Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 154, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1917 — TWO MOST REMARKABLE PHILLY PLAYERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TWO MOST REMARKABLE PHILLY PLAYERS

(By JACK VEIOCK, International News Sports Editor.) When a ball player commences to bat over thirty in Old Father Time’s league, it is the general belief that he has seen his best days. The rolling years take the youthful snap and ginger out of the arms and legs of the average player past thirty years of age, and he turns into the path which leads him back to the minors or to retirement. But there are exceptions to every rule and in the major leagues today there is a sprinkling of players well past the thirty-year mark who are still blocking Old Dad Time’s lusty wallops and getting away with it, while ambitious youngsters grow weary camping on their trails, waiting for the chance to step in and take their places. Hinchman, Ames, Vaughn, Toney, Chief Meyers and Buck Herzog are among the past-thirty players in the National league, who are still in there winning their cakes on the diamond, while Terry Turner, Eddie Plank, Stanage and Jimmy Austin are American league veterans who refuse to be downed by the scythe of the whitebearded old gent who turns the hands of the clock. But two of the most remarkable players in many respects are Gavvy Cravath and Dode Paskert of the Phillies, both outfielders, and both apparently good for a few more seasons in the big shop. Cravath has been the biggest surprise of the two, because he has managed a comeback after he was labeled, wrapped and

shipped to the minor's, and expected to stay there for good and all. Though Gavvy’s legs are not capable of doing the work they once did, his murderous bat is still on the job and his batting eye is just as keen as ever. Pat Moran would be glad to see a faster and snappier fielder holding down right garden, but Pat cannot see his way clear to sacrifice Cravath’s hitting ability for a younger pair of legs and a much weaker bludgeon. In Dode Paskert the Phillies have another veteran. Dode is now playing his seventh season as a member of the Phils, and he bids fair to be seen in a Philly uniform for several more seasons if his playing this year can be taken as an indication of just how “fast” he is going back. Paskert, unlike most ball players past thirty-five—he will be thirty-six in August —has not lost the youthful springiness and vigor of his legs. He is s'tlll as fast and sure on his underpinning as many of the younger players who come up, and although he is not the hitter that Cravath is, he can still sting the apple for a season’s average around .275. lie hit .279 last season, and so far this year he has been hitting between .250 and .270, with his hitting being done in streaks. Like all of the veterans, Paskert may be expected to brush up his batting with hot weather here to stay. Where can you find two grand old vets —and both outfielders —who have anything on Cravath and Paskert? It can’t be done.

AGED PLAYERS STILL PLAY WINNING GAME.