The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-16
Defeat OF Teller And Yankees Opening Day Baseball Ups
TODAY'S SPORT PARADE
BY HARRY FERGUSON United Press Sports EditOr)

New York, April IS. = (Up) -, The old gentleman in the blue suit and high stiff collar put one foot up on the step of the dugout = and then marched straight out to the end of a long limb.
 T think" said Connie Mack, "that he may turn out to be a bet.' ter ball player than his father"
 He waved to the outer stretches of Yankee stadium where, on the green grass of right field, loose- limbed youngster in the uniform of the Philadelphia athletics was circl. ing gracefully under 0 high fly. The kid bears a name that will live az long as baseball. It was Eddie Col- 1ins, Jr, son of the great second baseman who started yesterday for the same team on which his father broke in 35 long years ago.
 "Yes sir" said Connie Mack, get- ting farther and farther out on the limb, "The boy looks great. He Is fast, he can hit and I'm putting him in there to be my lead-off man with the idea that he will stick"
 EXsCOueklhnS
 There is a curious parallel between the careers of Eddie Collins, Jr., and Eddie Collins, Sr., who now is an executive for the Boston Red Sox, charged with the task of figuring out ways to make his sons team lose ball games. Both of them came into baseball from college. Eddie, Sr., played for Columbia University and Eddie, Jrp for Yale.
 They both served stretch in the International League, Eddie, Sr., with Newark, and Eddie, Jr., with Baltimore. They both made their big league starts in Connie Mack's outfield. There the parallel ceases, for Eddie, Sr., moved in from the outfield to become a second base. man, and there still are thousands of fans who will rise up and argue in his behalf whenever somebody says Nap LaJoie was the greatest second sacker of them all.
 It's too early to tell how young Collins will go in the major leagues, but he can't make a much worse start than his father did. Kind soul that he is, Connie Mack doesn't like to talk about anybody's trouble, but Eddie Sr, had plenty when he first reported. Mack tried him in the outfield and he wasn't 50 hot. He was shifted to shortstop and flopped. Mack tried him at third base and still he wouldn't do. It was a desperation move that caused Mack to give the kid one more try at second base. There he blooned immediately.
 Encouraged
 Mack said Eddie, Jr., was de. termined to play the outfield from the first day he reported, so the old gentleman put him there and told him not to worry about any thing. Yesterday at the stadium the kid seemed to be taking his big league debut in his stride, although he tossed his bat away in disgust once when Charlie Ruffing sneaked strike across on him. He bats lcrt-handed, is a little bigger than his father, and hasn't picked up his dads trick of taking the chew ing gum out and sticking 1t to the button of his cap when the count gets to three and two pf lt
 They say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, but you are going to have hard time convincing Connie Mack that one Collins isn't as good as another and that some day the record books will be studded with the feats of E. Col- lins, Sr,, and E. Collins, Jr