New Britain Herald Newspaper, August 13, 1915, Page 13

WkLTER JDHNSON ‘AND TY COBB STAND OUT AS THE BEST PLAYERS IN AMERICAN LEAGUE W is now. eight seasons that Walter the champion batsman of his league Johnson has been pitching baseball to all batsmen of both high and low de- grec in the American league. And. it was elg‘ht seasons ago that the ‘great and, for that matter, the whole world. The same can be said about Mr. John- son in his profession as a hurler. Mr. Cobb is a southern gentleman,! r—that is, he looks' Walter first began' to devise ways and | sjender, but his looks are deceiving, for' tall, tair and slende twenty-seven With a graceful swing of his arm the big hurler from Kansas can send a baseball through with the, . speed of a Krupp gun. Tyrus Raymond Cobb has had splen- did success as a batsman against all the American league pitchers save W. Konetchy Playing Well [} e — EXPERT BELIZVES PART BONUS AND STRAIGHT For the Pittsburgh Feds| FOR PLAYERS WILL BENEFIT BASEBALL IN:6l _& PART bonus and part straight sal- ary system in the baseball players’ contracts would do much to correct some of the present salary injustices of baseball. At the present time many magnates are bewailing the fact that some of nus money, but if he flelded only .900 he would be subject to a deduction of $250 from the bonus earned in batting. If a player didn't earn any bonuses and hit and fielded below the minimum no deductions are to be made, as the $2,000 straight salary would be immune from deductions. ery stolen base, $§ lm-\ ticipating in a double each player. participatify play. Outflelders o e tra $5 or $10 for gvetyl b at the plate or af dne b the catchers could be given a Johnson. This man they call the “Georgia Peach” has mauled the curves of about every other flinger in the i league, slammed them almost at will. means to prevent a certain Mrl C’)bh\ the scales tell us that he weighs about from | swatting the above mentlonedl 180 pounds. The hurlers of the Ameri- baseball. How well he has succeeded can league are inclined to believe he this tale will tell. ! weighs more than that from the man- |for every man thrown m tempt to steal a 3 A bonus system Of, this spur the players on to grea or. They would know that their stars, who are drawing fat sal- aries under long term. ironclad con- tracts, are not giving their best efforts, With the bonus system in operation an inflelder who hit for .325 and field- ed 965 would get $2,000 bonus for bat- These two athletes are considered the | circuit * greatest ball players in the dominated by B. B. Johnson—that is, in their respective positions. Cobb’s yvecord proves conclusively that he is| Walter is young, ner in which he lands on their curves. Mr. Walter Johnson fair, but not very slender. lis a powerfully built young man, is also tall and In fact, he and: having just turned Adams Pitching Brilliant Ball Photo by American Press Amellflop,,, er{r now Babe Adiml pitehin; s hrllllam han A< he aver hds done. In “fact. his work’ in the box during the past month has dune much' to put the Pil(uburgh Pirates’in‘the hunt for the pennant. When the ‘Alabama “Put Goed On 'Y COBB {§ not the “best ball player on earth.” He has forfeited that title <to an unknown bush leaguer from Ala- bama. He knows it and the “unknown” knows' it, but the.story has never been told in print. A few seasons ago Ty Cobb itoured the south as one of the heroes in “The College Widow.” He was billed to ap- pear at ‘the “leading theater in the Magic City, of Alabama,” that city be- ing Birmingham. Allen G. Johnson, sports editor and dramatic critic of the News, thought‘he would have Cobb act as sports editor during his stay in’the city. He wrote; to the “Widow's” press agent, and the actor at once accepted ~ythe job. Cobb was rushed to; the city room, where-his' “editorship”consisted of the dictation:of a “story” asserting that the Detroit Tigers would win the next season’'s. American 'league pen- ant and the, approval, of. a black “streamer” across the sportspages an- nouncing that Cobb - was the News’ sports editor. That day. the newsboys could not stop looking at Cobb long, enough to sell papers.: Ty was the biggest thing in Birmingham and he knew it. But the managing editor of the News was not a baseball'fan. He believed { He has fattened his batting average off the hurling of that mighty red man from faroff Minnesota, Chief Bendeér, and has hit the terrible crossfire de- livery of the great Edward Plank, and this foxy Plank used to be a sore puz- zle to almost all the expert left hand- ed batsmen of the American league, but he failed to puzzle the great Cobb. Just one hurler has held the whip hand over this demon batsman—only one. When the tall lad known as the “ldaho Wonder” began operations against Ty Cobb back in August, 1907, he was as green as the new mown hay, and his very first