tho. next j |
