Evening star., 1924-12-05
Ty's Best
BY H. G.. SALSINGER.

TOMMY CONNOLLY, one OF
the very best umpireS the
L major leagues ever had and
who watched Ty Cobb from the day
he broke into the American League,
says Cobb made the brainiest play
he ever saw executed on a ball field.
1t happened during a Detroit New
York game. Cobb always played
sensational ball when opposing New
York; he seemed to outdo himself
in those games.
In this particular contest Cobb
was on first with Crawford at bat.
AS Crawford swung on the ball Cobb
broke for second base. Crawford hit
to the shortstop. knowing it use
less to try for Cobb at second he
shot the ball to Chase, at first, and
retired Crawford. AS Chase touched
the bag and put out Crawford, Cobb
rounded second and went about so
feet in the direction of third. Then
he came to dead stop, watching
Chase inteutly. And at first stood
Chase, intently watching Cobb. There
they were-the brainiest pair in the
game a that time-engaged in a
battle of wits that was lost on the
spectators.
Chase could not make up his mind
whether to throw the ball to the
pitcher, to the second baseman or to
third. Neither made a move for more
than a second, but it seemed much
longer to the veteran Connolly.
Chase's Mistake.
Suddenly Cobb lunged toward sec
ondS and Chase snapped the ball in
that direction. But as Chase pulled
back his arm for the quick throw
Cobb reversed and dashed for third
As soon as he threw, even before
the ball left his hand, Chase saw his
mistake, for Cobb had made a false
move simply to draw the throw. But
1t was too late then for Chase to re-
verse; he had to go through with the
throw to second.
The second sacker took Chase's
throw and relayed the ball to third
He threw hurriedly but low, keeping
the ball down, for he knew Cobb
would slide and the low throw gave
the third baseman a better opportu-
nifty to make a play on Cobb, for he
was in position to tag him when he
took the throw. But the second sack.
er guessed wrong, and so did the
third sacker who made a stab tc
touch the sliding Cobb. The runner
was not sliding. He had touched the
was on his way home. The third
baseman had to right himself, set
pull back his arm and throw to the
catcher. His throw was hurried, but
not fast enough to catch Cobb, who
slid safely across the plate. Cobt
scored because he knew exactly what
each player would do, and he built
his attack to take advantage of the
New York defense. He knew how
fast he could move and how fast they
could move. He had it figured dowr
to a fine fraction of a second and hi:
calculations.
Why He Was bucky.
Cobb figured out early in his ca
reer that while the danger of hi
being put out would increase IL
proportion with the chances he tool
the danger of the infield making al
error also increased. The faster n
went the faster they would have Il
handle the ball to retire him. Al
too frequently this fast handling o.
the ball resulted in tumble o.
wild throw that gave him the op
portunity to score. Sometimes h
was thrown out, but the percent
age was much in his favor. HI
was lucky, yes, but he was luck,
because he created his own luck.
Jack Egan, who umpired In I'M
American League for awhile, re
lated this incident. 1t occurred ii
a game where he was working:
Jack Knight wasp laying thirt
for New York. Cobb was on frs