The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-08
JOHN KLING VAS GREATEST CATCHER SAYSHANS WAGNER

i That is very tiring on tho arm. Still. the pitcher gets at least three days sticks in there day in and day out | until he gets hurt.
 Il. Covers tn. H Host g Ground. g
 Schalk Is good at breaking up the double steal and squeeze play. He is always in the game and probably covers more ground during . ball game than any catcher in the busi- | ness. -a have no. excuse to offer for the outfield have chossn--Cobb, Speak, CT, Fred Clarke and Babe Ruth-but | I am downright sorry for the num- Der of great fellows had to leave out It's no easy matter for . man like me to leave off such men as well. lot of them. Most of those fellows played with me at son-e time or other.
 Ty Cobb is certainly entitled to an outfield position on account of his great hitting, base running and gem Cobb comes mighty close to being the greatest ball player that ever lived. Until Babe Ruth came into the limelight guess Cobb was the great est drawing card that baseball ever knew. And hs never disappointed.
 
 Cobb is simply . natural baseball wizard. He plays every game as if his life depended upon 1t. He will take any sort of . chance to win and his moves are so unexpected and dar- ing that he keeps his opponents on !, have knocked Cobb for his rough ness, but never did. He took his chances and expected others to do the same: lie was as zane as they come.
 Cobb believes in his own style of play and usually has proven that he is right. Cobb is 8 dangerous Nlan to block. sHe is as hard as iron and in- sists on getting all that is coming to him. No man was ever able to get . better lead off . base than Cob4 Once he starts he goes through. Gee, what a ball player!
 Fred Clarke was not only great fielder, but . great hitter and . nat ural baseball leader. He was another fearless base runner like Cobb. Men who blocked n. -Ar often got hurt, but don't think Clarke ,ver deliberately injured anybody. Believe me, though, he always took all that was coming I to him.
 A Hard Loser. E Huf Gs...
 Clarke could hit to all fieles and could hit any kind of pitching, whether 1t was right-handed or left. handed. He was especially good on picking out balls to hit-never vent after a bad one. Clarke was . very | tricky player. always taking advan- tage of the other fellows weaknsss. He neither took nor gave quarter on the base paths. He was willing to other man to do the same.
 Clarke was great on tnstructtlg
 pitchers. He was hard loser ahd so game that he never let on when he
 was hurt. He played whether si6
 hurt or well. He lasted for 20 years quit as when he started.
 Iris Speaker, my third outfielder.
 Is another of the worlds great balf players. Iris In some ways Is tho
 most popular ball player in the coun- try. Everybody likes him person l Is a great natural hitter and proba [ bly, the best ground covering out fielder that ever lived. He hitslto all
 fields and any kind of pitching. It's almost impossible to fool Speaker on M Sa tssn ns s ssGs aad in as close Speaker is alwaS 2 think irg baseball and keeps the other
 players on their toes. No All-American team would be con-plet without Babe Ruth, either as a regular or extra man. His hit .FAcg alone gives him a place. And, { Gt Ame tell you. Ruth is much bet ter fielder and a faster man on base
 than lot of people think. He looks slow or account of h.e immense size.
 but that boy can get about Babe Ruth is without doubt the longest
 hitter that baseball ever knew. I
 have seen all the long range boys, but nobody in the world could ever hit ball like Ruth. Many pitchers
 are justly afraid of pitching to Ruth.
 They fear he may hit ball directly
 back at them that would be fatal. They pass him for that reason, as
 we'll as any other. If had him in
 the two-three hole you can bet I'd
 let him walk rather than put one in
 the groove.
 That completes my team. I'd like
 to see some outfit beat 1t.