The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-10-12
RIGHTS OF A RUNNER
Cobb Declares SpikingS Are Re-
suits Of Attempt to Block.
Greatest Of Baseball Players Says He
Would Not Intentionally lnJure
Fellow Player-Football Tao
tics Are Used.

81 hate to be referred to as a
brute" says Tyrus Cobb. greatest OF
ball players. and now In the zenith OF
his grand career. IT isn't very pleas.
ant Tor fellow to be called a rougn
performer and a deliberate crippler OF
his lellowmen ! wouldn't Intentional
ly hurt another player Tor twice my
salary. and yet. whenever somebody
bumps up against these spikes OF
mine. they all say do II intention
ally, and discuss which would be the
better way-to eliminate the spike or
to eliminate T. Raymond Cobb
Let's have little understanding
about this thing and. also, let's go
back into baseball history little way
Long ago there were players. some OF
them much slower and heavier than
myself. so | am told by veterans who
knew them. players who. despite this
bulk and slowness, stole more bases
to the season than | do nowadays. |
fitd from the old guides that there
were dozens of men who made good
baserunning records. say from thirty
to seventy a season, and that this
wasn't considered at all remarkable.
And yet fail to find in the old news.
papers mention OF many collisions. or
many cases where basemep were
spiked by the sliding runners.
What does all that mean? Simply
this; that In those days everybody
recognized the right OF the base run.
ner to clear field and a fair chance
TO steal the next cushion II he had the
speed and skill. Nowadays the tn
fielders think that the way TO stop a
runner IL TO use football tactics; to
step way over on the side OF the base
nearest TO rhe approaching stealer and
block him OF from reaching the bag
They receive you on their shins or
feet. they strive to check your slide
SO that 1t will be a physical impos-
sibility for you to arrive at the base,
and then they bring down the ball for
the putOut.
IT'S worst of all at the home plate.
for there the armored catcher. with
big body protector and shinguards.
meets you as you come in and squats
on you or on the base path. so that
you can't butt through or squirm past
his huge bulk. AS result OF these
tactics nobody dares to slide head
fret nnWadovs nuH apd AcTar,h,,
who were great base runners In the
olden times, have told me that In
their day the acme OF perfection was
the head-first slide, twisting the body
to one side and reaching out hand
to touch the base. The man who tried
that now would get his hand spiked or
his neck broken.
Now. under all baseball law and
the logic OF common sense. the base
runner has right to try for his base |
with clear field and no football |
blocking. believe that. and | insist |
upon IT, Furthermore. | don't want to |
play hog Half that base is mine. and |
| claim that half whenever go after
It.
81 don't slide past the bag, nor even
over the boundary of the half that's
mine. II the baseman stands where
he belongs. on the half-base that is
his, or on the farther side. he won't
get spiked. and he has fair, even
chance. II he is active with his hands.
to touch me out That's square enough.
isn't It?
''If the baseman deliberately comes
over the base, Standing in the road SO
that have no chance to slide In ex.
cept by vlolcnt contact with him.
whose fault Is 1t II he gets the spikes?
Think II all over and then decide; am
brute, a butcher or reformer?
think that I'm real reformer, cor.
recting abuses and trying to bring
back certain phases OF the game to
their condition In the earlier days"