The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-22
Pitchers-Ed Walsh. Tom Hughes

Pitchers-Ed. Walsh. Tom Hughe
and Christy Mathewson.
Catchers-Charlie Duke Farrell
and Martin Bergen.
First basemen-Hal Chase and Fred
Tenny.
Second basemen--Larry Lajoie an6
Eddie Collins.
John J. McGraw.
Shortstops-Hugh Jennings and Her
nan Long.
t'utfieIders-Ty Cobb, Bill Lange, Ed
Delahanty. Willie Keller, Fielder Jones
and Fred Clarke.
Utility Infielder-Bobby Wallace.
In the opinion of 'sWild Bill Dono-
van. the Tiger veteran slabman and
member of Detroit lodge of Elks
present day ball players arr
not in any way superior tt
the stars of a decade or more
ago. At least one gets this impress
sion from a peruSal of Bits Twenty
Greatest PLAYERS. Twelve men who
no longer are doing active work in the
major leagues and eight who still are
drawing the applause of the fans make
up Williams list. which is given
above
Donovan's selections are particularly
interesting in that they include a num-
Der of men who were not even men
toned by the majority of those whose
y choices already have been made pub
lic- The smiling pitcher does not
claim for his 20 that they are the
greatest players of all time, but says
that he has limited himself to those
players with whom he has come in
personal contact. AS he has been
pushing the pill for some IL Or Is years,
he has had an opportunity to inspect
a large number of tossers.
I have eliminated from consideration
IL IL xr-I,o rot
ting passe when / broke in said DON
ovaIi. Some of those whose names al
ways will occupy d prominent place
in baseball history still were in the
game when / started, but they were
going back and 1 do not recognize their
claims to distinction. even though I
am willing to admit that, in their
prime, they might have been better
than some whom I have selected
Some of Bills choices notably
Hughes and Martin Bergen hardly will
be remembered by the present genera
sion Of fans but Wild Bill says that
they were wonders when he saw them
and that nobody whom he has en-
countered since has any greater
claims to distinction.
Beginning with the pitchers. he
names Ed Walsh, Christy Mathewson
and Hughes. The hrst two
mentioned need no introduction to
present day followers of big league
baseball. Donovan thinks Walsh the
greatest pitcher playing ball to-day.
If Walsh were worked about once
in four days, instead of being asked to
go In three times week, as often is
the case now, 1 believe that he would
be unbeatable" said Bill. He has ev-
erything that anybody needs to win
ball games and if he went to the slab
only after being properly rested,
can't see how anyone ever would trim
him.
Hughes, the third of Donovan's Sc
lections had a short career in big lea
que ball He was a member of the old
Baltimore and Brooklyn clubs Of the
National league and hailed from Cali
fornia- Speed, curves and control were
his in plenty, according to Wild Will
liam.'
Duke Farrell and Martin Bergen,
the ca tcbers, will be remembered by
the old-timeers. Farrell still is alive,
but Bergen went insane and killed
himself
The big Duke was a wonderfully
heady man. says Bill, and the only
catcher who ever lived on whom it
was impossible to work the hit-and-
run game Any time Duke called for
a waste ball, you could bet your next
pay check that the runner was going
40 go down. After pitching to a man
of his intelligence it was hard for me
10 get -uSeO 10 some OF the DOn0-
heads that I encountered later.
For a large man, Farrell was fast,
and he was a fair hitter Originally
he had a fine arm, and when the whip
went back on him he offset this han
dicap by getting the ball away very
fast
Bergen, who used 70 be with Boston
ard who was a bro- her to the pres
ent Brooklynite, was the best man
! ever saw on foul flies, and a wonder
fui thrower. The way he used to get
after fouls was caution It was
a rare thing for one to drop safe any,