The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-17

Champions was the greatest first base
 man I ever saw, as he could bat, field and throw; was fine base runner and
 great inside man. He had great ad- vantage in being left-handed thrower,
 and was the first man I ever saw who could field bunt to second base, then go back and cover first base and com plete double play. He accomplished this wonderful beat on hundreds of occa-
 sions during his career on the Boston
 baseball club. He was a wonder on
 ground balls and could go further for foul balls than any first baseman ever saw.
 My selection for second base would be
 Larry Lajoie of the Philadelphia and Cleveland clubs. He was without doubt the most graceful fielder the game ever produced. He was tall, clean-cut, and finely built; had plenty of speed, strong on ground balls to either the right or left; wonderful. throwing arm and one or the great, if not the greatest. bats men that ever stepped up to a plate. My selection for short stop would be
 Honus Wagner of the sPfttsburg club It IS not necessary to go into detail and tell you of the wonderful playing abil- ity of this man, for, in my estimation ha IS easily the greatest short stop of all times
 For third base it will be very hard oSASSeAci oStWScH JIIIliHY COlll0S or the old Boston champions and Johnny Me- Graw of the old Baltimore Orioles who IS now managing the New York Ma tionals. But if I were to make a choice think I would select Collins.
 Now 1t comes to the outfield and am going to place a man there who, in my estimation, is one of the greatest base- ball players that ever lived, and he has been overlooked by all the experts who have made selections of an all-star ag- gregation. I would select for my left fielder Edward Delahanty of the old
 Philadelphia club, who, in my estima- tion, is the greatest batter I ever saw He could hit them harder and further away than either Lajoie or Wagner and led both of these men in batting aver. ages when they were in their prime. He had good throwing arm, was a won- derful fielder and fine base runner. In center field would place Bill Lang of the old Chicago Nationals, who, in my estimation, believe is the greatest outfielder I ever saw. He had won derful throwing arm, could cover an irn- mense amount of ground, coming in or going out, to his left and right and could make accurate throws to the diff ferent bases or home plate from seem ingly impossible angles, and he was the best base runner I ever saw.
 COBB IS KING
 In right field I would place Tyrus Cobb of the Detroit Americans, and I think he is the greatest ball player of S'l times He outclasses every man whom have ever had the pleasure of playing with or against or from a spec tator's viewpoint from the stand. He Is a wonderful hitter, magnificent bunter, great fielder, fine, accurate thrower very fast on his feet and grand base runner. In fact, I do not think Ty has a weakness as a ball player and he is so far out in front of the present-day style that a comparison between he and Speaker or any of the others is actu- ally laughable.
 Trusting I will have the pleasure of seeing you before I leave Birmingham, I am. with kind regards. yours very truly, M J. KITTRIDGE