Evening star., 1924-11-14
TY COBB
Rernaker of Base Ball
Studying the Leaders,
NeU Batting Stance
Hits to All Fields.
ly compared If Cobb continued on his
road to base balls top place.
Like None Of Them.

ly compared If Cobb continued on his
road to base balls top place.
Like None OF Them.
Physically there was no compari-
son between Cobb and the three men
mentioned. They were not alone all
natural hitters but they were slug
gers besides. Lajoie, big and thick
remarkably we'll built, king of second
basemen and a great batter Craw-
ford. another giant, slow, meth odical
powerful. Wagner. ad-shouldered,
thick -chested, bow-legged, long armed,
stoical. described once by a cartoonist
as a splendid piece Of Mission fur
niture."
AS batters they were nearly all Of
one type. and this type was directly
opposite to Cobbs type. They were
heavy, solid and they batted in that
style. Each outweighed Cobb by at
least 20 pounds. and each could drive
| ball great deal farther than Cobb
ever did. They were powerful hit
ters; Cobb lacked their power.
Because Lajoie, Crawford and
Wagner were the leading batters.
they were the accepted type. No one
expected Cobb to compete success
fully against them. because he was
so entirely different. And, naturally
when Cobb introduced a style con-
trary to the style used by the lead
ing batters of the day, he was re-
buked.
Lajoie. Crawford and Wagner had
set style at bat They would step
to the plate, plant their feet firmly
on the ground, set themselves and
| await the pitch. When they elected
to hit they would throw their shoul-
ders behind the swing and follow
| through. They stood fiat-footed and
firm SO they could get their entire
weight behind the swing.
He Studied Crawford.
Cobb studied all the leading bat
ters. He paid particular attention
to Crawford. He quickly noted that
Crawford was groove BALI hit
ter: in other words, the pitcher had
to get the ball over the plate before
Crawford would swing Also. he no.
| ticed that whenever Crawford came
to bat the entire infield and outfield
shifted to the right: for Crawford.
using the style at bat that he used,
could hit only in a certain direction.
He was a lane hitter, or. as ball
| players say a dead" rightfield hit
ter.
SO Cobb set about to improve On
this batting style. He realized that
he lacked the power Of a awford,
| a Lajoie or a Wagner. SO he had to
invent style that would offset their
physical advantages. And. further
more, he had to invent a style which
would enable him to hit to all fields.
There would be extreme advantages
in that.
From Crawford's style at bat Cobb
learned that man, standing in a
position like Crawford, was certain
to hit almost always to certain
part of the field. To overcome this
result Cobb adopted a system by
which he could change his position to
suit the pitch, something Crawford
and nearly all the others could not
do. Instead of spreading his legs and
planting his feet firmly on the ground
and standing tiat-footed. Cobb stood
at the plate with feet close together
and balanced on the balls of his feet.
In this position he was able to switch
instantly, jump into any desired po-
sition after the ball left the pitcher 8
hand. By this stand at the plate Cobb
struck his first revolutionary note in
base ball.
Tomorrow Chapter XVI. New
Phases.
Copyright. 1924, in the United States. Can.
ada and Great Britain by North American
Newspaper Alliance. All rights reserved)