CHARLIE GEHRINGER: I don't know why the averages were so much higher then. Golly, the pitchers back then used to cheat, used to keep the ball in play forever. It'd get so black you could hardly see it. They threw a lot of spitballs, knuckleballs ... You talk to a modern ball player, and he thinks the pitching must've been horrible with the averages we compiled. But it really wasn't. You saw Lefty Grove and Bob Feller and Red Ruffing -- they were no picnic.

I hit Feller halfway decent, but golly, it was tough. He'd curve you 3-0 and 3-1, and that's not in the Bible. He was just wild enough so you had to be kind of loose and easy up there.

Grove of the Athletics was probably the toughest. He could throw so hard. Rarely would you get a curve from him. He'd just fire the ball and defy you to hit it. I always said that by the time you made up your mind whether it was going to be a strike or not, it was too late to swing. He just poured them in. They used him as a relief pitcher, too. He'd come in when it was a little dark -- in those days they didn't have lights -- and, gee whiz, that was a disaster! Lucky to foul one off.

Grove hit me in the elbow once. By the time I got to first I couldn't get my shirt over it and I had to quit. Oh, dear. By the time I got to first base I had tears this big in my eyes. That was about the first time I ever hit against him. The guys had told me, "Well, one thing about Grove: You don't have to worry about him hitting you. He's never wild inside." After I came back to the bench, I said, "Well, boys, he's wild inside."

Cobb left after 1926 and played his last couple of years with Philadelphia. George Moriarty took over as manager and he hated Cobb's guts. He'd sit in the dugout and call Cobb every name in the book as he ran to first. Cobb would hear, of course, but Moriarty was one guy he'd never challenge because Moriarty was a tough cookie. Ordinarily, if the guy was smaller or less able to defend himself, Cobb would've come over and cleaned the bench out, I guess.

Bucky Harris came over from Washington to manage in 1929. Bucky was a little too nice. He was a super guy to play with. Wouldn't scream at anyone. Not like Cochrane. He'd get you and let you know what the score was. I suppose you've got to be tough in a way, because you've got all kinds of guys to handle. But I never heard Bucky Harris second-guess anyone. The fact that he was so easy to play for probably didn't help his managing, but you'd never want to work for a nicer guy.

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