The Washington times., 1914-01-24
Georgia Peach" Calls Him
More Dangerous Hitter Than
Any Other Player.
BY TY COBB.
(Big Leagues Best Batsman.)


The first time saw Eddie" Col
Inns play, which was in 1906, when he
was appearing with the Athletics un-
der the name of Eddie" Sullivan,
and was still in college, he did not
look like hitter. Today he is prob
ably the most dangerous in baseball,
as his work in the last worlds Sc
ries showed. l consider him to be
far more valuable to a team than
Jackson or even Baker. He is a
wonderfully scientific batter, and
takes advantage Of every flaw of the
defense, driving the ball at holes in
the infield when a baseman goes to
cover, and frequently outguessing
the outfielders BY placing his drives.
Collins also has developed great form.
as is shown by the speed at which he
pushes out the ball. He is not physf-
cally robust, yet he gets his whole body
into his swing in such a way that the
drives go from his bat like a rifle shot.
the league, / believe.
Harry Davis, once weak with the
stick became dangerous batter un-
der Connie" Mack. Barry was no
batter at all when he joined the Ath-
l@.icS; on fb out now he is one of the best
on Ihe team in a pinch. Jimmy
walsh was known as a sucker on
curve ball at first, but under Mack he
got 80 he could hit curves better than
iast ones, although he Is not a great
odtIef yet. And so the Athletics go.
This batting strain year after year is
100 much OF good thing. especially
"heh you are fighting to hold the lead
IN the league. Few persons realize the
tension that this keeps a man under.
and l am usually Grabbing from the
beginning to the end of the season
get worse as the thing goes along. and
more OF my hair falls out each sum
mer. III soon be entirely bald. and then
they can try out some hair restoTer r on
me. am often asked which pitchers
are hardest for me to hit. Walter John
son always looks tough to me, and Ford
Is also effective
batting lead OF the league is that the
Puoiic viii not give a man any rest.
You nave got to keep on going whether
you are sick or not, because otherwise
the spectators VIII say you are quitting.
L played for a week in 1911 with a fever
of 1Of. A man goes through a whole lot
to attain the hitting championship.
IF you are hurt and laid or for a
rev days because of the injury, you
must get back in the lineup as soon as
You are fit to hobble around and put on
q uniform or the newspapers and fans
will holler. They don't give you a
chance to get your eye on the ball
again before going back into the game.
They'll say you are laying off because
you are lazy, and that you are all right.
In fighting for batting leadership
play all sorts of tricks to get the per
centage in my favor. For instance, I
try to bluff the third baseman in with
an attempted bunt, and then BAN one
down past him. If you feint the infield
out of position, any kind of hit ball
goes through. But with the infielders
in their places, you've got to meet the
ball solidly to get away with it. My
notion is TO keep them all on their
toes and always guessing.
This Is the style of nearly all good
hitters. Speaker is a great man to
cross up the opposing infield. Nave
already mentioned Collins. These two