The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-03-01
SPORTS Nashville Court Hits Sunday Ball
Corbett's Daily Letter
 On Great Sport Topics
By JAMES J. CoRBETT

J. tOhDEII
 us. You've got the strongest arm fthe
 bunch and you're elected. Go in and dc
 the best you can"
 The three-fngered third baseman took
 turn at pitching that day-and he l pitched his team to an easy victory ovei l the BrCzil outfit; triumph that gave to Coxville the championship of the Iniada district So impressive was Browns work
 that the Brazil club signed Brown. He | finished the season with that club and
 his work as pitcher was so sensational
 that in short time he got his bis league chance with the Cubs
 Mike Donlins case is just the reverse
 He started as pitcher and was trans formed into one of the greatest outfield- CTS that ever patroled the garden dis | trict
 Donlin began his big league career l with the St. Louis Cardinals nearly two decades ago. As finger he was some thing of bust" But Mike could hit
 gosh, how he could hit The Cards tried him out at short and then at tirst-but he was a failure there as he had been in the box. So Mike was turned adrift, skidded around in the minors for while
 and then made his big league appearance
 as member of the Baltimore Orioles. Donlin tried Singing for the Orioles
 and made a mess of it. The bosses were for releasing him. But John McGraw saw in Mike the making of a great outfielder 1 So he prevailed upon the leaders to give Mike a chance in the garden. i McGraws judgment of Donlin was justified Mike quickly learned the tricks of outfelding and his arm, mighty in its power, cut off many runners going In from third. And all the while Mike was hammering down fences or driving the ball over the top.
 The day that Mike Donlin went to the outfield was the day that he became a star of the first magnitude And the bril- liance of Donln lasted through many years.
 Billy Sullivan, remembered as one of the most remarkable backstops that ever wore mask, was an infielder at the out set of hs,. .career-and had an aversion to performing catching chores. Sullivan's career began with the Du- buque club and later on he hooked up with the Columbus club in the Western association In 1899 the Boston Braves
 secured him, but two years later, with the outbreak of the baseball war, Sul- ivan became a member of the Chicago Americans And with that club he rose to the absolute crest as a receiver. Sullivan, in his youth, was wiry, agile youngster, and be cause of this he played second, short and third with as much skill as any of the infielders of his
 day. He also played the first bag in spec
 tacular ~fashion and 20 years ago was
 looked up as one of the greatest infield-
 CTS in the minors.
 Sullivan, like Brown jumped into a
 new position because of accident. The
 regular catcher of his club had suffered
 an injury and was unable to play The
 manager, knowing of the versatility of
 Sullivan. asked Billy to do the back
 stopping work for that day, Billy de-
 murred but the manager was insistent in his pleadings and Billy finally
 gave in.
 The game Billy Sullivan caught be-
 hind the bat that day was faultless The way he cut down opposing batsmen who had figured that it would be easy to steal on novice catcher was sight to behold And the way that the brainy Sullivan handled the pitching caused his manager to say to him after the game: Billy, the job for you from now on is catching You're a star at that job and some of these days you'll rank as one of the greatest catchers of all time.
 The prophecy came true.