The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-29
SNODGRASS Is
CLEVER PLAYER
BY SAM CRANE

New York, August 2s.-Fred snodgrass
of the Giants is probably the most talked
about baseball player in the country to-
day. All this notoriety has come to the
young Californian rather suddenly, and is
due to his being the leading batter of the
two big leagues, the high favor that
carries with 1t the additional prestige of
being the premier swatter of the land.
Not young player having his first sea-
son as a regular on a big league team
should have the ability as batter, let
alone the temerity to cope with such
famous sluggers and champion hitters as
Hans Wagner Ty Cobb and Larry La
joie, was so surprising that fandom the
world over was dazed at first when the
new batting phenom flashed over the
baseball armament. When it was seen
though that the new applicant for the
batting supremacy was not a mere flash
of temporary brilliancy but gave promise
of becoming fixed star, it dawned on the
baseball public that the youthful aspirant
was worth being considered as a real
contender with the famous stars who had
preceded him, and who were thought to
have a mortgage on the tallest batting
averages that were possible.
Baseball has been full of surprises this
season and Snodgrass' rapid rise to fame
is only filling out the quota of startling
sensations of the year of 1910.
And there will be more.
snodgrass does not give the least evil
dence of becoming a busted pnenom,.
that bane of so many brilliant young
sters, who have promised so much and
done so little when the crucial test ar
rived. Snodgrass has nerve and conf
dence, two most essential qualities, to en-
able him to hold his own if not to do even
better than his present high record. Com
bined with nerve and confidence he has
youth and strength on his SIDE a good
eye, the ability to Judge distance and
snap wrist movement to his swing at the
ball that has always brought forth the
best results in batting
Fielders cannot LAY for" Snodgrass
with any degree of certainty He has the
happy faculty of hitting EN- where they
amt" SO happily expressed by Willie
Keller in answer to the question pro-
pounded to him, What makes a good
hitter?"
Snodgrass is just as liable to place
sizzling liner to right as he is to sting the
ball to left or to center. He hits either
high or low ball with apparently equal
ease, but his surest hits and the most
deadly are made from in-balls around his
shins that he shoots past third base or In
the left field direction with unstopable
speed.
These are called by him ''shin skim
mers," and they are surely we'll named,
incredible swiftness with which they are
propelled off his bat.
No pitchers as yet this season have
been able to head the young batsman off
Some of the twirlers have struck him
out, but he has always come back with
safe drive that proves no pitcher has
anything on him. Snodgrass just dotes on
southpaws, and righthand pitchers do not
seem to bother him much more
Just now the young batting phenom
leads Ty Cobb, his nearest rival for the
premier honors and the ownership of the
auto to be given to the best batter of
Tie tWO DiS iCd6dCc, NY IHOTe tlldn 20
points in percentage. Snodgrass' present
average is about .405, while Cobbs is
around $50. The youthful Giant, too, for
the last three weeks has averaged nearly
a hit in every two times at bat. and that
shows the remarkable pace he is setting
When the Giants go on their next trip
he may fall OFT bit, but heretofore this
season he has batted fully as well on
the road as at home.
The rules which the auto is to be pre-
scented requires that a player. to be en-
titled to chance to have his batting
average considered, must have been at
bat at least $50 times. Snodgrass has at
the present time only had a few more
than 200 times up, but as the Giants have
still over 50 more games to play there Is
little doubt of his being able 10 qualify.
snodgrass was engaged by Manager Nc
Graw as a catcher while the Giants were
on spring training trip to Los Angeles,
CAL. where the youngster was playing
with local college team. That was four
years ago. No chance presented itself for
Snodgrass to become a regular catcher,
but he was held, nevertheless, and Nc
Graws judgment of the youngsters abil-
ity was not misplaced.