El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-06
, EW YORK, April 6.-I

Few YORK, April 6-BasebaH
~ today is a faster, more scien-
4 tific game than it was % years
ago, but many stars of the old days
outrank the brightest. shining satel-
lites of the present age. in the opin-
ion of Clark Griffith, manager OF
the Washington Americans, in an ar
ticle on Twenty Years in Big
League Baseball" which appears IN
the April issue of q current magazine
Griffith, after declaring that he mas
been connected with the big leagues
for 25 years, compares the stars OF
the past and present and furnishes
some interesting baseball history.
Charles COmiskey, now owner OF the
White SOx, is ranked by Grltfltn as
the greatest first baseman that ever
held down the initial bag Griffin
credits him with revOlutionlzlng the
system of playing first base
He was the first man to see Ine
possibilities of the position, WIlLeS
Griffith Before his day 1I 4I5 o ltSo5
man was only q basket. lie STOOD
glued to the bag, received the pans
thrown to him, but never moved away
COmiskey Was First JeeFed.
But soon after he got the L dI,is
basing job for the old St LOUIS
Browns he was discovered playing
about 10 feet back of the bag ana
about the same distance to the IlSut,
People thought him crazy and yeIIed
to the manager to can MIN Even
his own teammates kicked But the
manager had confidence in the Dralny
COmiSkey, and when he began 10 graz
balls that formerly scooted OH 10
right field for hits, and beat the run
ner to the bag with them, the Jeers
changed to cheers.
This encouraged COmiskey to play
even farther back and ne Ilnally
forced the pitcher to do the unheard
of thing of playing the first base
mans position when the first base
man was fielding the ball So Wen
did these innovations work that Com
islIey soon had the otner firsI Dase-
man doing the same thing"
Griffith then stated that Arson. al
though a great player, was not Com
islzey's equal, that Dan BrOuthers, also
a wonderful player, was rated under
Arson.
Three Present Wonders.
Until Hal Chase came there were
no great first basemen during the in
tervening years" wrote GriffithS
Then there came three men who give
promise of being even greater first
basemen than those who have gone be-
fore They are Jake Daubert, Of
BROOKLYN, 'Stuffy' McInnis, of the Ath-
letics and Chick Gandil of my
Washington team. They are wonders"
Eddie Collins, in Grifs opinion, IS
the greatest second baseman the
world has ever known.
when we consider Collins there IS
no use Of talking about any other
second baseman Of the present day.
writes Grit
Griffith gives Fred Pfeffer, Of the
old White SoX. and "Biddy" McPhee,
Of the old Cincinnati Reds. places
among the greatest men that ever
worked at the initial station.
From their day until the coming
OF Collins. LajOie, the big graceful
Frenchman shOne as the brilliant star.
Long Was Greatest ShOrtstOp.
Herman Long. of the old Boston
club. was the greatest shOrtstOp I
have ever known. Other men have
come since his time, and played the
position in wonderful style, but Long
in my opinion, never has known an
equal.
Williamson, Of the old White SOx,
was n wonderful shortstOp in 1890.
He used to play without glove.
Dahlen, Corcoran. Jennings, Wallace,
and Davis also were marvellous short
stops And so is Wagner. Hans has
a barrel Of ability, but he is not such
a foxy player as many persons think
But he is a wonderful batter
Mcbride Weak Mt Bat.
ION a par with Wagner I place Nc
Bride Of the Washington club. He is
the best defensive man in the bust
ness, but weak hitter. If he could
club like Wagner he would be the
greatest shortstOp of all time
Barry of the Athletics also IS
wonder. and Fletcher Of the Giants is
4 mighty good man.
"Of all the third 6asemen I think