The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-03-11

n the 11@tQeT was CdES4S0S Civ
~ent after the bali As though no
axpected Cobb to stop st first, you'd
- Cobb round first base ike Q
Aash az lightning and before the
fialdsr knew what had happened,
cobb was sliding safely into second
base. his faIl-away slide was one
e the prettiest things ever given to
baseball. Time After time. . second
basemAn would be waiting 20 tag
hiTaa and Cobb would tan right
away from the ball ana swing 70
safety.
For Judgment, the use Of SPEED
aia fSe faII,aRAy slide, ~ U0DD
ntSr,6a Is the greatest player
erer naW. ne went Into every
49, rlIrA 4 ahots He did it inter.
fi1naIlv. but 1 don't belleVe with
80 Intention Of doing any harm.
1IfhonRh naturally, many second
ksNenen feared his Gliding. Tie
FnIes 81 baseball say that the
runner has kIae rleht.of.ways 50.
sag a 4 base and Cobb demanded
f1sak FIGHT I'm its fullest Bemee.
In that connection, It gives me
real pleasure to say, that in eigh-
teen years / have never had an
umfraenalv word with. Cobb.
honA many thousands win read that
nkk4emAnt. Even when I landed
frNm the WfIds Of Idaho, raw ana
4EIEnlanea kld, Cobb treated me
FlEhk. And that was the year he
fIS1k LED the American League IN
DMkkinR and everything was IN his
1AVor.
eonsider him one Of my best
friends and supporters today and
vt Cobb and / never 1ave been ~.
1ilnafe outside OF baseball Il didn't
aAkk me long to size him Up rs q
Aok-h6aded young fellow who aidn {
NoAn half the things he aid. More
tar once. have struck him out
- Z climax, when = nit meant
mncn 20 his pride but he never did
anything small.
st 90 to win his BAH game. And
4hMksb why. often times, his tactics
NAes mistaken on the DaIl field. He
49, always willing to fight to win
Dok don't believe Cobb ever picked
q HIght just for the sake Of a row.
Lave him alone and treat him
xlkht and he Is all you expect to
2iHa In well hammered, Southern
&@nflNuan. But start something un.
9Afe and you'll get a fight-whether
yoa are q bah player or . taxicab
driver!
CObb would do anything In the
weird to get ON base. III he
eou1an't hit your pitching he'd
~ 90 bunt. II he couldn't hunt,
I'D try and get hit with the
I'll. One day IN Detroit he actual.
y pulled ont his shirt-tail, hoping
Il would lift it. And no matter
hWW he got on base, when Cobb
Vas younger, every club in the
taAgue recognized him as Q ecor.
AE threat on the bases.
There IL the one outstanding dif.
Seeefee In Ruth and Cobb. Pitchers
uBsd to try TO keep Cobb or base
ut in Babes case we'd sooner take
. chance Of deliberately putting
Afm on rather than give him e
enAnce to hit q homerun. As be-
tween Cobb and Ruth the chances
9 either scoring were strongly In
favor OF Cobb.
Although ] broke into the Amer
lean League IN 1907 Cobb's first big
DAttfng year, he was comparatively
1A6y Tor me. But that changed and
Ater he hit me very hard and often.
he was supposed to be weak on
lew balls but pitched high fast
0eaes just the same because 1t was
My natural style. Rather than
weaken my own style preferred 10
give him balls. supposed to be near,
e. % his liking.
In the old days Cobb used to elan
q han in nearly every direction Blu;
toaAy he % pretty much OF q left
@eaa hitter despite the fact hi
swings from the lefthand side Of tn,
DaAte.
His style at the plate has changed
q great deal and today he takes /
eroucAing position unlike the Cob,
90 ten years back. This much, al