Show AME TT ALWAYS has ha been our bellel belief IT that the time t to 0 compare athletes letes s Is a at t the end of their careers fr for exa example m ale why try to compare ted williams after five seasons with ty cobbs 24 seasons why try to compare bobby jones retired lor for 16 years y e ars after winning 13 national and international championships championship 1 with byron nelson nelso n who so tar far ha has won 3 37 and dont ty cobb forget that jones ran 12 1 2 in th the U S open eight out ol of nine years ted williams and byron nelson have many years left in which they may rise to even greater heights or tor for one reason or another suddenly fall all away 1 I recall just about the outbreak 0 of f the wa war r when more than a few were re P placing lac ing joe DiMagg Dl Maggio lo above tris speaker as an allaround all around outfield star DiMagg lo was and still is a great ball player but even joes joe a most vehement supporters today place him above the flight of the gray eagle the class of all outfielders in the air or along the ground who could also hit from to in his better seasons through a long stretch of time take ty cobb and ted williams few pitchers could ted williams is the longer harder hitter but bul how many remember that ty cobb led the american league din nine years yea rs in a row that he led th the american league in 12 out ol of 13 c consecutive 0 1 I tive seasons think that thai one ne over what hitters were in cobbs road what was their class practically no one except shoeless joe jackson napoleon cajole tris speaker babe ruth wahoo sam crawford bobby beach and a few of that ash tinted ilk I 1 see they are now comparing bob feller and walter johnson certa certainly two of the greatest no one can tell me that bob feller or anyone else had johnsons johnsona speed feller has a greater variety but johnsons speed was enough they usually beat him I 1 to 0 or 2 to 1 I and even working with a weak hitting outfit he still could win more than 30 games a year pitching against some of the great hitters of all time but none of these great hitters was on old barneys barneis Bar side the idea is that thai johnson has already turned in III his 20 year record feller still ha has many years to go feller working with much of a ball club either he is to a I 1 certain extent in johnsons spot johnson pitching for or the athletics in those days could have won 40 games more than once feller working gaith with the red sox could could be another 40 game winner there will be time enough later on to rank johnson and feller old pete alexander it if you talk to hitters who faced him and who have been around they wont nominate walter johnton or r bob feller as the top master of the pitching tribe they wont give you cy young who won or christy mathewson their nominee is an entry known as grover cleveland alexander also known as old pete working with the lowly philotes Phil Phill lles tes alexander won 31 games in 1915 33 games in 1916 and 30 games in 1917 1017 a total of 84 04 games in three consecutive years with a ball club that never belonged outside ol of alexander in 1818 1016 he pitched IS 16 shutout t games most of them in the phillies bandbox park through six y years ea s he had an earned run a average avery under two runs per game As a rookie in 1911 he won 28 games with the lowly phillies al alexander xander was a stretcher bearer with the army in 1918 one of the tough jobs of any war lie ile then had been pitching seven years ears on his bis return to the cubs in 1919 and 1920 he allowed and earned runs per game an inc incredible redl performance through his bis career old pete had no interest ta any form of training ile he hap pencil to be an eccentric genius a gre great a t 11 artist which so few are he knew exactly where the ball should go to certain hitters and be could put it there too johnny evers who had batted against the best once told me that alexander alexa der was the only pitcher he ev ever r faced who made him feel me like throwing his bat away 1 I knew how useless it was evers said cardinal class overlooking the boisterous and heartfelt boos from brooklyn the car cardinals danals have been the class of the league from the start they have had no better ball players than dixie walker and pete reiser and pewee reese but no sane baseball follower can tell you that the hustling bustling dodgers have the class to match stan marty marion country slaughter red terry moore and whitey kurowski Kurows kl |