The Washington herald., 1913-04-27
''SWEARS LAJOIE
HARDEST HITTER
Kid Elberfeld Believes the Big
Frenchman Is King Of the
Hard Swatters.
DRIVES PILL LIKE A SHOT
"Tabasco Kid Was Carried OF His
Feet by One of Naplander's
Drives.

Kid Elberfeld. late of the New York
and Washington Americans. and now
manager of the Chattanooga (Southern
LeagueJ club. is the greatest fan in the
country according to the majority OF
ball players in the big circuit The Ia
basco Kid eats. sleeps and dreams base
ball all the time. of the field and on It,
He has also had a very long career on
and diamond, and for that reason knows
whereof he speaks.
1t happened at a Cleveland hotel dur
ing one of the series OF games Washing
ton was playing in this city. says the
Cleveland Plain Dealer. The talk had
turned to the hardest hits ever made
and every one was having his say, the
Kid alone excepted. Finally. when the
other players had noticed that he was
strangely quiet in conversation on the
theme of which he was as well quail
fed to speak as any present. they all
turned TO him with one accord and de-
manded his opinion He pondered Sec
ond before beginning, then said. slowly:
Couldn't Duck Ii.
We'll, boys. I've seen ball players
come and go, many of them mighty
hitters, but when 1t comes to downright
picking, the hard hitter of them all,
you've got to hand IL to the big French
man right here in Cleveland He hit
the hardest ball ] ever saw hit and
may the saints keep me from ever be-
coming mixed up with another such drive
as he slammed at me several years ago
on the Hilltop in New York
1T happened in about the seventh in
ming Of a holly contested game Larry
had been hitting the ball on the pick
all through the game, as he usually does
when in New York, and l, from my posi-
ton at third base, was thankful that
none of his drives had come anywhere
near my territory.
I'm this inning the king was up first
and I recall that / was playing back
rather deep at the time. The pitcher-I
don't remember now who he was-put
one in the alley and Laioie took
mighty poke at II. I was bent over with
a hand on each knee. and the sound of
wood and leather had hardly reached me
before l saw that bail come shooting
through the air toward me with the
speed of rifle bullet. All | had time
to do was to take my hands off my
knees and close them between my legs
when the ball reached me. struck fairly
in the center of my glove, and stuck.
But 1 went on. / went right up into the
air, and came down fat on my back on
the grass about three feet back of the
place where l had been crouching.
Is Dared by Fall.
For a moment / was stunned The
first thing l knew the Cleveland coacher
was standing over me and demanding to
know where / was hurt But / wasn't,
though I was da3ed a little BY the shock
of my fall. / took the ball out of my
glove and wrung my hand to see whether
i had broken any of the bones in 1t.
Luckily my glove had borne all the
shock though the member felt numb for
several hours. Clark Griffith ran out
from the 'dugout' and shook me by the
hand. while all the other players con-
graduated me. But boys" and the Kid
wagged his head with emphasis. IF 1
could have got out of the way of that
ball I would never have made the catch
That is why I say Larry is the hardest
hitter. And I shall believe he is, too, to
my dying day
And here's another one along the same
lines, as told by Branch Hickey a few
years after he had severed his connec-
ton with the American League and was
attending law school at the University
of Michigan. This one happened in
Cleveland:
Chicago was playing the Maps. and big
Jim Scott was doing the twirling for the
White Sox. He was a new man in the
league at that time and was rather
nervous. There were two Maps on the
bases, too.
Sore; Brokc-up Game.
Larry was up, and Scott took a long
time serving up his offerings. Finally he
got one over but it Vas too far in and
pinked the big Nap on the shoulder.
Larry threw down his stick and walked
toward first. But the umpire was six feet
out in the diamond at that moment and
failed to see the ball hit the batsman.
He called Larry back. The latter expos
tuated. Nothing doing. Lajoie said
nothing. He gritted his teeth in anger.
picked up his bat and stood once more
at the plate. When Scott began to wind
up the Cleveland second baseman began
to walk out TO meet his pitch. and when
the ball was cut loose Larry was six
feet out in the diamond. | shall never
forget the crash of that bat against that
ball. II scared on a line straight be-
tween the left and center flelders, and
had it been a foot higher would have
gone clean over the high stand then
located in center field. But the two men
came in, and as later events proved. they
were enough to win the game. That hit
forever satisfied my mind as to the iden-