The Washington times., 1914-06-07
BY TY COBB.
(The Worlds Greatest Player.

In the beginning let me say that
it seems mighty good to be back in
the game after the enforced lay-off
caused by my injury at the hands of
Pitcher Foster.
There may be some ball players
who would just as soon get rest
now and then if their pay checks re-
main healthy, but | am not one of
them. Baseball is mixture of busi-
ness and pleasure with me and l like
to be in there fighting every day. 1t
just broke me all up to see the
Tigers getting beaten so often in the
East. when | ought to have been
helping them to win.
Do not imagine that am egotis-
teal enough to attribute all their
defeats to my absence, but / think
that | may be pardoned for saying
that might have helped pull game
OF two out Of the iirc. / an not
making this assertion because | wish
to hand ont the idea that | All the
whole Detroit club. That would be
both a foolish boast and an untrue
statement.
The impression l am trying 10 convey
Is that it hurts any club to take 4 reg
Ular player out Of the lineup for any
considerable length of time. was
missed not so much because | am Ty
Cobb as because am a regular member
OF the club. who Understands the attack
and can work with the other players
better than a substitute could. Even If
1 had battej no better than the men
who substituted for me. coulG have
been of more good TO the club. for the
nOys Ssem to have confidence ir me and
we have perfected plays that can't be
learned in minute. no matter how
capable the ut 'lity PLAYER MAJ be who
Is tnsse1 into the game.
In figuring on the pennant prospects
of this club or tnat, the fans want to
Tear In mind that any team is always
likely to lose player Just as the De-
2 'oit club lost one. One dav we are
brcczing along in nne style and the next
a veteran-myself in this case-!s hurt
and things all seem to 90 wrong. Every
outfit m both major leagues S Just as
irIch dependant on some of its PLAYERS
as the Tigers are on Crawford or Bush
r myself.
If the Athletics lost Eddie Collins To-
a month or so, where do you suppUse
the club would inish? About ninth |
believe. Where would WashinSton be
without Mcbride or Foster ?nd what
would hecople Of the Red SoX if Speaker
happened To run into an accid, Mt? The
Giants wouldn't d" n ! to 10 shot to WIN
IN. at
Wagnrr's being laid uD II oulG put the
Iirates totally out nf IL, think
Now. ! make this assertion realiz-
ing that substitute might play
and in fact ! have known OF cases
where utility men have played-bet
ter ball for a time than the regular
incumbent But there is the moral
effect of a players absence that can
not be measured. The club that loses
the man feels itself crippled and il
cannot keep its head up and play
with the same dash and confidence
Thinking you are hurt is just about
as bad as a real injury. | imagine
There is heap of psychology IN
baseball If there were not. why
for very weak club. invariably beat
Cleveland when the Maps had a
strong one? Yet the old boy did thi.
right along. All he had to do was
TO throw his glove in the box and
the Cleveland batters curled up.
After everybody else was lamming
the daylights out of Thomas. he kept
on licking the Maps.
That was because they thought he
had something on them. The same
thing. only applied in different
way. accounts for the frequent vic
tories the Athletics manage to win
from Walter Johnson. do not mean
that even the worlds champions can
be depended on to lick Walter with
ANYTHING like the consistency that
hughes used to beat Cleveland. but
they manage to break about even
with him which is considerably better
than anybody else does. Walter can