Evening star., 1932-07-03
COMPARISON MADE
BY OLD-T|ME KING
Werden, Now 70, Who Hit As
Home Runs in 1895, Gives
Praise to Big Ed.
BY GEORGE A. BARTON.

IN
M al suppose present
IF 1 day base ball fans will
accuse me of living in the
past when I make the statement
that the late Big Ed Delahanty
would have equaled, or bettered,
the home run record of Babe
Ruth if the lively ball had been in
use when Delahanty was in his
prime, but that's my opinion and
nobody can talk me down on it."
The foregoing reply was made By
Perry Werden, former holder of the
home run record for organized base ball,
In answers 10 request to compare bat
ters OF the past and present.
watched Ruth play on several oc-
casions and regard him as one of the
two greatest sluggerS that l have seen
In 90 years as a player and spectator,
the other being this same Delahanty. -
Werden continued. Yes. I have
watched them an-Delahanty, Pop An
son, Dan Brouthers, King Kelley, Larry
LaJoie, Hans Wagner, Ty Cobb, Iris
Speaker, Sam Crawford, Bill Lange and
George Van Haltren of the past, and
Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, Joe jackson.
Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Chuck
Klein Of the present, but of all these
mighty sluggers I rank Delahanty and
Ruth as the greatest.
1T UNDERSTAND I am not trying to
~ take anything away from Ruth
when placing Delahanty on a
par with him, but I believe such old
timers as John McGraw, Connie Mack
Wibert Robinson and Kid Gleason. who
go as far back in base ball as do
and have kept closely in touch with
the game as managers since their days
as active players ended, will bear me
out In the assertion that Delahantv,
could drive a ball as far and get his
hits as consistently as Ruth.
'Delahanty, like Ruth, was a bio
man. Ed was 6 feet l inch tall and
weighed 100 pounds, but he possessed a
better physique than Babe, who has
large body and inclined to carry too
much surplus weight around his middle
and supports all that weight with a pair
OF light legs. Delahanty carried no
extra flesh, being as solid as an oak
tree. '--
Ed was right-handed batter, He
possessed tremendous strength in his
arms, shoulders and back, his powerfuI
legs also playing an important part in
MS batting. His timing and rhythm were
perfect, thereby making it possible for
nm to meet the ball squarely and with
terrific force.
SIF Delahanty had any weakness no
pitcher ever found out what il
was. He hit left-handers as cas-
iIy and effectively as he did right
handers. and it made no difference to
MIN where they threw the ball-high,
low, inside, outside, curve, fast ball or
slow ball-they all looked alike to Big
Ed. l often saw him hit an inside ball
OF his shoetops out of the park. And,
he hit to all fields, consequently the
helders never knew where to play for
him.
"1 remember once While playing first
base with the st. Louis Browns, then in
the National League, in a game against
the Phillles OF which Delahanty was a
member: The Phillies had runner
on first base, and when Delahanty
came up to bat We played in close for
him, thinking he would bunt.
That was mistake we never made
again when Delahanty batted. In
stead OF bunting, he hit a ground ball
SO hard that it tore a shoe off George
Pinkney, our third baSeman, In ad-
dition to fracturing his right ankle
- NOTICE that even with the lively
l. ball in use these days that it was
So years before Delahanty's record
of hitting four home runs in a single
game was equaled by Lou Gehrig, so
you see I am not unduly enthused over
Big Eds slugging ability.
Ed never batted below $50 and
several times hit over 400 in the Ma
tional League. Mind you, he did this
sort of hitting with a ball which was
about half as lively as the golf ball
they use for base ball these days.
Poor Delahanty was killed by falling
off a train while in his prime as a
player, but he left behind him repu-
tation as slugger that always has
lived In the memories of those who
played with him or against him"
Having heard what Perry Werden
had to say about Delahanty it is not
amisS to recall that Perry himself. now
&c, was one of base balls mightiest
sluggers. Werden, while playing first
base fer the Minneapolis club of the
Western League in 1895, hit As home
runs, record for organized base ball
which stood for 26 years before Babe
Ruth smacked SO homers in 1921.
Copyright. 1882. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc)