Evening journal., 1915-02-15
COLLINS, COBB Great,
HOWABOUTCRAWFORD
Nobody Considers Sam in
Discussion of Batting
Effectiveness
HE IS REAL
HITTING LEADER

Respective merita Of Tyrus Raymond
Cobb. Tristan Speaker and Edward
Trowbridge Collins was the subject of
heated cigar stand argument the
other day.
As is usual in such cases. nothing
was proved But of these little diff
ferences of opinion there wouldn't be
any such thing as sports, and the base
ball writer's would be compelled to go
to work.
Practically all agreed, however.
that Cobb and Collins excel anything
else in baseball, although there were
few scattering votes for Iris Speak
or.
The Cobb adherents maintained that
Tyrus is the greatest player in the
business, but grudgingly admitted that
Collins might be the more useful citi-
zen of the two by virtue of playing an
inheld position.
The unterrifed minority persisted
that Collins not only is more useful
than Cobb, but really and truly great
er.
Samivel Crawford, Wahoo. Nebras-
ka's, best barber, was entirely ignored
in the discussion. Samivel did certain
things last season which show him to
be a great power for good, and which
will be touched on later
II developed that those who had
taken It upon themselves to decide the
important questions of true greatness
i "a ba1 MI t..0tr r
idea of what these players actually ac-
complished In 1914, and had not ana
lyzed the averages. Therefore, VIC
hasten to present the facts in the case
G. RH TB. 2B. BIB. HR. sI. sB. PC
/ Cobb. 81 60 1877 1T % II 2 IS 1856
Collins. 1852 122 lsi 2ss 23 IA 2 % So "a,
| sp' 'ker 15s 100 i92 2s7 &c ls 10 AZ .33'
Thus it is made plain that there is
some room for argument, while al
parties to the controversy can pich
some crumbs of comfort from the fore
going statistics.
CrawfOrd's Speciality.
Collins hit .344 in 152 games. ar
achievement fully as noteworthy a.
Ty's mark of 1868 for 81 contests
Cobb, it will be remembered. burste,
his we'll known thumb on the tender
face OF the family butcher, and wa
out of the game for quite spell
Thus he dropped several points in tn
department of value TO his clut
Speaker shades the other two in slug
ging. Collins was the prize run-gette
Of the league. and ranked second onl,
TO Maisel in stolen bases, while p
sacrifice hits further attest his yer
satility
Viewed from the standpoint o
value. greatness or any other angle
Collins looms as the kingpin Of al
players in 1914. This Of course. doesn'
settle anything. II merely prolong
the argument
incidentally Eddie drove in eighty
one runs. whereas Cobb was the pro
pelling power behind fifty-seven.
This brings us down TO a department
of play in which Crawford made al
competitors look like weaklngs. San
swatted his mates across the plate IL
times. While Crawford ranked seventl
in percentage Of hits. this achievement
Just about stamps him as the rea
batting king OF the circuit.
In 1912 and 1913 Baker of the Ath
letics topped the league in timely hit
ting. Last season he ran second t
the ex-Wahoo face fixer, supplying tn
steam for only ninety-seven runs.
But for Sans great activity. Bake
would have equalled Cobb's celebrate
record in having led the American
League in opportune hitting for thre
consecutive seasons.