game in the big league was against the Tigers and Ty- rus Cobb. In three times at bat Cobb fajled to make -a safe hit. In fact, Johnson allowed-the lad from Georgia only four hits in the first twenty-four times at bat. This was rather dis- couraging to the gentleman from Roy- ston, Ga., and he has had rather a dis- couraging time of.it ever since, for the “Idaho Wondér''shas-been a hard prop- j osition for T. Raymond to solve. Walter Johnson has faced Cobb in the capacity’ of ‘pitcher just 133 times in eight seasons ‘4nd of that many times at bat’the ¢hampion ‘batsman of the American league—and the world— has been sert back to.the bench 109 times hitless and cheerless, the gentle- man from the south failing to swat the ball in his usual blithesome manner when facing®the consistent Mr. John- son. So the modest 'and retiring Wal- ter: has the honor of being ‘about the only hurler to hold'the flery Cobb in subjection. In the 133 times that Cobb faced the Washington star he made thirty-one base hits, and just six of tHe hits were better than singles, consisting of three doubles and three triples. These fig- ures would give Cobb a batting aver- age for the eight seasons he has main- tained a calling acquaintance with Mr. Johnson of .233. These figures do not in- clude Johnson's recent game against the Tigers. in which 'l'y got three hits in four times: up,, SIS e oani CONNIE MACK:-PLANS. FOR THE FUTURE. ONNIE MACK is several years ahead of other major league man- agers in that he realizes that the only way to get a winning ball team is to |develop his own youngsters. Connie !has started building up from the ground. Every morning he has nearly .twenty-five young fellows at his ball (park, watches them in action and in- structs ‘them how to corréct their faults. The squad. of youngsters is made up of players from colleges and inde- pendent teams, and Mack has not the slightest doubt that in due time he will Photo by American Press Assoclation. BIG ED KONETCHY, the Pittsburgh Feds' first sacker, {s now putting up the brand of ball that made him famous. Last season he fell of some- what in his playing at the initial sta- tion. But this year he .is covering his | position in masterly style. A TIM HURST STORY. HE late Tim Hurst, famous as a baseball umpire and boxing referee, was honest, fearless and witty. He was wont to meet and overcome emergen- cies with witticisms which made for him friends everywhere. His honesty as an athletic official was unquéstioned throughout his career, and he was most strongly stirred when- ever a spectator at a ball game or box- ing contest inferred that a decision of his was made for the purpose of bene- fiting one or the other of the con- testants. Perhaps no act of his more complete- ly illustrated his honesty and certain- ly no act made him more friends than when, at a time early in his career as a boxing referee, he officiated in a bout where his brother was one of the con- testants. The bout went on evenly un- til the very'last round, when the man opposing Hurst’'s brother secured a slight lead over the - latter. There would not have been a murmur from the crowd if he had called the bout a draw at its close, but Tim, without a moment’s hesitation, stepped to the have developed a lot of players of class. corner of his brother's opponent and raised his hand as the winner. | Sseason—not on his record of . several while some of the young players who are outbatting and outfielding the vet- erans are howling because they are tied to contracts that call for only one- half or one-third of the salary that is paid to the high priced shirkers. This condition could be remedied for all time by paying to each player a fix- ed salary of a small amount each year and putting a schedule of banuses in his contract which would enable him to get paid for what he really is worth | One suggestion, concretely, is this: Fix a standard salary for each play- er somewhere around $1,800 or $2,000 a year, which sum the player is to get no matter how his work shows up. Then arrange a bonus system that is applicable to each branch of base- ballers. In the case of pitchers, a bonus of $1,000 could go to all pitchers finishinz the season with an average of .500 or better, $1,500 bonus money to the men winning 60 per cent of their games, $2,000 bonus to the men winning two- thirds of their games, $3,000 bonus' to men winning three-fourths of their games, $4,000 bonus to men finishing with a mark above .750. In this way a pitcher would get paid for what he did during the present seasons, before. And in this way a kid pitcher ‘would have as fair a chance to get big money as the veteran. All'the kid ;would need:to do would be to win games. thchere could be given a small bo- nus! for batting and fielding above a certain amount, but should. not- be al- lowed to figure in the general bonus of other players for fielding and batting. Outfielders, infielders and catchers could be guaranteed $2,000 a’year and would earn their bonuses by their field- ing and batting stunts. Here is a sched- ule' of bonuses that is suggested for batting: $250 .301 350 311 500 . 