Evening star., 1923-01-04

There has been a lot of letter writ
Ing going on among minor league
owners and officials, and the bulk of il
has been far from f1attering to the
majors. The minors still harp on the
belief that they have been thrown
down all along the line. but htey are
baff1ed by the impossibility of taking
any action to change the condition
which was brought into existence
when the joint session of the major
leagues passed the rule which is to
bind major league transfers in the
future.
There was some real sparkling talk
at first that carried defiance toward
western clubs particularly were
strongly in favor of openly defying
the big boys. They insisted that the
result of the last two years showed
they could get on without major
league help. The recall of players
on option had torn some of their
teams wide apart in the fall when the
pennant races were. settling to the
nnalS, and some club owners had
thereby suffered severely through
losing the men on whom they had
counted to clinch the flag.
It is fairly sure that the minors
Will take as few players as possible
up to the very last minute, in the hope
that the major league clubs will have
20 get rid of the men in some way
though is the fact that the major
leagues are permitted to hold their
men until June Is and the minors. to
get them earlier so that they will be
OF any great use to them, must enter
INTO agreements to permit the players
draft.
CObb's Class rs Hitter.
AS a lifetime hitter Ty Cobb stands
alone in the hi
ures just compiled for the first time
snow that he batted well enough in
1922 to raise his average for eighteen
Eears In DIG league base ball to .373
Inc Georgia Peach, with the blush OF
the sunset still on his cheek, has out
batted them all through the wears, al
though he has lost his crown as bat
ting King of the American League for
only one single season.
SiSler, as we know now is the
champion batsman so far as the high
est percentage for q single season is
concerned. but Ty has played eight
cen hard years in the American
League. and during almost all of that
leagues batting system
Delehanty Tops National.
After delving through q mass OF
box scores large enough to fiji q
freight elevator, il was discovered TO-
day that big Ed Delehanty, the old
cleveland boy who walked the whole
tenstn OF his state to join his first
team over in West Virginia in the
days when minor leagues were toe
poor to advance money to PLAYERS. is
the daddy of them all in the National
League as lifetime hitter for fifteen
or more years.
This title has trembled in the bal.
ance for long time. First it was
given to Anson, then to Billy Hamfl.
ton and to Hans Wagner, but it be.
longs without question to Delehanty
CleN eland was the birthplace of this
old timer, who could hit the ball al
ms knee or over his shoulder and
Smash 1t into the next state. His per.
centage for sixteen years, thirteen in
the National, one in the Players
League and two in the American, was
:S46. Cobb, of course, has 1t on him
but in a rival league. Delehanty is
created to the National, for he began
there and his record is that of a Ma
tlonal League player. Wherever
De!ehanty played he left a record, but
Philadelphia saw him at his best.
Ty Nears 10000 at Bat.
With the completion of 1922 Cobb
was 8,757 times at bat, not counting
bases on balls or the times he was hit
by pitched ball. BY the conclusion
OF another year Cobb undoubtedly
Will have faced the pitcher at least
that hgure now. 1t is safe to say he
has had at least 10000 strikes. There
is not pitcher in the American
League who would not give his shirt
right now to string three of those
strikes on Cobb in a row with the
winning run on third base.
Copyright. 1922