The Indianapolis times., 1928-07-10

When you can go twelve years in
the big leagues and during that
time the opposition can score no
more than an average of three runs
a game off your pitching, it may nc
written with some degree of verify
that you have done rather well.
y 4
Still Shocker never stood out
as an imposing figure. His re-
lease by the Yankees occasiOned
no great furore. None of the boys
wept in the news columns. He
was inst another pitcher who had
tarried around until his arm had
gone back on him.
nUT Shocker was more than just
Id another pitcher as the Cobbs,
the RuthS and the Heilmanns who
had to face him season in and sea-
son out no doubt will be glad to
tell you-now he is gone. One rea-
son Shocker didn't make more
striking impression on the public
fancy is he lacked color.
This is not an unusual situation
in baseball Many ball players de-
serve ratings better than those ac-
corded them. BY the same reason
ing other ball players do not de-
serve to be rated as high as they
are. The answer is that thing
called color"
The colorless ball player never
will win the plaudits of the crowd,
while the colorful ball player-the
one with a flair for the spectacular
or the frequently will be
rated much higher than his in
trinsic values warrant.
1t is not easy to define "colOr."
Dempsey had it in vast quanti-
ties, and without knowing it. In
his case he succeeded in fulfill
ing the popular fancy of the saw
age fighting man. The stubby
beard, Ominous scOwl, nervous
fidgetigs before the gong, unre-.
strained assault-alI these things
made Dempsey the most cOlOrful
fighter of this generation.
CIzE and weight considered,
- Tommy Gibbons was great
fighter. In 100 fights he was beaten
only twice. Yet he was not great
popular favorite. Unlike Dempsey,
Gibbons was not the picture Of
fighting man.
He had none of those little
touches that set him apart from the
mob. He was a machine in action
and it is not easy to thrill to the
precise movements of mechanical
doo-uads and gadgets. To see them
once is enough. Gibbons was like
that.
Baseball men whose activities and
memories link the game of today
with the game of yeserday, tell you
Herb Pennock of the Yankees is as
great a left handler, or was in bis
prime, as the national pastime ever
say. In point of sheer artistry he
probably is the greatest, taking into
account his superb control, his au
dacity in the pinches and his ar
ray of twisters. -
But to the popular mind Pennock
with all his greatness does not bulk
as large as the shadow of old Rube
WaddeIl. Again the difference is
immaterial, yet material. Pennock is
:ust a splendid pitcher. Waddell
was that and character besides.
For some reason or other this
seems to be matter of growing i'm
pOrtance.
MYTH Dempsey retired, the
w most colorful figure in sports
beyond debate is George Herman
Ruth, the Babe himself, not a
tnovietone. He is easily the great
est slugger in the history of the
game, and many believe that this
plus his all-around ability as a
fielder, thrower and base-runner
entities him to be known as the
SISdC6SC Dali player.
The Babe was fortunate he had
color to team with genius. Gehrig
will never be another Ruth. He can
hit 100 home runs season and
still not fire the popular fancy as
his teamnate does. The human
chemistry of the two men is
severely different.
Except that each takes a prodigi-
Gus cut at the ball and hits for
sturendous distances, they are as
unlike as night and day, Paris and
Poughkeepsie and Marilyn Miller
and the bearded lady. Gehrig is
just a slugger. The. Babe is Ma
tional institution, fully equipped for
night and day operations.
The game has been replete with
players who, like Gehrig and Pen
mock, suffered from merely being
genuinely good ball players. The
late Ross Youngs of the Giants, one
of the great outf1elders of his time
never got far in public estimation
Reason, there were no spangles tx
his act.
A few others that fit into this
same group are Max Carey, Sam
Jones, Earl Sheely, Frank Schultz,
Terry Turner, Larry Gardner,
Dave Bancroft, WalIy Pipp, Frank
O'Rourke and Bill jacobson. They
never were lions to the bIeacher-
ties, but the ball players always
understood their value. They were
what the dugout calls ball play
ers' ball players.
LEWIS TOSSES PLESTINA
BIZ Times Special
MINNEAPOLIS, July 10. - Ec
(Strangler) Lewis, heavyweight