Judge, 1922-10-14 · page 9 of 36
Judge — October 14, 1922 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Baseball Dream Team This is a sports editorial selecting an all-star baseball team from 1920s players. The page features a caricature of **Sisler** (likely George Sisler of the St. Louis Americans) and an illustration of **Hornsby** (Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Nationals). The text proposes an ideal lineup, championing players like **Cobb**, **Speaker**, and **Max Carey** while debating whether to include **Babe Ruth**—acknowledging his extraordinary power but criticizing his defensive abilities and strikeouts. The author argues Ruth's long-distance hitting, while impressive, doesn't outweigh team balance. The satire isn't explicitly political; rather, it's *sports commentary* masquerading as serious analysis. The condescending dismissal of Ruth ("the greatest long distance hitter the game has ever known" but ultimately flawed) and the detailed justifications for seemingly arbitrary choices reflect early 20th-century baseball debate—treating player selection like a serious managerial decision while avoiding the obvious star power Ruth represented.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
much better hitter than his average of 276, or thereabouts, would indicate be- cause he does his best’ batting in’ the pinches. HIRD base is less richly equipped with candidates than any other position on the team. There is at the present time no great third) basem Among. the men regularly playing at the far corner Joe Dugan seems to us the best, but we are going to ayail ourself of the privilege of using a player who has spent part of his time during the season at third and part at second. Frank Frisch would be our third) baseman, Dugan, in our opinion, excels him in fielding. He gets his throw away faster and he is more stal- wart in handling hot drives. Frisch fights the ball a little and has a tendency to get knocked over. His base running and his hitting give him the call over Dugan, who hits well but in streaks. Frisch is still coming and may rise to greater heights. At the present time it does not seem to us that he classes with such great third basemen of the past as Devlin, Bradley or Collins. Still our in- field is one to be reckoned with consisting as it does of Sisler, Hornsby, Scott and Frisch. HE outfield selection is much more difficult. There is Cobb of course. He contributes hitting, defensive ability, speed, fight, and almost everything but first-class throwing. On that account we would put him in left field, where he would not be called upon to throw quite so often, For center we would use Tris Speaker. Of course he has slowed up a Sisler—St. Louis American A caricature bit, but his knowledge of batters and his premonition as to where the ball will come enables him to cut off hits which younger and faster men would miss. On top of that he is a long and punishing hitter. For right field our candidate would be Max Carey. This would add to the team’s speed on the bases, provide a sure and brilliant fly chaser and give ample hitting power with an occasional long clean up drive. But here in the out- field there is opportunity for endless argument. The owner of the team would probably want Babe Ruth for the sake of the dividends. On his last year’s showing it would be impossible to keep Ruth out. At his best he wasa fair fielder, a good base runner for a fat man and the greatest long distance hitter the game has ever known. He is still a long hitter but he strikes out too much and he cannot begin to field with any of the men whom we have men- tioned. Kenneth Williams is another good man who deserves consideration, but we stand by our guns. A rival club with Ruth, Williams and Walker might be a little terrifying on account of its potential leanings toward home runs but it could not stand up in the long run against our club. ESIDES, our pitching staff would be one to di e the sluggers. First of all we would get Ed Rommel, the gi est pitcher of the y Supported by nothing but the Athleties he has piled up a surprising record. With an all-star club he could win thirty or even more games in a season. We should also want Joe Bush and Urban Shocker. No pitch- ing staff would be complete without a Hornsby—St. Louis National left-hander, and Cooper is our choice. Faber and Shawkey would complete the list. In the catching department we have two players of different type in mind, Schang would go in on days when attack- ing power was the first requisite, but if a pitcher began to wabble and needed ad- vice and a st ing hand Schang would retire for Ray k And of course th America umpire. Evans. ought to be an all- Naturally he would be aes Egg View News-notes by Leslie Van Every EM BUSHNELL, our marshal, likes his job first-rate, but he complains sHatswhanever he is.aceh running ever bed has ‘a badi hiabik of lookauig behind him, instead of ahead of him. + * * Bill Waite’s grocery business has_in- creased so much that he is compelled to make room enough in his cellar for another still. Corny Paine has been laughing ever since Monday night when he sprung a joke about not caring to bet any money with an aviator because the aviator might take him up. * * * During the busy season, Corny Paine is helping out at the cider-mill. He helped seven out yesterday. After listening to the sermon Sunday night, Tink Nitz guessed it would be all right for a feller to let one of his hands know what the other one was doing, if the other one was being bit by a mosquito! ee * Bill Waite, our keen-minded grocer, sold a collar button to a stranger yester- day and insisted that the stranger fetch it right back if it didn’t fit, as one dis- satisfied customer could do more damage than a dozen satisfied ones.