The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-28

Copyrighted, 19Z4, Tn the Onieeu tates, Canada and Great Britain by North American Newspaper Alliance All rights reserved.)
 By H. G. SALSINGER TN TY COBB baseball has the great est base runner of all time. There have been other players who stole more bases than Cobb and others who were considered great base runners, but they performed in what is regarded Tn sport as "the long ago." When they played, the rules of the game were diff fferent and the style of play also was entirely different; combination mak- ing base stealing an easy matter com pared to the rules and system of play in vogue the last % years. When Cobb first began making rec ords as d base runner (and his mark continue to stand and promises to con- tinues for many seasons), he was re garded as a child of fortune. Just blind luck" players would say in ex- plaining his success. A certain per centage of success in baseball is due to luck. but a player cannot continue sea son after season on luck alone to ac- complish what Cobb did; he has to have something besides luck. Cobb had it. What puzzled unbiased students of baseball was how Cobb could run bases so successfully. Analysed, Cobb lacked qualities that other men had. In no de pertinent of play was he the best equip ped player from a mechanical stand- point. To run bases successfully man must be fast. Cobb was fast but there were other players who were just as fast and few that were regarded as faster. Still, they never compared with Cobb as base runners.
 What Cobb Possessed
 In base running Cobb had speed but he also had brains and it was this com bination that made him a great runner. He was not a faster man but he was a keener observer. Cobb had knowledge, nerve, courage and speed. The most valuable of these qualities was knowl- edge.
 Cobb, figuratively, always had an ace in the hole in running bases. He did not run haphazardly, depending upon his speed to get him by. He had made a study of pitchers as a batter and he also made a study of pitchers as base runner. He realized that two things were necessary to run bases successful ly. One was long lead and the other a quick start.
 He had the quick start. No player ever broke away as fast as Cobb. He was going at top speed with his second stride. He had developed that better than anyone else. But to, get long lead was different matter.
 In his study of pitchers Cobb had ob- served that certain of them had an ii.- dividual move just before making throw to first. A pitcher has to make some kind of move to turn to first and Cobb decided that most pitchers had certain little tell-tale movements. He studied them closely and discovered that all of them had.
 Stole on Cy Young
 Cobb had little difficulty in stealing bases on Denton T. (Cy) Young, one of the greatest pitchers the league ever saw. This was always puzzling to oth- CT players. Young had good move to first. He caught many players mapping. It was unwise to take long lead with Young in the box and the wisest thing a runner could do was to keep close to the bag. But, good as Young was, Cobb found it easy to steal on him. It was always a mystery and still. this ex- plantation of Cobb's success shows that it was really no trick at all.
 In observing Young, Cobb discovered one day that Young. who always held
 the ball with both hands near his chir