Evening journal., 1915-09-11
SAM CRAWFORD At
.35 IS heaviest HITTER
Though Average Not as Fat,
He Has Edge on Cobb
Just Now
is AFTER THE
3500-HIT TITLE

Although he celebrated his 35th
birthday yesterday. Sam Crawford,
the Detroit outfelder, is showing no
signs Of his extreme old age, and It is
likely that for several annums to
come the Nebraska Peach" will
maintain his supremacy as the hard
est hitter of the game. Sam may
not have quite as fat a batting aver
age as his illustrious comrade in
arms, Ty Cobb, but when II comes to
propelling the pellet with force and
vigor he has the edge on the "Geor-
gia peach" Crawford uses the heav-
lest bat of any player in the Ameri-
can League and when he lands, which
he does with considerable frequency
and momentum, the ball is usually
due for a long ride. And you'll no.
tice that when Samuel is at the bat
the right fielders of the opposing
team move nearer the fence than
they do for any other player. There
Is little room for doubt that Craw-
ford is the hardest hitter now in
baseball spangles-probably the
hardest hitter the game has ever had.
II wouldn't be at all surprising If
Crawford succeeds in smashing the
great hitting records hung up by
Honus Wagner The 3,000-hit title Of
the Flying Dutchman seems well
within Crawford's grasp, for he pass
ed the 200 mark some little time
ago When Wagner got his hundredth
home run last June Sam was close
/ behind with 95 swats for the COM
plete circuit to his credit AS Craw-
ford is nearly six years younger than
Hans he has a good chance to put II
all over Wagner's home run record.
In the matter of homers Crawford
is far ahead of Ty Cobb.
/ Crawford hopes not only to pass
the 3.000-hit record of Wagner and
Laioie, but to set up a brand new
mark Of $500. His average since he
| joined Detroit has been about 1856
hits a season. At his present gait he
should pass under the 3,000-hit wire
next season Just fair hitting for
three seasons more would enable him
TO realize his ambition Of $500 hits
Crawford was born at Wahoo. Neb.
Aug 20. 1880, and played with Chat
ham in the Canadian League and
! with Columbus and Grand Rapids il
1 the Western. before he broke into tn,
) main show with Cincinnati in 1900
E In 1908 he jumped the Reds and join
J ed the Tigers, and he has been witt
? them ever since.
! Few, II any, baseball players TAX
better care Of themselves than Craw
ford He starts training for the sea
son soon after New Years Day II
keeps of the booze at all times. AM
smokes very little. and not at all II
the training season. Pastry and othe
! foods difficult of digestion are taboo
erIt is probably due to his abstemiou
life that Crawford has been improv
. ing, instead OF going backward, 70
several years past. His swatting aver
age for the last four years has beel
greater than for the preceding fou
years.
G Only one American League pitcne
ever seriously bothered Crawford
= That was Bob Groom, formerly wit
G Washington. but now with the Fed:
. Bob had Crawford's number for fail
= although Cobb and other Detroi
e swatters were not bafled by Groom
] delivery.
= In his 16 years OF major leagu
ball, Crawford has batted under tn
y 300 mark only four times. His bis
= gest year was in 1911, when hi
average was .37S One reason 70
: Crawford's success as a hitter is hi
:, wonderful eyesight His vision ha
been tested by oculists who hav
found that II is twice as powerful a
u that Of the average man. The big N,
10 braskan is one of the most populs
=, men in the game, and. although n,
~ so famous as a few others. he enio,
u quite as large a share Of the respe
~ of his tellow-playeTs and fans.