600 . 0 . 1,000 is a schedule 310.... -$1,250 .320;..%:.. 1,800 330, Outflelders and Catchers— 940 to .950. 971 to . 5. 981 to . .91 to 961 to . 971 to . 981 to . 2991 to A penalty system could be.so.that a player who batted undér a minimum figure or who fieldéd under a minimum figure would suffer for deductions from the bonus earned in the other depart- ments. For instance, if a player hit 205 he would be entitled to $1,000 bo- ting and $1,000 bonus for flielding, mak- ing a total salary of $5,000. That sys- tem seems to be a fair one. Bonuses also could: be arranged Whereby a player would get $5 for ev- | ary. hustling would they grab off There wouldf’t ' be Every man would play’evs the time. Ainsmith One of Strongest Catcl "Pnoto by American Press Association. ACCORD:\G to Manager Clark Grimth, Washington has M of American league catchers in Ainsmith and Henry. Ainsmith, is one of the strongest men in the organization. Sports Fditor . e Over on Ty Cotb action, on the diamond. Therefore I now challehge you to a game at Rick- wood field, the Birmingham Southern league ball ground, July 4, for the championship of the world. If you do not appear to play me I will claim the championship by forfeit.” * Cobb never replied. Johnson, the critic and sports editor, claims the ti- tle “best ball player on earth” to this day. SLOW INFIELD HELPS ROTH. MANAGER MACK of the Philadel- phia_ Athletics says that the pe- culiar slow infield on the Chicago White Sox park enables Roth, the Mil- waukee recruit, to play great ball at third base at home, but that he is helpless on a fast diamond. This ac- counts for Rowland’s continual switch- ing of third sackers. While on the road Roth plays in the outfield, but re- turns to third base when the team is at home. MILLER HUGGINS PUTTING IT seems probable that when the final review of the season of the present year of grace on the -American lawn tennis courts is compiled by the offi- cial historians it will be written down as chiefly remarkable for the general development of a great number of players. Numbers are beginning to find the exercise and excitement, the exhilara- tion and the joys, of the fine direct competition which the game affords. The Davis cup matches have proved of rafe éducational value. Many, hither- to skeptical, have come to realize that physical enduradnce of the highest type s as much required in the, sport of the courts as on the football fleld, in the varsity crew. or in the boxing ring. | ‘An instance of what that physical test means was illustrated some time back on the courts of the Morristown Field club, where Miss Molla Bjur- stedt, the girl from Norway who has held attention focused on her remark- able playing for several months, at last yielded to the collapse of strained and UP A BRILLIANT GAME that the public should not be asked to ‘pay $2 to see an “actor” who was only s baseball player. . He expressed. his belief to the sports and dramatic, edi- tor, instructing him to review. Cobb's histrionic performance and; to.forget that this actor was a .400 hitter. “Actor” Cobb ' batted his' cdes.that nighit well: enough to get’'a curtain call at the end:of the second act. .In his speech he admitted that he;liked the shouting from the bleachers better than he applause from the galleries... The ports editor, then dramatic: editor, en- s teavored to.view. the whole: perform- i e from the angle of thetheatrical sic. His review was harsh, and it d not eulogize Tyrus as a’ msth:oe “| refuse. “obb got as far &s Detroit Defore the itic r came a scorching letter. - ngs inclosed). ‘1 am a better actor than you are, a «1or sports editor than ‘you are, & matic critic than you are, I s%e more money than you do and I I am _ a better ball player—so inferiors crmche supe- ir d & » eritie wrote back: “T admu that sports are a_better critic, actor, “+“and money maker than I am. e ‘1r Cobb, but I refuse to admit that you are & better ball player. I have seen you play ball and know what yau gins. heard “from him again:at the sws office. ' Then. from the ; Tigers’ “Your| 5 -iticism is beneath my notice,” Cobb ‘e, “but I just want you to"see what real critics say about my work Pihoto by American Press Association. X[TNQLPH it appears at present that- the "St. Louis Cardinals are ‘om of the penn~nt hunt it is not due to any fault of Manager Miller Hus- All season Hugging has been Qut you hlvg never. seen me’in ! playing brilliant bally, . tired muscles. Miss Bjurstedt is no weakling. Those who_have .seen 'her in action attest to that, and also the long line of opponents who haye met defeat at her hands. The