The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-12
AMERICAN LEAGUE'S PRIZE
 PLAYERS PICKED BY HONUS
Wagner Chooses Team Which He Claims Is Best Combination Of Players Since Organization Of Loop
By HANS WAGNER

By HANS WAGNER
 (copyright; ls2S. tn United state: and
 msroa ps aoriS Nsw.pSp.s psps Alliance for The Age-Herald. All rights reservedt
 Here is what, in my opinion. would make the best team of American League players since the league waa organized:
 Manager. Iris Speaker.
 Captain, Ty Cobb.
 First base. George Sisler.
 Second base. Eddie collins. Third base. Jimmy Collins. Shortstop, Fred Parent.
 Extra infielder. Ray Chapman. Left field, Ty Cobb.
 Center field, Iris Speaker. Right field, Babe Ruth.
 Extra outfielder, Sam Crawford. Gathers, Ray Schalk, Billy Sullivan, Lou Criger.
 Pitchers, Ed Walsh. Cy Denton Young, Walter Johnson. Red Faber, Rube Waddell.
 realize that m, cub is somewhat different from those selected by other old-timers, but, if such a thing were possible, I would like mighty well to stack mire against any have seen and bet hat on the result.
 have not stuck 10 the records, put nave plCkeu fHei Wuo Coulu pidy ball when counted on. To tell the truth think club spirit and general aggressiveness count lot more than figures in getting together . ball club to win.
 Naturally the manager and captain on this club would have a soft job, but you will notice that I have saved lot of money for the management by having both my manager and cap- fa{ {r v,1o in fha YaRnlAr Hna-nn always liked a playing manager anyway.
 Now there is q ball club to which the fine points of the game are sec ond nature. All a manager would have to do would be to lay out a system. He could depend on every one of them knowing what he was the best advantage.
 How Safe wouia H 2 9o9 Q Feel.
 have selected a ,eam of wonder full hitters, base runners and fielders. Also I have considered the throwing arms. That is mighty important
 The way that team could field, though, they wouldn't need to be such terrible hitters. With that kind of a pitching staff behind them a couple of runs would look as big as an ordinary dozen.
 How safe would you feel if you had a two-run lead with Rube Waddell or Walter Johnson pitching? The same thing goes for Young. Walsh and Faber. What do you suppose John McGraw. or any other manager, would give for a pitching staff like that today?
 Many of these players have been placed on my grand all-American team of all time and nave been fully discussed-notably Cy Young. Wall ter Johnson. Jimmie Collins. Ed die Collins, Babe Ruth, Iris Speaker, Ty Cobb. Rube Waddell and George Sisler. Maybe you are not familiar with some of the others. Incidental ly, 1t Is interesting to me to notice how nearly even the two leagues are in furnishing stars to the grand aii- American team. Of course, several of them played in both leagues.
 Ed Walsh, to my mind, was one of the games greatest pitchers. He had wonderful control and terrific speed. When his speed fell off a little he suddenly turned to the spitball and was a whirlwind with 1t. He had the trains to take advantage of every new wrinkle, studied his business closely. Walsh had good curves and a remarkable change of pace. He could stand a lot of work and was SAA W ay WiAiAuS tO SO 1AO W bS d16O a good hitter and fielder.
 Urban (Red) Faber is another great pitcher, who has been over looked sometimes in picking ball clubs. He was particularly good on locating the weakness of opposing batters. He had big assortment of curves and mixed them we'll. Faber went around the world as an extra pitcher with the Giants, though he really belonged to the White sox. There's an odd story about that. MT. Comiskey had sent him back to Des Moines. but when .ne Giants and White Sox were short of pitchers for the trip, 1t was decided to take Faber along as sort of helper out. After seeing him work a few times Me- Graw told Comiskey that he had rather have Faber than any man on the White Sox staff.
 They Called Him Back.
 "If you mean that, John, I'll re- call him from Des Moines and give him another chance next season."
 He did that and Faber turned out to be Chicago's great winning pitcher in capturing the American league pennant.
 Sam Crawford came pretty close to getting on my grand all-American team. He certainly belongs on the ll-American league outfit. There was a boy who could crash the old apple. Not only could he hit but he could field. Crawford was the best of them all in handling ground balls in the ortfield. It was mighty hard to take an extra base on him. I al- ways thought that Crawford would l,Nse made a marvellous first base man. He is now running a school for ball players and is turning out some mighty good prospects.
 Fred Parent is anPther grand ball player who never got all the credit he deserved for some reason. He was a graceful player who made hard plays look easy. I think Parent the greatest shortstop I ever saw in starting and finishing double plays and also at breaking up the double steal. Fred simply loved to play a, He was a good hitter and base rum ner as well as a fielder. He had a great throwing arm and could peg the ball from any position as ac- curate as a rifle shot. Parent was aa;r II,,