SPORT: A Visit to Edd Roush

Bradenton for thirty-six years and was thus its patron saint of baseball, a familiar presence during spring training at McKechnie Field, where he held court on a special couch out in left field and told everyone how7 much better the game was played in his day. My book was about the once-a-year relationship between one major league team (the Pittsburgh Pirates) and its wintertime town (Bradenton), and I could hardly believe the good luck that had delivered to my chosen city one of baseball's authentic giants. As an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Giants for sixteen seasons, from 1916 to 1931, Edd Roush hit over .300 twelve times, hit over .350 in three successive seasons, twice won the National League batting championship, and compiled a lifetime average of .323. Defensively he was no less exceptional historians of the game rank him among outfielders with Tris Speaker, Joe DiMaggio, and Willie Mays. "That Hoosier moves with the regal indifference of an alley cat," said his last manager, John McGraw, who once suffered the indignity of signaling to Roush to shift position in center field, whereupon the batter lined a triple through the vacated spot. When the inning was over,