Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 265, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1914 — CUBANS PLAY SAFETY FIRST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CUBANS PLAY SAFETY FIRST

Report* of Cobb's Speed Induces Bhort* stop to Throw Home Instead of Getting Ty at Third. When the Detroit Tigers went to Havana, the Cuban ball players had heard so much of the wonderful speed of Ty Cobb that they really expected some supernatural being with legs like an antelope. They had been led to believe that It was impossible for a catcher to throw 'him out bn a steal. So an intricate set of signals was evolved to stop him. In the first* game between Detroit and the Almarandes, Cobb got on first base and the Cubans were watching him with awe and suspense. Crawford hit a grounder and it would have been easy for the shortstop to have caught Cobb at third. Instead of that he shot the ball to the catcher, who held it with a deathlike grip and finally plant-

ed his foot on the home plate. Of •coarse, Cobb .stopped at third, but did not score. ' When the side was out, Cobb walked over to the man with the mask and pad and through an interpreter asked him why he did not throw the ball to third. M No, no," replied the excited Cuban In Spanish. “I heard he was so fast we got a signal to stop him. When he is on base, the fielder, no matter who he is, is instructed to throw the' hall home, always. I get it and hold it Cobb can make second and third, but cannot come home, for l am waiting for him with the ball. That is what we call playing it safe.”

Ty Cobb.