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ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16,1907. BASEBALL SEASON NOW ALMOST HERE Wild the New York Aeinrlcans due In Atlanta March 6 or 6. with the Atlanta players under wtlira to report not Inter than March 10. and with the first eihlhl tlofi game doe March IS. local fan festivals are warming op materially, and the be ginning of baseball happenings Is not far off. Work baa hardly begun on the new V'onee |N>|enn |tark. and It Is doubtful If It Iw flnlstfnl In time for use at alt thla year. In consequence. IJlJly Nmlih has had old Piedmont put lu good trim, and be considers that the old diamond Is foster and In letter condition than e\er before. Four or fire Inches of dirt have l*een spread over the Infield, and after the first brisk rain It will l*e ready for the opening reception In honor of the New York Amer icans. Clark Griffith. .Iiy the way, has a kick, liecnnsc he wa* awarded only eight guinea In Atlanta. This Is the same nunit»er that Htnlth allowe<l the Urrya Inst spring, but Griff wants more. However, his rhances of getting them are very poor. flinlth has every day from March IS to April « filled, exeept Hundaya. and could not sandwich In another game for love nor money. In addltlou to the eight games with the New York team. Atlanta has four with Cleveland, two with Maron. two with Augusta, two with Detroit ami two with Itrooklyn If marrying ruins n IkiII phtyer, then the Atlanta team Is to the bad this year for sure. Keller, Hparks and Harley are the old offenders along this line. Hut to the ranks have recently l*ccu added Jlin Fox nlid Otto Jordan. In fact, this pair of Inflelders stepped off this week An«l among the l«*i»edlr ts who have signet I f,»r the first fluie this year are Hall. Castro. 1‘nskert. O'leary. ami. mayln*. others who have not yet •■oiifessetl. The gnv Imchehirs are likely to lie vastly In the minority this year on Ike Atlanta team, and If there la anything lu the be lief that marriage ruins a ball playar (and DlUy Htnlth, who la a thirty-third degree bachelor, thinks thsre la) then the married Crackera wilt bare to buetle keep the team at the top. During the past we$*k, Dyer. Ze||«r and Harley have signed, ft*was a Mg relief to Hinllh to get Dyer's name on a con tract. The Cincinnati man did not a especially anxious to play in Atlanta, and Hiultb anticipated trouble. Fortunately, It did not come. The big baseball event of next week will l*e the spring meeting of the Houtbern League. If anything Imt the schedule Is likely to sprlug up and cause any excite ment at that time. It la not known to us. The meeting will t»e bald In the Pled* moot hotel, and after It la over the At lanta club will give a banquet to the vls- Itlug ball players oud newspaper men. Hugo Kelly will probably be Tommy Ity- n's next opponent at Hot ffprtngs. •lease the star £L nr OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O TECH AND MERCER TEAMS O O . MEET AT BASKET BALL O O 0 Macon, Ga.. Feb. IS.—Mercer - * O O banket hall team will meet Tech O O In Mnron thin afternoon at 1:10 O O o'clock. The game la to be played O O Ut the Mercer gymnasium. Thl* O O will l<e the firm mutch of the eea- O o .on for the Altunin Blarkemlth* O no a it "oil frame should he the O 0 rfHiilt. - O O O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO C BABB’S MEMPHIS AGGREGATION BETTER BALANCED THAN IN 1906 Big Gaps in Team Filled by Very Fast Men. Did you ever atop to think just how- many trama In the Southern League will be right there thla year In the rare for the pennunt? Of courae there la Atlanta—flrat and foremoat, becauae we are all moat .«• pectaily Intereated In the Crackera. Billy Bmlth ha. gathereil In a hunch which will certainly be In the rare all the way and which aeemn to have n ronalderably heller than "one-ln-seven" chance of winning the .aid pennant. Howerer, we did not atari out thla rnomtn# to talk about Atlanta. Nor are' wa going to apend much time nt preaent on Birmingham, though the Barone are certainly pennant*ehaaere tlila year, and, for all anybody can see NOT NEWS, BUT VIEWS | By PERCY H. WHITING. The time has come when the amateur soothsayers are tak ing an informal shot at picking the baseball winners. The pennant prophets are in our midst once more and their noise is very loud and long. Every tf*am in the league has been picked to take off the rag. Speaking of prophecy, the last issue of CoItier'K Weekly said: Prophecy is a nice, gentlemanly business, which is finan cially prophetahle