The Alaska citizen., 1912-01-29
Latest Outside Sporting Dope

men with good judgment and is al
together. both as player and
man, one who could not be omitted
from list of this kind And now
Ill mention the name of the play.
er whom many think is the greatest
ball player that ever lived Ty
Cobb.
Tyrus Cobb.
Now what are you going to say
about him. or. rather, what are
you going to say about him? Cobb
is one of those products which you
will find occasionally in other
spheres of life. A ergat painter
is born. great singer is born.
great financial genius is born and
a great ball PLAYER was born when
Ty Cobb first saw the light of day.
He plays the game of baseball as
few, if any, have played it. and he's
PoSSlols the plliH one lldt every
fan will agree is one of the twenty
greatest. Fred Clarke will be the
next. | imagine.
Fred Clarke
Fred has done enough to enroll
his name on baseball's pages for
ever, He brought home the Pr
ates in front four times. he led
the National League twice in field
ing his position. once with a per-
centage which was the highest fig
ure since the beginning of organized
ball back in II Aside from
Clarke's ability as a player. his
strength lies in the fact that he
himself is willing to do what he
asks of his men. Who next? Why.
Willie Keller.
Willie Keller
Guess l can't leave Willie out
when it comes to the right garden.
| Willie had it Ell all of them out
there, to say nothing about the
| fact that he was demon with the
bat. | think up to 1897 Keeler's
| leading percentage of 1872 was only
surpassed once, when Duffy of Bos-
ton led the Nationals with 43S. Tom
Mccarthy will be my next selec-
ton
| Ton, McC,rtbu
Mac was a member of the old
| Boston team and, while not as
strong with the stick as some of
the other players of his day. was
simply unbeatable in gathering in
seemingly impossible ones He also
was wonderful thrower and coull
get the ball to the catcher from al
most any distance in the outfield
Lajoie Lajoie came next.
Nap Lajoie.
You just simply cant make UP
a list of this kind without including
| Lajoie. Any one that can sive
| Cobb the &c he did for batting
honors is surely in the running, to
say nothing of his ability as a ball
player in other directions He's
been in the game long time and
during all the years he's never stood
still, but steadily advanced in his
| knowledge of the game.
Charles Radbourne.
1t is doubtful in my mind if
| there ever was a pitcher so useful
to his club as was Radbourne dur
ing his prime as player. His feat
of winning his own game in the
eighteenth inning, l to 0. with a
| home run, when he was pitching
for Providence against Detroit, IS
one which old-time players and fans
still like to talk about. Along
with Radbourne l would link the
name Of Bobby Caruthers.
Bobby Carruthers.
Carruthers was one of the truly
great pitchers of the days gone by
He had it on the ball and could
make it do what he wanted it to
do He was a wonder at outguess-
ing the batter, and no matter how
things broke always had himself
well in hand. Next? Why, Big
Six"
Christy Mathewson.
OF all the heady, cunning, clever
pitchers, Mathewson is the one. Big
Six, went through for years on his
mere physical superiority, and when
he beat the teams opposed to
him with his head He has made
baseball study and he made the
result of his thought win games
for him when it was no longer in
the strength of his arm alone to
help him out. Though never at
the head of a pennant-winning ag-
gregation, | am going to include
Clark Griffith
Clark Griffith.
There never was a more cunning
old fox in the game than this same
Griffith. The perversity of fate,
hard luck, seems to be the only
thing that could have kept Grit
from going through with a winner.
He had all that pitcher need
TO have, and yet he never was with