August 16, 1937 - Nashville Banner (Nashville, TN) - Cecil Travis at Elberfeld's School
Travis' Dad Wanted Him to Go to School, So He Went To One Of Kid Elberfeld's
And That's How Young Bat Leader Started Baseball Career
Cecil Howel Travis always could hit. As a little fellow, he would bat rocks all over his father's Georgia cotton fields when he was supposed to be chopping cotton. Ever since, Cecil has had confidence in his ability to connect.
Travis set his heart on a big league baseball career. His parents could do nothing to change his mind. When they advised him to go to college he promptly balked insisting he was going to play ball. Seeing that the youth would not change his plans, his parents gave their permission. Cecil enrolled in a baseball school that Kid Eberfeld and Tubby Walton were conducting in Atlanta.
"What can you do?" Eherfeld inquired of the young hopeful. "I think I can hit," Travis replied. "Well, sir," recalled Walton, recently, "when he started massaging that tomato with all the grace and skill of a finished product I know we had found a real embryonic star."
In 1931 Chattanooga signed Travis. His heavy bat had much to do with the Lookouts winning a Southern League pennant and going on to triumph in the Dixie Series. Travis hit .362 his first full season in organized ball.
Toward the end of the 1933 campaign Travis was sold to Washington. He hit at a lusty pace, but his fielding was not up to the big league standard. He started out as a third baseman but shifted to short when the Senators found themselves in need of a short fielder. Travis is anything but a finished fielder today. But he can hit, and if he continues at the rate he has been going he is likely to wind up with the American League batting title.
And That's How Young Bat Leader Started Baseball Career
Cecil Howel Travis always could hit. As a little fellow, he would bat rocks all over his father's Georgia cotton fields when he was supposed to be chopping cotton. Ever since, Cecil has had confidence in his ability to connect.
Travis set his heart on a big league baseball career. His parents could do nothing to change his mind. When they advised him to go to college he promptly balked insisting he was going to play ball. Seeing that the youth would not change his plans, his parents gave their permission. Cecil enrolled in a baseball school that Kid Eberfeld and Tubby Walton were conducting in Atlanta.
"What can you do?" Eherfeld inquired of the young hopeful. "I think I can hit," Travis replied. "Well, sir," recalled Walton, recently, "when he started massaging that tomato with all the grace and skill of a finished product I know we had found a real embryonic star."
In 1931 Chattanooga signed Travis. His heavy bat had much to do with the Lookouts winning a Southern League pennant and going on to triumph in the Dixie Series. Travis hit .362 his first full season in organized ball.
Toward the end of the 1933 campaign Travis was sold to Washington. He hit at a lusty pace, but his fielding was not up to the big league standard. He started out as a third baseman but shifted to short when the Senators found themselves in need of a short fielder. Travis is anything but a finished fielder today. But he can hit, and if he continues at the rate he has been going he is likely to wind up with the American League batting title.