St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1963-06-27

Jackie Robinson
even II he didn't steal but rs
bases during an entire season.
And brother, you can find a sur
prislngly large number of fans
who go along with Bailey on
that. ran into a flock Of them
at COmiskey Park here recently.
One elderly railbird, who said
he has seen the games greatest
stars, from Babe Ruth to Cobb to
Robinson to Mays, told me that
Robinson was the greatest" on
the base paths. The man didn't
care to disclose his name.
These are better (than his
name)," he said, waving a sheaf
of old newspaper clippings in my
face. The clippings showed such
speed demons as Cobb, Robinson,
Mays, Sam Jethroe and, of course,
Wills, in action.
Look at EN-" he said thrust
ing the parchments into my palm.
I CLEANED through the brittle clip
pings, which had to be handled
with utmost care to prevent them
from crumblng. AS far as the
gentleman was concerned, these
constituted the proof to his argu-
ment.
Look" he repeated, did you
ever see Wills run like this?" He
pointed to a picture of Jackie
stealing home in a cloud of dust
in a Polo Grounds game in 1919.
He pointed out more pictures Of
Robinson, Mays and Cobb - and
Wills - "for comparison" Neither
Wills nor Cobb could touch Jackie,
the railbird insisted. Mays come
the closest as a base stealer, he
said.
Using his favOrite introduce
ton, the man continued. Look,
feIla, 1 have seen some great
ones. Let me tell you about some
of them: The greatest hitter the
game has ever known was Josh
Gibson, and it's a pity his color
(GibsOn was a NegrO) kept him
out Of the big league. He would
have made the Hall Of Fame
long before Robinson.
Il rate Satchel Paige the great
est pitcher ever, and Marty Mar
ion of the old st. Louis Gas House
gang tops all shortstops in my
book. None Of the shortstops OF
today can carry his gloves"
I had seen Paige pitch during
the 1940s, and I had heard glowing
reports about Gibson, so I didn't
challenge my laxative informel
on either of them.
We were really way off the
subject Of base stealing now, so
I let him go on. He told me q
story about Paige, which he in
sisted was true, to emphasize
his point.
He told of how Paige and ex'
strike-out ace Dizzy Dean were
locked in a pitchers duel during
a post-season transforming game
in Comiskey Park many years ago
Satch' was pitching for an all
star team made up Of players
from the then nourishing Negro
American League, while Dean was
hurting for a squad consisting Of
major league stars. My chatty
friend said 1T was a hi Of 6
game"
Paige and Dean were so sharp
they were striking out batteri
with monotonous regularity. Al
the beginning of each inning
Satch' would dig a small trench
in the mound with his No. IL shoe
plant his heel in 1t, rear back, anC
fire his wicked curves past the
major league stars. Dean, who hac
a different pitching style, would
repeatedly cover up the trench
wind up and fire his fireball past
the Negro batters.
But in the seventh inning, pow.
erful gosh Gibson, who was among
the stars on Paige's team, "latched
on to" one Of Deans TASTES and
rode 1t out Of the ballpark for 9
homerm. TfLlt was all the lead
Paige needed. He coasted along
until the bottom Of the ninth
when he walked Dean, and another
batter beat out an infield hit.
With Dean on second, Paige