daughter of vikings seem- ed possessed of a constitution of iron and steel springs. Her vigor and amazing vitality made her a star per- former in any tournament, and every club of any prominerice eagerly sought her entry or her appearance in a spe- cial match. The path of-the lawn tennis: “prima donna” is not ‘exactly; \strewn with roses. It is the same ‘way with the men who have won laurels on the courts, Pressure is brought to bear from all directions to, secure the ap- pearance of the staf. on various courts. It i{s almost impossible, unless actually engaged in another match, to ‘The physical strain is terrlflb and at last the willing player snaps under the miles of footwork and the dealing of hammering blows with the racket, just as Miss Bjurstedt has. The paths to glory in lawn tennis lead to exhaustion due to too much competi- tion and an excess of entertainment. rule. Maurice E. McLoughlin, Miss Sutton, Beals Wright at the height of his career and others who have worn the purple of the courts have all ex- rise to its greatest Heights. As the ever increasing -numbers of tion plays. an important part in tennis, that it will be a severe test trained athlete, it has grown in favor. One of the things that has directly bandicapped . the -growth of the game Miss Bjurstedt is no exception to the! perienced the. trials of. the physical de- | mands which _the. game makes upon| those who follow, it closely and who players learn that real physical condi-| for the | in this country has been the use of the word “love” in the score as a synonym for nothing. It has furnished the peg on which to hang many a jest. The influx of the juniors, the actual opportunity to see the great players in action and to know that it is no “baby game” has resulted in bringing crowds to the courts, few of whom will ever find their names on the ranking list. The park commis- sioners of the various cities all over the country state that the demand for play- ing space has grown to be a serious problem. They are meeting it as best they can, for the thousands who participate on the courts of the parks and at the great number of public courts now be- ing laid out in every available vacant lot and where a charge of so much per hour is made for the use of the court has become such a vast army as ta cause the list of club and tourna- | ment players to be insignificant by comparison. Strange as it may seem, the west is completely outstripping the east in the rapid development of the game. One of the prominent manufacturers told the other, day of the tremendous demand for implements of the sport throughout the west. A manufactur- ing silversmith has been kept busy turning out cups and trophies which are to be competed for in tournaments in Colorado, Montana and Rocky Moun- tain states. Robert D. Wrenn, president of the national assoclation, awoke to the po- sition that the west is taking when he received a deluge of applications for the eastern states team to stop over for special matches on its way to the Pacific coast. So great has become the interest in some sections that important newspa- ciation to defray all the expenses of the team, which will include R. Norris ‘Williams 2d, the national champion, if the team would' stop at their city for matches of a day or two. Not long ago a movement was Start- ed by some of the tennis players to petition the national association to change the rule and allow fifteen min- utes’ rest after the second set. It is not definitely stated who was behind this motion, but it can be fairly well guessed. What action the executive will fake on the question can hardly be foreseen now, but it is to be hoped that they will be chary in making new rules which will prove advantageous only to | the chosen few as against the many. | Lawn tennis is an athletic pastime, and the athletic.end of it must not be | too much suppressed even among the ranks of the fair sex. Condition is one of the factors in tennis, and not the least of them, and good condition is surely worth some reward for the ef-' pers made offers to the national asso-| 1915 PROVES GREAT YEAR FOR DEVELOPING TENNIS PLAYERS fort put forth in its accomplishment. To allow too long a rest period before the final and deciding set can only be to favor the old campaigner, the great general, as against her more active and less seasoned antagonist. In other words, to allow a period of rest wherein the tired player could re- cuperate would be doing a gross in- justice to the younger exponent, who, by her own untiring efforts, had gain- ed just this advantage and had to sit around and see it vanish during the seemingly interminable time allowed for the other player to get ready for the critical set. If a player cannot win in straight sets her condition is not good enough to let her win in three; then she must either get in better con- dition or allow