New Britain herald., 1915-05-01
SpOYfOgraphy
 BY "GEAvY."
EDDIE COLLINS. aS ON SUNDAY. ONCE LOOKED LIKE A LEMON

Birthday congratulations are due tomorrow to MT. Edward Trowbridge Collins, alias Eddie Sullivan but bet ter known under the monicker of Eddoe Collins. IT. eung, man who commanded what declared by the publicity hating. l -ates to be the highest price ever paid for g ball player, when the Athletics turned him ever to the. White Sox last December. was born in Millerton. N. Y. May 2. 1887, and hence is on the verge ct his twenty-eighth milestone.
 Edward Trowbridge, of the tribe of Collins, was destined for an honorable career as a barrister. but destiny slipped a cog when his family sent Him to New York to SOD up an educa- tion He first eased himself into the baseball limelight as member of a Tarrytown prep school nine. where he pitched and played various other positions. Then he went to Columbia University where he made the nine. as a freshly, and was elected captain for his senior year.
 Tn the summer months young Coll 1ins added somewhat to his purse by playing ball with clubs in Plattsburg N. Y, Rockville. Conn.,. and, other oenters of population. Having due re- gard for his amateur standing, he called himself Eddie Sullivan on these little incursions into professionalism. It was his work with the Rockville club which attracted the eagle eye of Connie Mack. Incidentally. the cnroniclers say that Collins applied for job with lawn McGraw, but that Ia: turned him down. This Is pretty story. especially since McGraw has publicly declared that Eddie is the 5 most valuable player in captivity, and the only flaw in it is that It isn't true if we take Eddies and lawns word for it.
 Tn the summer of 1906 Eddie had d conference with Connie Mack, and agreed to accompany the Athletics on their western trip. Donning Attn 1.etic uniform and the patronyn1ic of
 ;dde Sullivan, he fared forth. He
 opeared in six games that year. and some of the Chicago papers thought well enough of him to r-int his pie ture. Eddie was sche' ! to captain the Columbia nine next year, hut the newspaper ph raphs of Sul- livan were called to the attention of the uIINRTSIty ldCulCy. dHu E4uulS sWdS called on to the carpet He refused tc reply to the question as to whether Eddie Collins and Eddie Sullivan were one and the same. op the ground that lie might incriminate himself. That SC aled his doom as a college player.
 Collins finished his college course the following season and, leaving the law school to get along as best it could with the students at hand. again joined the Athletics. The slight boyish rah-rah lad did not make any very pronounced impression on Connie Mack, and there were times when the Athletic pilot looked uupon Eddie as only another lemon As a shortstop le was somethin' fierce und in the outfield he was far from a marvel I3ut the boy could hit, and that saved him. Finally Danny Murphy was sent to the outer garden and Eddie was given chance to display his wares at second base
 When Connie lamped his college find going through the evolutions ap propriate to covering second base, the l McGillicuddy eye lighted up with ] satisfaction as one who has found pearl in an oyster.
 That's where Collins belongs