Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-07
THE BASEBALL
BE A 7
Bucky Debates Some MYTHS
BY BURTON HAWKINS

troverSal article which Will TO belgerency bars
the Nation The janglng of telephones in newspaper
sports departments will increase perceptby with gentle
in various degrees of alcoholic haziness Indignantly
demanding lifetime batting averages and then snarling
Wait minute Repeat that to this guy"
The for the threatened of hs-clenchng
contained in Saturday Evening Post story which hits
the newssands today "Bapayers Are AS Good As Ever"
Bucky contends his title The beauty of is nobody
provide the ammunition to prove he's wrong.
Harris states, fatty, that Ted Williams is the greatest
hitter who ever lived He says Bob Teller was as great
pitcher and maybe ever saw He adds There
good rstclass players today than ever before
The slickest feders and doube-pay combinations of
my time couldn't match the brllance of the defensive
artists all clubs now Bucky And those with umpy
corpuscles react violently when they read Odmers
the variety of stuff hitters must contend with
today One pitch in common now. the slider would
have shaved 10 to 20 points of batting in the old
days"
BASEBALL PLAYERS in the old days agrees
sve? Don't believe it," Bucky says. Baseball myths
harder quech than second gueses he states so much
has been written about the flaming aggresveness
of players that fans probably believe the old
timers rockies for breakfast The yarns barefaced
exaggeratons with exceptionally Cobb. There never
anyone like him. and perhaps it's just we'll"
Continuing along that line, Harris writes, Jackie Robin
would have made lot of old timers look like panty
waists, and young punks any tougher than
Billy Martin On the whole believe the boys play harder
today because there's more incentive (hnancia for
winning"
Harris points out that when old-tmers talk about how
great players fourhed during the first quarter of the
century they refer chiefly to 10 Ruth
Ty Cobb Iris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby
George Sisler Cy Young Walter Johnson Chsty Mathew
and Grover Cleveland Alexander He doesn't low-rate
those performers but says the proportion of
as high as it ever
THE 10 al-time greats covered a span of Al years.
from Youngs debut in 1890 Hornsbys retirement in
1887 Harris cites and adds THE last 20 years have
duced Williams, Teller, Musial DiMaggo and Roberts.
BUCKY EMPLOYS THE much-molested sacrifice rule
as lever to point that old batting averages were
the inflated side 1908 to $780, when many the
Hottest batting averages achieved it didn't count
time at bat whenever batter unoaded fly ball that
scored from third advanced to second
third Starting 1881 every batted ball except the
sacrifice bunt charged time at bat The last two
years scoring fly has counted a sacrifice.
Critics who at any batting average under $50
are ignorant of the tremendous development in the science
of pitching" Bucky I'm convinced that the old stars
in the Hall of Fame would have had connption ts and
considerably lower had they faced the variety Of
trick stuff the boys throw today"
Ossie Bluege, who played with Harris and Johnson
and against Cobb Ruth Speaker etc. joins Bucky in his
high appraisal of Williams Hes the greatest hitter Of
time" Osse says.
ITS hard compare players Of with those of
another" Osse but with excepton-Cobb
just aggressive today they in the old days
lot of those stories about the toughness dmers
aretched Players in those days stayed in games longer
when they hurt because they didn't have the
have today. If fellow is hurt he's taken out, not
because he's fragile but because there's big investment in
him. Players are Just tough they then"
Cobb was different Ossie says Cobb kept you your
toes, Buege declares He made you alert made you
think baseball made want to beat him. you got in
his way he'd knock you down He vicious with his
greatness You had to play against him to appreciate him.
OSSIE GOES ALONG with Bucky too, when Harris says
Cali this yappng about scarcity of talented rockies hog
wash"
We're looking at better prospects now than ever"
Ose THE is they're schood properly along
the way And they make it look easy. AL Kalne for
example Everything he does eortless In my tme
had to fight to learn 1t was rare occasion when
timer would give you tip that might help you Now
kids start to get good advice tots in Little Leagues
Players reaching the majors better trained"
Harris contends he could whip up team, limited to
who have played in the last five years, that could
have given alStar squad picked from baSebals first
century helluva tussle 1t would have Williams DiMaggio
Musial in the outeld Mize, Gordon Boudreau and
Robinson in the neld Campanella and Berra catching
Feller Roberts and SPAIN pitching"
It's debatable-and you can bet the room rent 1t will
be debated But Bucky sit back and relax He may
be right but amt nobody in bar nowhere gonna prove
Ass wrong.