and can he learned, no doubt, at many cftrrespofnience schools. Hut, pursued as a calling it haa its difficulties. There is something shiffy, vague and non committal about the Future. Personally, we don’t like the future. The tall,, dark gentleman who is going to eroiw our path often turns out to be short mid blond, and half the time ho doesn’t cross our path at all, but goes around. Wc prefer the Past, because it stays put—it is the only really stationary, dependable thing we know of. Anybody can tell what he had for breakfast; but wlint will develop at dinner-time is a matter of doubt nml perplexity. Picking pennant winners is somewhat more difficult than this correspondence school game. So many conditions enter into a winning team—skill, luck, the manager, human nature, the support, more luck and n few other considerations, including the opposing teams and the um pires. You can read up dope from now until August 1 nml then never half reduce the picking business to an exact science. The writer has yet to see the placing of the teams done with any exactness. Of course, with every fan in the league touting his home club ns the winner somebody has to he riglil. Hut this placing the teams in the order they will finish is a fierce game and is not done correctly about once in a million trvs. Rack in 100.1 (i. Rice conducted one of these How-Do-You Place-’Em competitions for baseball writers, and this one, who was in Memphis then, managed—more by the aid of lobster luck than good guidnnoe—to place five out of eight clubs in the posi tions in which thee eventually ’finished. Not another writer in the South hit nearer than three out of eight, and (it least two had every team wrong. And at that this writer did not pick the pennant winner. He called the turn for Memphis and New Orleans won. This piek-the.peuuant-winner tiling is largely a matter of patriotism, anyway. Everybody who is anybody believes, just as long ns there is a delusion left in bis body, that the home team is going to win the pennant. It is no credit to anybody to pick a winner under those cir cumstances. You just select the home team and let it go at that. they have »« food a tenm this year t s the one which won the pennant last year. * Likewise there Is New Orleans. ■ hough "That Foxy Dutchman" has not said much yet. and there Is some doubt as to what sort of a team Frank has. However, It will bo right there when the race begins, nnd so will that Bhreveport bunch which ts to be guid ed through the troubled waters of the Southern League race by Commodore Thomas Fisher. But How About Memphis? All this line of talk was merely to lead up to our old friends the Memphis team, and -was brought about by the fact that we wanted to go on record as believing thul If It weren't for the four other teams In the league which seem to have an equally good cbanco, the Babblers would certainly win the pennant. Charley Babb doubtlsss had won# gaps and more gaps In his foam than any other manager In tha league. Be sides himself tha team boasted of thro* real stars—"Dutchy" Llebhardt, Nlch- olla and Nadeau. "Ueby" waa tha sec ond pest bitter In the league, Nlcholla was said to be the beet shortstop, and Nadeau was a .$79 batter. Well, these three wonders have de parted. Nlcholla and Llebhardt have gone to faster company. Nadeau has been turned back ta the Pelicans, from which club he was borrowed by Mem phis. Just a Few Wore Loft. Of the last year's men the following will be bark: George Carey, first base. ' Forrest P. Plasa, second base. Kdwurd Hurlburt, catcher. . Frank Owens, catcher. Otis Htockdole. pitcher. Sylvester D. Louche, pitcher. George Buggs, pitcher. Jimmy 8mlth, second base. Manager Charles Babb, shortstop. Buck Thell. outfleld. Robert Carter, outfleld. It will be observed that In the bunch there Is an “A No. 1“ flrst baseman, two really good catchers, three pretty line pitchers, a good lias-bsen and a good coming second baseman, a short stop, who was the best third baseman In the lengua last year, and two good outfielders—Thell and Carter. Little enough Is known of the new men. There are no new candidates tor the catcher's box, but plenty of new pitchers. The list of new twirling possibilities Includes: "Joey" L. Bills, of Keokuk, In the Iowa League. O. E. Crosby, of Heber, Ark., a pitch er. Watson, of the Texas League. Walker, of Cairo, In the Kitty Guy Saint, n Memphis semi-pro. Charles Brotje, of Toledo. Ed Wagner, of the Iowa State League. Henry Schultx, a Toledo semi-pro. There are eight new men, and from the number It Is quits evident that Manager Babb does not mean to be caught short on pitchers, as he wan last year. Bills, Watson, Walker nnd Wagner are the only ones In the list who need to be taken seriously. Babb seems to think he has a And In the "Keokuk Phenom." and very likely he will make a pitcher. Walker, of Cairo, Is said to be a big, willing chap, and a comer. Watson and Wagner may be the works. Nobody, here knows. Crosby Is a man plckod out of the sticks.