The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-03
COBB's PRIDE HURT

He managed to develop what play
ers described as "dinky hook" mean
ing an amateurish curve ball delivery.
He never was able to pitch a real fast
ball and what he called his slow ball
was ineffective because of faulty de-
livery.
Players who looked over Cobb's pitch
ing were never impressed by it and this
hurt Cobb's pride. The result was that
he tried all the harder.
We remember one brilliant spring
day. in San Antonio, Tex. 1t was in the
spring of 1909 and the Detroit team
was training there. Cobb had recruited
a catcher and was having his morning
workout, pitching.
The late Herman Schaefer, then a
veteran and wise in the way of base
ball. walked over to Cobb and said to
him:
listen Take a piece of advice from
me and cut out this monkey business.
Forget that you are pitcher. You
amt, You can never be one. You've
been pitching for four years that l
know of an you amt got nc more
stuff than a high school boy. There's
a lot of good pitchers and there's
couple of Thousand that's better than
you'll ever be but there amt lot OF
outfielders with good thrown arms and
my advice to you is-quit this tryln
to be a pitcher an save your arm for
the outfield:"
Cobb did not take the advice. Instead
he tried harder to prove that Schaefer
and the others were wrong. He never
proved them otherwise than right, but
while he continued pitching Cobb wore
out his arm. 1t gradually weakened and
baserunners, quick to observe the weak
ness, took advantage of it.
AS a fielder Cobb never compared
with iris Speaker, Harry Hooper and
a number of others in his league. His
weak arm was his greatest handicap,
but he had another fault in fielding
and that was failure to play position
for batters.
Cobb, during the days when he. was
climbing to the peak and after he held
the highest, rarely ever changed his
position in the outfield. He stood rooted
to nearly the same spot in each game,
playing a dead" center position. Other
outfielders moved according to the bat
ter and the catcher's signal to the
pitcher. An. outfielder's position should
depend upon the position of the bat
ter, right or left-handed, and upon the
pitchers delivery. A righthanded bat
ter, for instance, will not hit high
fast ball on the outside to the same
spot that he will hit a low curve ball,
pitched on the inside. When the catch
er signals the pitcher the outfielder
starts moving with the pitch, having
taken up what is known as the natural
position for that batter when he came
to the plate.
RELIED ON HIS SPEED
Cobb never did this. He played every
batter practically the same way. And
there never was any serious objection
to this for Cobb depended upon his
mechanical ability and there was reason
for his faith in himself. There has never
been a man in the history of the game
who could break away as fast as
Cobb. If Charlie Paddock had been
gifted with Cobb's quick start, he would
have established new world mark for
the lOO-yard dash because Cobb was
at the top of his stride with his second
step. He moved at top speed almost at
the Instant he started.
1t vas because Of this speed and
OoDo Aa6e'> ~ Oe E0OQ OutfleIder
while playing q station airy" position,
But he would have been a better out
fieldt had he moved according to the
bate position and the catcher's
signas lie would have gotten more fly
balls I'D stopped more ground-hit balls.
st K, This style of play wuold have
take from Cobb many spectacular
char res. Cobb, born Snowman, al
way tried to do everything in the
mos difficult manner 7ossible. Immune
erafl 70 times has he stlrted late after
a Iail. or paused in lis run, timing
him aIf shrevdly so Lat he managed
a stoestting or diving latch, or stab
bin Of the ball With his gloved hand
WIFI leaping high I'll on chances
whore easy and ng.sIRl catches were
poss 5ls. Cobb, skiugS in theatricals.
had trained himsse Introduce every
i possible thri'l ic,S lis play and where
These vas . natura, opportunity for
II spectacuhr piece 81 fielding he Gre
ated the ,pporCunitvI He was base
balls master shownAt.
TamOrrcw---Chapiei M. Ty Cobb
Toe -Hess