The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-29
By H. G. sALSINGER

One of the reasons why Ty Cobb was tbe greatest base runner of his profes- sional sport was his lack of "take-off' in sliding.
 Other players, in running bases, ai- ways had to hesitate a moment before starting their slides. They slowed down trifle and threw their bodies into the slide. Cobb did not. Cobb never hesitated but hurled his body at the bag while going at full speed. He had studied the advantage of this. 1t insured him of reaching the base in less time. of making him more difficult ta rget for an infielder to tag. He learned to do this through hours of gruelling practice, hours when he threw tired and sore body into acton until he was so bruised that it was only with difficulty that he could walk. He never went into a base in upright position. He took advantage of every opportunity to slide. He was perfecting himself Tn the art. training his body so that he would hurl himself in the direction of the bag while going at top speed without wasting the fraction of second that others needed to boise themselves.
 What He Gained
 Tho momentum that Cobb gained by hitting the dirt while going at full sneed gave him better opportunity to twist his body away from the fielder. He could do so much more and do 1t so much faster while going at top speed. As he added different styles of sliding, he needed speed and momentum that carried his body not alone to the bag but beyond the bag. At least half the Cobb slides depended upon his ability to slide farther than the bag. It was so with the hook slide, where Cobb hooked his toe into the corner of the bag from the inside or outside.
 Umpire Billy Evans, who broke into the league about the same time that Cobb did and who closely studied his methods throughout Cobb's career, said of his sliding:
 "He has nine different slides and thousand variations of each slide"
 Infielders went frantic in their ef- forts to tag Cobb That is exactly what he tried to make infielders-fran- tic. But there was one who did not get frantic over Cobb's methods. There was just one who sat down and coolly | figured out a way to tag Cobb. This exception was Rhoderick Wallace. Few men have served as long in the major leagues as this infielder did. He later became an umpire but did not last long He did not like umpiring and so retired from the major league lots. But while he was in active service Bobby Wallace was one of the smartest infielders in the game and there have been few men 1T all baseball history who could be re garded as his equal in touching a bast runner. He was the best of his day, by | far.
 How Wallace Tagged
 Wallace decided that it was sheer folly to try to put the ball on Cobb's body. Base runners ordinarily could bt retired that way, but Cobb could not for Cobb was the exception among bast runners. Most infielders failed because they tried to tag Cobb's body and they always discovered the body going away
 Whenever Wallace was playing against Detroit he informed his team mates that he would take the throw al second when Cobb was making for that sack. When Cobb thundered down tht base paths, toward second, Wallace ra1 over and took the throw. He straddlet the bag, legs far apart. Taking the