Evening star., 1923-02-18

BY FREDERICK u. t'-S
TIME base ball ca -eer Eddie
Collins is by no means ended,
but should this little eve! OF
the inheid choose t. rest oh his
present 1aurels his record would be
one oi the foremost III base bail
his. ory.
Few persons question Go lins
right t. be named the greatest sec
ond basenlan oi al time. Laloie
was a greater hitter than Collins.
and as graceful i'll the t.cld. but
Eddie. in addition. has been one o1
base balls best base-stealers and one
oi the smartest players that ever
stepped on a ball hc.d.
I Ike the. .re:It cobb, Eddie Collins
shows no signs o. his Increasing
wears. Co5h aad Collins are the vet
Grams Of both ma jor Leagues III poin'
of service. Yet they remain Two ot
III. brightest luminaries in tue base
han GrTnamen.. Tr came e" Dr;fou
in the fall of 1895 and Eddie made
his frsi appearance in Mack's lineup
n year later under thr maine oi sui
livan
Eddie vas horh in Tarrytown \. y.
on Nav >. 1887. so be VIII be thirty-
six net spring lie is; a graduate o'
Columbia. where he played qIar-eE
back on the foot ball team ana shor'-
SION on ne base ball nine. ColIihS
.till was attending Columbia When
he had his ,irst adventure with the
,thIctics. He had been elected cap
tain of the Columbia base bal. team
FOR his senior year, but late III l9oo
connie Mack was e perimentih.: i.h
81 bunch of kids aud n: N;.nLeu - 10
loo Eddie over. Connie had the
Young colleGian under CONTRACT d.
early as his sophomore Yea.
rsed <a.ne of sullivan.
Collins. therefore. played SIX snhes
under the name oi Sul'Nah' ~. -
was unable to get away Win l.
The athletic authorities at [" ui!pIa
we're tipped of that the young SUI
Iivan Of the Athletics was the.r on ox
Eddie and he was declared lleiis lpie
for Columbia base ball 81,
the Athletics on September Il, l9oo'
annearinc at the shortstop position;
He opposed Ed Walsh and cracked
out one hit in four times at bat
Connie Mack had difficulty IN placo
ing Collins when he first came 10 tne
Athletics. He tried him out at his
college position. shortstop. but Eddle
didn't look any too good there. -EeAt
Collins was riVen a~tria' out III rISn'
field. but he was no outheiuer -hdGh
finally hit on the right solution. lie
transferred his veteran second base
man. Danny Murphy. to right held
and nut Collins III Dams position at
second base. The move became an
Immediate success and helped Eddle
reach base bal fame.
collins has hit over 500 in thirteen
of his seventeen big league seasons
eight of them being in succession.
His seventeen-year batting average
in the American League is 329.
Eddie dropped out of the 800 class
during 1917 and 1918. the two war
years. but his heart was not in his
work and he enlisted in the marines.
in the summer of 1918 HIS batting
average began to sprout again as
soon as hOStilitieS were over. as ne
Jumped from .276 in 1918 to .319 in
1919, and then to 1863 in 1929. The
latter is Collins best batting average.
Ranks High as Bascrunner.
Collins ranks with the best base
stealers of all time. with GA stolen
bases to date. His best stealing
record was eighty-one in 1910. Twice
during his career Eddie stole six
bases in the same game. On Sep
tenber II. 1912. he stole six on Brad
10y kocher of Detroit and ten days
later he stole d half dozen more on
Jim Stephens and Walter Brown of
ST. Louis. In this latter game Eddie
stole second, third and home in sue
cession.
Collins already holds the major
league record for the greatest num-
Der of sacrifices He already has 421
sacrifices to his credit and the crop
still is growing. In 1920 he estab-
lished an American League record
for starting thirty eight double plays
from second base.
Eddie is one of that type of play
crs who is almost immune from in
jury, and since he has been playing
regularly he has missed compare
lively few games. He ranks fourth
among players who have played in
tho greatest number of consecutive
games. Eddie reeled of AIS games
without missing q contest starting
ON October 5, 1914, and ending his
streak on May 8, 1918.
Copyright, 1921