- C1||« Haiti!-la hardly nf mitHrlent age or experience to do. The writer has seen him pitch In the City League of Memphis, and while he Is a wonder In that class, It Is not likely that he will stick In the Southern. Brotje and Schultx are unknown. Developing "unknowns" and Improv. TOLEDO BOY WITH BABB. In consequence, the Writer makes the following selection: OIK ONE BEST BET TO IVIN THE PENNANT—AT LANTA; Very likely this is a burn Ruess. But it is nn honest belief thnt Atlanta will win anil nothing will shake it except the vic tory of some other team. So here’s to the Atlanta team, winners of the next pennant racy. And if it doesn’t win, here’s to it, anyway. Pitching Staff Will Be Stronger Than Last Year. Billy Smith knows of th* man and had him In mind once himself Of course If Richards Is a counterfeit, BeumlllT may get a trial at the Job, or there may be shifts of various kinds. As Carter and Thiel will be bock, there Is only one gap In the outfleld, and for this vacant position the candi dates are: Cecil Neighbors, who was drafted from Burlington, of the I»wu League; W. Burt Tufe,' an Indiana product, and Dakin E. Miller, nf Wich ita. Kan. Now. there's the whole outflt, as far as we know It. If there Is anything else up Charley Babb’s sleeve he has not mentioned-It. And. anyivny, this team looks'like a good one. Just to summarise: The catching staff Is the same. The best pitcher TURFMEN DEJECTED OVER THE OUTLOOK j OTIS 8TOCKOALE. nn last year's team Is gone, but Loucks has rounded Into shape, Suggs, the man with the marvelous curves, will he nn deck (though rumor has It that he is holding nut and refusss to sign), and sight new mon will be tried. Out nf that lot ought to come better round ed and more efficient pitching staff than the one the Babblers had last year. First base will be as well or better handled. Second base the same. Short stop will be guarded by the star all round Inflelder of lost year's Southern League—a man who-fields like a (lend nml huts .X00 Third base ta doubtful, hut It will not be as strong an It was last year. The beat man has been knocked out of the outfleld. but his po sition will doubtless he well filled. On the whole, Memphis should have a more evenly balanced team than lost year, and one which, under the very efficient leadership of Charley Babb, should stick close to the top, from be ginning to end. HENRY 8CHULTZ. This youngster pitched two years ago for tho Blades In the Toledo O Bruce’s Pressing Company DRY AND 8TEAM CLEANING DYER. M2 PEACHTREE—PHONE 22S-NORTH. SUITS PRESSED AND SHAPED 35c. SUITS CLEANED AND SHAPED $1.00. MEMBERSHIP, PER MONTH 11.50. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. >••«•••••••••••••••••• OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O 0 O SWEENY SIGNS. O O O Ed Sweeny's signed contract 0 O has blown Into the office of the O O Atlanta Haseliull Association and 0 Q hits I tee it nleil awsy hy Manager O O Hilly Htnlth along with the rapid- O O ly growing pile of signed con- 0 O tracts. O O Sweeny, who was with t'olutu- 0 O hla In the Killy League last year. 0 O tins'been playing Indoor Itaseltall 0 O all winter with the Histidine ». of 0 0 Chicago. .->nil Is In line trim. O O O cooocooooooonooooooocoocoo an independent team at Toledo. Ho won ninotoon gomoo and tied one. Tho tie game wae a fourteen inning affair, in which tho eeoro wae 3 to 3, and In which Schultz atruck out ninety mon, Tho To ledo boy hae fierce speed and Mom- thie It ti daxwell. j Ing "Assies" la, however, Charley Babb's specialty. Nlcholla was nobody I at all when ilaltb landed him. and "Dutchy" Llebhardt had been a failure. Ilut the Boy Manager made wonders • out of them and gradunted them Into !, fasier company In one year. As to tho Infield. George Carey Is being counted on to i play flrst base. Bust Just to keep "the I old ’un" bustling Itaiehford, the Macon • player, has been picked up. Katchford ! i Is tinned as a good one and Is said .o , . • • rank among the top-notehers as a tlr.-t : j | saeker. However, unless he ran hat a 1 * i! lot better than Carey he can hardly 11 make n plaee for himself, for Carey is | ‘ us good u tleldlng first baseman as the league has ever seen, I Jimmy Hmlih. when In condition. |j would make un Ideal man for the Bublt. , ; I lies' second bag. Ilut rumor floats ■ i i up from New Orleans to the effect that ; •Jimmy Is not at his best. Evidently'? ' Haiti, Is worried on this point, for he ,s j: i talking of Forrest Pluss for a regular ’ • Jolt ut second. "The Rabbit" Is a good lone ami would doubtless make a sue- | cess in that position, though his bitting Is not w Imt It ought to be (.193 In I 191161. Charley Habh says he will play short- slop himself, which moans that Nlch- Itlls- place Is fllled nil right. However, In case Charley does not play there. Al Heitmlller, u club mate of Bills, of Keo kuk. will lie down for a trial. The problem of putting a man at third who will do as well as Babb did Is a difficult one. The line candidate Is Frank Rich ards. drafted from Burlington, Iowa. By J. 8. A. MacDONALD. New Orleans, La.* Feb. It.—With ths Anal days of February comes to the professional campaigner a eenee of the near approach of the day of dayo—the "blow" to the Northern summertlde racing grounds. Just at this time anticipation and ex pectation of the coming months Is In every mind, and. If truth must be told, the general feeling Is none too buoyant, for the grand Institution of the turf Is sorely beset by Its enemies on all sides. This Is the hour of Its tribulation, for within the spare of eight days the legislatures of two states—Arkansas and Tennessee—enacted measures which effectually kill racing In those respective sections. Now- comes news of a brewing agita tion against the sport In southern Call, fornla. where the professional politi cians have a Anger In the pie at Loa Angeles. Cal., and the quiet but never theless Insidious attack, the reformers are waging at Albany, N. T„ against the foundation of the metropolitan turf. Why Turfites Are Blue. There will be no racing at Mont- l"lri u gomery Park, Memphis. Ten,, Cumberland Park, Nashville this year. The game Is cooked at Hut > Ark., and with the roe* course* ,,, „„ note and Missouri crumbling i m .. through disuse, due to the , r ’ ment of laws against race trj.k tti*' ling, the whole West may be ,..m , "dead" to the nostlmo of rat ing ,> * oughbreds. ' r ‘ On the whole, the situation m is. East la none too reassuring. Here In New Orleans racing i, thoroughly Intrenched than outside of New York. n,r * Benninge Opens November 25 In New York they say racing #| live as long as August Belmont, n... In a nutshell, there la the state „r fairs, and, of course, the man nt,'. makes his living from following th. ponies, or the man or woman who A, H-hts In a holiday of a summer after’ noon down at the trackslde. where , nei xephyra blow and a decent number ,,t favorites come home. Is dlstree„a „ the outlook, with the Inception r real 1107 season but a month nr away, the Jockey Club schedule r»„. Ing for the flrst flsg an at Bennln,. Washington, D. p.. on March 25. ' Local Lightweights Wrestle For Georgia Championship In what promises to be one of the fastest, fiercest and hardest fought wrestling matches ever pulled off In this city between lightweights Kid Burns and Dan York will mix It up for two best out of three falls catch- ae-catch-can style Friday night at the "At" armory halt, on—West—MRehen street. The men will wrestle for a $30 side bet, the lightweight championship of Georgia and a percentage of the gate receipts. With so much at stage It Is a sure thing that It wll be hard fought from beginning to end. Dsn York Is a local 133 pound wrest ler and has already proven himself capable of holding hla own with some of himself on the defensive nnd Is ,it- hie to show the other man s few In the wrestling game when <.n ih- offensive. Kid Burns Is a new comer from Rir. mlngham, Ala., having been here only a few months, but In those few montht he has demonstrated to the thnrouxt satisfaction' of the followers of wrestling game that he Is one of ths hardest propositions for his weight that any man ever went up sgslnsi He also It very scientific and game tc the core. The proceeds of the bout are to g C In the treasury of the M Company tc help defray the expenses of their trip to Jamestown this summer nnd for that reason the management hope* that there will be a large crowd present. Tickets will be on sale at Brannen 4 Anthony cigar stand, corner Mltrher of the beet mat artists In this port of the country. He Is a quick, scientific' iiid'Whitehall, ind T. C.'Lauren? tin! wrestler and amply able to take care tailor, 13 Decatur street. Track and Baseball Teams Are in Training at Emory Special to The Georgian. Emory College. Oxford. Ga., Feb. 16. —Training for the track meet with Georgia and Tech this spring has al ready begun at Emory, and every aft ernoon those who expect to take part in the meet are out on the track taking slow runs and getting In form. Although Emory lost several of her beet track men this year, among them Blalock. Johnston and Hearn, still with the addition nf new- material her pros pects seem good. Coach Brown and Captain Blckley, are working hard and promlee a I team. Among those showing up »*» are Bickfey. Rumble. Wilson, Wood rut Lambert, Hammond, Bonnell, Airmail Dillard and Blckley. Baseball practice lias also begin during ths worm weather. The sea* opens In about a month and pronifwt to be an Interesting one. The mznigm of the respective teame are: I$07, P. E Bryan; 1*08, W. C. Smith; 190$, D. L. Smith; 1910, Grady Olay; 1911, Jim Bullard. Many Cars Entered For Hill Climb on February 22 Plan* arc progressing well for the Washington's Birthday Hill Club and the affair In already an nesured sue- ecus. he entry blank* have been sent out and entries are pouring In fast. Not only a number of local cars have been entered, but also a couple from Ma rietta. John M. Smith, n member of the ommlttee on cntrlrx, ask* that It he especially announced thnt entries for the climb dose February 'JO and all cars muqt be entered on or before that day. An In usual In such events most of the prospective contestants will for the last moment to declare their cam In. but there Is no doubt but that every event will be*well fllled. MUENCH& BEIERSDORFER THE PEACHTREE JEWELER* Diamonds. Watches, Jewelry. Fine Watch, Clock end Jewelry R*P*" > Ing. 89 Peachtree Street Atlanta. 0*. Bell Phone 1311. NAT KAISER & CO. CONFIDENTIAL LOANS ON VALUABLES. ooooooooooooooooooooooooon 0 01 O A LITTLE BPORTOGRAM. 0 o OI O The must Important relent news O ' 0 In the world of epoulng writers 0 ] 0 Is that of the addition to the fam- O O Hy of Gramland Rice, aportlnx Ol O editor nf The Cleveland News, of O ' O a little daughter. Mlsa FI irencc O I O Holll* Rice.. 0 O The Georgian and Mr. hire's O: O thousands of friends In At'nnta O O extend Ihclr hr.-trllesl eongmitil.i- O lions. UNLESS RUBE WADDELL QUITS EATING CRACKERS IN BED SCHRECK JUMPS PHILLY TEAM The following letter explains Itself, It was received by ' Mat k, manager of the Philadelphia Americans, and It Is Ossie 8chrt > h. n kick: . •'Dear t'onnle: Read right «m without fear. This Is not n , " u advanro n«»r a request for tin Increase In salary. I am perfectly k to i»alnt my name on the bottom of it contract, hut It's something It won't be long before you start for spring practice, and I « n 1 along If you insist on my taking care or Rube Waddell, or Kddi’ Insisted on being called while In the South. "Now, t'onnle. I have done all that I could. I didn't mind Kdfllo ** ing snakes, lizard*, mockingbird* and a pair of white mice In t!i«‘ i’" to amuse himself at night*, but I do object to his eating err 1 " r - bed. Not a night passed last summer that he didn't hit the hay n half-pound of crackers in his south paw. Most of them wei shape of animals like those you see the kids playing with «t h 1 found It stuck In between two of my ribs. At flrst I thought 1 had !*•••»•• sy and had to go to a doctor. "By the time Rube got on the outside of these crackers 1 ,n an iM ‘ thing but a sleepy mood, nnd that's why my hitting fell off It didti t to b.*thrr him, for just as soon «* he was through he would turM „ an«l go to sleep, while I had to pack down the crumbs. I want to fi' they were not crumbs of comfort, either. This thing has been going • » ' year*, and frequently 1 welcomed ft night on the road oven In an u » 1 in Ed I. Ill the berth. •in concluding. I would like to know If you can't put a clause In b* * 'a contract to the effect that he Is not to eat cmckera In bed ~ - rould be the same g 0881K BUHB&t k \ die's contract to the effect that he Is not to eat the year 1907? Then I think Rube and myself would be the sane; friends as of yore. Yours truly, GET YOUR LUMBER FROM E. G. WILLINGHAM & SONS O Hardwood fluorine a specialty. We deliver promplly *“*, , - o | satisfaction. A full stock of Lumber, Sash, Doors, elc.. on hsn<L In is Oscatur St. Kimball Hou».' O ft, right. Oarcsint in Unredeemed Diamonds. gOOOCCOOOOOCOOOOOOOOCOOOO 1 S42 WHITEHALL STREET-