Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-24
Annals of Base Ball Filled
With Freak Stunts as Well
AS Fine Plays, Says Collins
TwENTY.oNE YEARS OF BASE BALL.
BY EDDIE COLLINS.


----------AlN-F redk Ela
| Having played in more than $500
| games of ball and having seen
| great play in each one, l cannot un-
! dertake to describe the greatest play |
ever saw" as have had numerous re
quests to do. Some plays are long
remembered because the game In
which they were made was an impor-
tant one, while other plays, that are
| the ultimate I'm brilliancy of execution,
are thought Of only for a day If the
game is not crucial one, or II the
PLAYER happens not to be local hero.
but lust ball player. which most of
us are.
Many astounding plays | have seen
have been barry alluded to IN the
newspaper stories, some have had n
note and others were never even
mentioned There Is no personal COM
plant in that statement, 1t IL just
fact. always have had full credit
for anything | have done. and then
some.
Kill Wambsganss' unassisted triple
pIav in the world series of 1920 got
! columns of space because of Its rar-
itv. II was an extremely simple per
/ Torrance. whereas l have seen the
same Bill make dozens OF stops and
| catches of the greatest diff1culty AS
a contrast 10 Wamby's simple triple
| killing, | will cite here Just two other
plays. either of which would have
done credit to Bill himself as far as
| brillancy and skill are concerned,
| though only one of the two was an In
| field play. These two finally decided
two world series, so they were impor-
tant as we'll as difficult.
Occurred i'm 1912 Series.
The first one came in the last game
of the 1912 series. which Boston won
in extra innings from New York.
| Herzog of the Giants was on first base
when Larry Doyle hit a terrific liner
| to right center.
Hooper started with the batter's
swing and with the wings of Mercury
on his feet, or some other super
natural assistance, reached the wall
about the time the bali got there He
reached far over and grabbed 1t be-
| fore any fan had chance, and as he
was standing within the playing in
| closure the catch was legal.
| When | say reached over" | mean
| that he crashed into the wooden
| fence at that point, actually break
| ing two or three boards. HerZog had
almost scored and Doyle had reached
| second when the catch was made.
| AS T0OSLOH Nlu VIII III
time, II Is easy to see that the Giants
would have, had not Harry made his
catch for the third out.
Another in 1921 Set.
The Giants won the last game of
| the 1921 series by a score of 10.
| That game the Yankees were the
visiting team, though all games were
played in the Polo Grounds.
In the Yankees half of the ninth,
Aaron Ward reached first with
| one out and Frank Baker was next
at bat. The Hugmen had had such
bad luck throughout the game that
Baker dared not sacrifice and trust
the next man to bring Ward home. He
simply had to hit, and he did. The
ball went just out of reach of First
Baseman Kelly and appeared to be a
sure single for Bake" or a double for
! fast runner.
However, John Rawlings had gone
| over fast to his left and he just
reached the ball with his gloved hand.
He threw it to first an inch ahead Of
Baker, and Kelly. with one of the
most remarkable shots ever seen, re-
layed 1t to Groh in time to get another
hairline decision from Umpire Quigley
as Ward slid into third, and that
world series was over.
But. as | said at the start. plays of
| this kind are too common, even to list,
except that something OF unusual i'm
portance depends on their successful
execution. AS | have not space to
mention one-tenth of | per cent OF
such incidents, l will recall several
freak plays.
Center Fielder Catches Foul.
How many readers ever saw cen.
ter fielder catch a foul fly? ] have.
| In an exhibition game in Birming-
ham Johnny Mostil was pretty well
over to the left when the batter hit
fly ball in his direction. He started
for it and as he ran the wind began to
| carry it farther and farther to be left.
Johnny kept on running and Falk
| stood idly by and watched him.
| Johnny crossed the foul line on the
dead run and then caught the ball.
Ray Schalk White Sox catcher,
probably has a world record all his
own. Since he has been with the Sox
he has, as a catcher. of course, made
| putouts at first, second and third
bases.
Those of my readers who go to
games often may have seen an out
fielder make a putout at second
base. That has been done, you know,
the most celebrated case being that of
| Paul Hines, a center fielder with
| Providence over 40 years ago, who
made the first unassisted triple play
ever recorded In base ball
But to my mind ines feat was
not SO remarkable as that of Ross
Young of the Giants, who retired Bill
kamm at the home plate in an eX.
hihition game we played with the
Giants.
When Gleason Forgot Himself.
Kid Gleason used to get excited
when we would trap a runner between
bases, particularly so If we had the
runner between third and home. Ono
time we caught Sisler that way and
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