Hughie Jennings was the manager of some fine Detroit Tigers teams in the early 1900's. His lineups boasted probably the two best hitters in the American League in Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford, and the Tigers won three straight pennants (1907-09) but no World Series.
Jennings gets a letter one day from a small town in Michigan. The writer says he's a pitcher, a great pitcher, says he can strike Cobb out on three pitches, asks for a tryout and $1.80 in train fare to come to Detroit to prove his stuff. Jennings, being a manager, is always looking for another pitcher, so he sends the $1.80.
The guy warms up and Cobb steps up to the plate. Cobb hammers the first pitch from the stranger off the fence in right. He pulls the second over the right field wall. He clouts the third over the center-field fence.
Jennings has seen enough of this nonsense and trundles out to the mound. "Well," he says disgustedly to the stranger who has wasted his time, "what have you got to say for yourself?"
The wannabe pitcher looks in at the batter. "You know," he says, "I don't believe that's Ty Cobb up there."
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