The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-21

but, my, how he could sting that ball In Boston old fans stin relate some of his picturesque catches in the outfield
 Duffy first played center field for the Bostons. After they won the championship in 1897 and 1898, though, he was shifted to left field and played there to the end of his career. Duffy is one of the few men to hit as high as 400. He also was i a great base gunner and had team spirit.
 Ty Cobb Stands Out
 Ty Cobb is outstanding as a center fielder, base runner and batter. There is little use in me going into details about him. Everybody has seen Ty Cobb and knows his ability. The mere fact that he led the Ameri- can league so many years in success sion and is still premier with the bat is sufficient. Ills aggressiveness is even a greater factor. There have been many ball players who could play the outfield as we'll as Cobb. but none of them had his combina- tion of speed. aggressiveness and quick thinking.
 l doubt if anybody will dispute Ty Cobb's claim to the honor as the all American center fielder of all time. For mary years l have selected Willie keeler for right field. Poor l Willie died On New Years Day. 1923. after long iliness-heart trouble. When he passed out one of the great est lights that ever shone in baseball was dimmed l played on the< same team with keeler, the Orioles, and I knew him like book, knew his abil- l 1tY in every 6aDar of Winning Pair At bat Keeler and myself were a team that helped to win many | pennant. l led off and he followed If I may be permitted to say so. keeler and I practically revolution ized the style of hitting to advance tke runner. form of attack that had never been given much atten- ton up to 1894. In previous chap ters l have discussed Keeler at length, giving many instances of his greatness. Space will not permit repetition here
 AS a hitter, as fielder and as hase runner I have no hesitation in naming Willie Keeler as the great est right fielder Of all time-God rest his soul.
 l AA~o oSStA NSiy HdlQ lO lcdNt Joe Kelley off the regular outfield. In recognition of his greatness and to do him justice l have placed him on my
 All-Amercan team as the extra out | fielder.
 From my personal association with
 Kelley on the old Orioles and from my daily observation of his work, I am strongly convinced that Joe in his day was as good man for the posi- l ton as any of those who preceded hlm or followed him. In consider Ing this matter I have gone over all the great ones, including such men
 as George Burns, Jimmy McAleer. and many others. Some of them
 were weak in certain spots like hit
 tng or base running. Joe had no prominent weakness. He was fast on
 the bases. could hit the ball hard
 and was as graceful an outfielder
 as one would care to see. He cov- 1 eiec an immense amount of ground and had that necessary facultX so l prominent in Speaker and others, of
 bting able to place himself where i tue batter would be likely to hit the
 ball.
 Joe Kelley was great ball play
 CT. I wouldn't be satisfied if I didn't
 have him on my all-star team.
 l have a hunch that some old
 friends-maybe some old strangers
 will write in and ask me to explain
 why l left certain men off my team. 1t is hard to> explain my selections.
 It would be impossible to discuss
 those left off
 in the next chapter I will explain
 my selections of pitchers.
 Copyright, 1923. United States and Canada. by Chrsty Walsh Syndi-
 cato for North American Newspaper Alliance and The Birmingham Age
 Herald.)