the younger and more athletic player to reap the benefit of her long training and perfect physical condition. Larned retired from the national be- cause he had to play through the championship, but if he had been al- lowed a sufficient rest between the sets he still might be the champion. This was not even thought of, and so Mc- Loughlin came into his own. To allow all kinds of time for rest in the wom- an’s national event would be a step in the wrong direction and savor very distinctly of favoritism to that body of older players who, while still truly skillful, have lost the spring and dash of youth. We need to encourage the young new players, not discourage them, and a rule that would be all in favor of a select few would niot be the thing to foster playing among the growing champions of the next few years. JOHNSON AND SCHANG VALUA. BLE BALL PLAYERS. WALTER JOHNSON. of Washington and Wallie Schang of Philadel- phia, playing on the same club, would come pretty close to forming a whole nine in themselves. Johnson is the king of pitchers, and Schang is a re- markable catcher; but, unlike most star specialists, they possess other vir- tues. Schang has played four different por sitions for the Athletics already this season and may play more before the year dies. He's worked behind the bat, at first base, at third base and'in the outfleld and worked well. Besides, he’s the club’s cleanup hitter—an add- ed responsibility—and on the paths he’s fast, very fast, for a catcher. Johnson impresses as much with his hitting as with his pitching, and :Man- ager Griffith is beginning to be im- pressed the same way. The other day riff played Johnson in the outfield and used him in the cleanup role. Johnson had a perfect day at bat, get- ting two hits, sacrificing and walking. And every now and then Johnson- is sent m as a plnch hma-.l ‘tion that rowing has the effect of en- Rowing Doesn’ Oarsmen R. ROGER 1. LEE, professor of hy- giene at Harvard, with Dr. E. L. Young, Jr., the surgeon to the Harvard crews, and Dr. Wallace J. Dodd, roent- genologist, has undertaken a series of studies on Harvard graduate and un- dergraduate athletes in an effort to prove or disprove the frequent asser- larging the heart of the average male athlete who goes in for this strenuous sport. Dr. Lee selected three groups of men for his experiments, and in his first squad he had sixteen candidates for the freshman crew. The sixteen most promising men on the varsity squad, including practically the varsity and second, formed Dr. Lee’s second group, while the third group was made up of ten graduates, all of whom had rowed four mile races in college. The doctor found that the hearts of the older athletes were slightly larger than those of the younger athletes in the first group, but in regard to this circumstance Dr. Lee expressed the opinion that this difference in the size of hearts was no more than normal in men of greater age and development, and therefore could not be laid to any results from rowing competitions. In t Give . Athletic “The difference was rather on casual inspection. ‘A man may be as tall of welgh as the varsity man or grady is usually, obviously, not &0 oped or muscled. “In point of age the'f difficult to draw any definite o from the study of such & of cases. There may be dal heart in other ways than largement. The present bear upon that point. “The size of the heart in was nearly the same i the for the v twenty years, and in the men, all of whom had © competitive rowing since lege and who nvomfl years. “It is impossible to striking fact with the sup prolonged participation in" larges the heart. “In other words, no evidence discovered in the study of of forty-two cases that 4 show that the present system collegiate rowing, with & four and with a long preliminary period, causes any perm his report Dr. Lee says: to the heart particularly. HUGHES HAD TOUGH He Couldn’t Fan Baker, and J. Hit a Homer, 'HERE may have been games lost by the ' going against one side or the the critical stage of & game, questionable whether baseball: worse luck than Tom Hughes; 4 Washington pitcher, encoun apparently pitching his team eighteenth consecutive vic Y spring of 1912, The game was played In and the score stood 1 to 0 in M the Nationals in the last half ninth. Baker w There were two men at bat. Hughes wo strikes on him, ahd then one through the middle of which Baker foul tipped. struck Menry's big mitt, and on the very next ball hit for a home run over fence, tying the score, who followed him in the rolled a little grounder to was out at first. The game was won by the in the tenth. Hughes blamies” for allowing Baker to hit. *T right to take any chance with that stage and should have walks Photo by American Press Assoclation. TOM_HUGHES, | and pitched to Strunk,” ward sald. Hughes But that, of cou coBd thought agter (ag gume: