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14
MOM
Club Without a HUSKY Catcher Is Handicapped
Grand Line-Bucking Wins Game for Billikens
By Ppivv H. Whiting.
THERE.® a world of football
mixed up in a lively bale
ball game. And most of the
defensive work must he performed
'ey the catcher. When the players
begin to stream across the plate the
catcher is in the unenviable posi
tion of the linesman in a football
game upon whom the attack is cen
tered Every play that is made
goes right across his usually pros
trate body.
It is largely be auss the catcher
has such a tough job that only big
men are reallv successful at the
work. One thing that made Sid
Smith a wonder was the fact that
he had placed football as well ns
baseball at college. Nothing pleased
him more than to stand up at home
piate and let some big husky run
into him. He could usually spill
the said husky all over the lot, and
•he runner that could make Sid
Sm'th break ground would have
nee. ■■ ■'■ the -ize of an elephant
combmed with the speed of a deer.
This ntav seem somewhat be
sde the point, hut it isn't. It
could b< > * tom:-Irated that the
i r .r r« I .' p- lerda' s bail game
a> .-(pt sxt..i> different ways,
whir 1 ’ they did. Hut if <'ateher
Graham had been a busting big lad
are tnable of standing the impact
of hug hotly hurled at him hard,
• -<|.feat might have been stalled
rs„ fjret two runner- < Hills and
who scored in the fate
ful eighth inning, when th* game
was 'oat. made their runs over
Graham <if course, if Bailey and
O'Brien hadn't hooted one each it
would not have been necessary for
Graham to play any football. Hu'
the errors were made and vs it h
men on bases the Crackers tight
ened up. Aitchison, the third man
up for the Billies, was fanned for
the third successive time. McAlis
ter. who batted for Stingle. ground
ed to East This man threw quick
ly to the plate and Graham got the
hall and set himself for the shock
of meeting the oncoming Rills. The
Montgomery player came Into the
plate like a madman, and he caught
Graham right in his midst. The
Cracker catcher spun round, spilled
over and dropped the ball. One
run was across and the score was
tied Wares followed at bat and
the previous play was repeated to
the last wretched detail, except
that Grthber.s didn't hit Gralwtm
squarely enough tn spill him. but
nevartheles*- landed on him hard
enough to knock the. bail-out of his
hands
Those two plays beat the t'rock
ers.
• • •
rpHE eighth Inning of yesterday’s
* game was made notable by* the
fact that five eYrors were made
before it ended. Graham had to
hate errors for dropping the ball
both times he was hit. <if course,
morally he wasn't to blame, for the
players who bumped into him were
larger than he and had all the ad
vantage of momentum, mass and
general preparedness Rut tinder
the Inexorable scoring rules the
play had to be explained somehow
and there was no way except to
give Graham a bntce of errors.
Then, in addition to the bobbles of
Bailey And O'Brien. Alperman made
on., Whitey's was so entirely ex
cusable that it was really hardly
an error. Ganzig hit an awful wal-
■ p h e way that only a miracle
. •■>ni 1 have enabled him to stop.
After the error flurry set In Tom
my Atkins, who. op to that time,
had pitched one of the best games
of his career, became d i pgi ist ed
with the way things were going
and eased up materially. The Rll
tjps re<n’onded with a flurry of hits
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and before they were through they
had piled up seven runs.
JOHNNY DOBBS must have de
veloped a mistaken hunch that
he could acquire Tommy Atkins'
nannie over the loud noise route,
tnyhow, he gave the theory a
workout and he expended more en
ergy than any man on his regular
line-up. He took a place tn the
coaching box, formed his hands
into a rather large megaphone and
hammered right at Atkins by the
hour.
Maybe this was what gave At
kins a grouch, but probably not,
for he seemeo to have It before the
came started at all. He growled
like a sore-toed grizzly during the
practice period, and when the do
ings began he quarreled with the
umpires and with his teammates.
And the madder he got the better
he pitched. He paid no more atten
tion to Dobbs' yapping than to the
gurgling of the sewer, and he was
clearly set for a shutout when his
team blew awav behind him.
* • •
1-HE Crackers are frequently beat
en. hut they never quit. In the
ninth yesterday, with the score 7
to 1 against them, they sprang a
rally. Os course, they didn't do
much but allow the Billikens to
run amuck, but that took some
baseball sense. Two errors, a base
on balls, a wild pitch ami a hit by
Sykes, Him was stuck in tn bat for
Atkin*, made things look interest
ing, even if two were gone hefo”e
the hit and O’Dell's run developed.
However. Aitchison proved the
mantel in th*, end, and by fanning
Bailey ended the rally and the
game.
iF the Crackers hadn't kicked
• away the game and if the At
lantans had won. as they deserved
to, 1 to 0, “Whitey” Alperman
would have been due a batch of
credit. He scored Atlanta's first
run. It was in the second and h,
was the firsl man up. He went
up with a hunoh tha.t he could get
on without hitting, and he did It.
After the count on him was thres-
RUSSELL, EX-CRACKER.
GOES TO BRIDGEPORT
BRIDGEPORT, CONN.. May 22.
Kid Russell, the young catcher who was
sent by the Highlanders for a season
of seasoning In Bridgeport last year, Is
back on the old job.
Russell was tried out hv the Atlanta
team this spring and then sent tdi Spar
tanburg He was recalled by the Crack
ers anti then turned over to New York.
Manager Wolverton placed him with
Bridgeport again. The Highland chief
believes that tn time Russell will de
velop into a great catcher.
SOUTHERN LEAGUE.
Standing of the Clubs
W. 1.. PC W L P C
B’liarn . .23 15 .503 Mont. . 17 IB .472
Mobile 21 IB st»B Allanta 15 IB 455
Cnooga. 17 1 4 .548 N < >Ts. 14 18 438
Mphis 18 15 545 N'ville. 11 21 .344
SOUTH ATLANTIC.
Standing of the Clubs.
\V I. .PC W L. PC
Albany. .18 8 .892 Col'bus, 12 16 .444
J ville. .19 '• .579 Macon 10 17 370
K'nah. 14 II 560 Columbia 720 .269 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE.
Standing of the Club*.
iV 1. P.C W L P C
Chicago 22 '• 710 Detroit. 15 15 5041
Boston. IS 10 >142 B'd'phia 11 1 4 440
C’land .14 12 j3B X York Xl7 320
W'ton 14 14 500 St I.ouis S lit .296
NATIONAL league ,
Standing of the Club*.
W I. P.O W L PC
N Tork .21 6 778 St. Louis 19 19 406
C'nati . .22 8 733 P'd'phia 10 17 .370
Chicago 14 14 500 Brooklyn 917 .346
P’burg 12 13 ISO Boston . 10 19 345
kZjvZz'ezr- &
PERCY H WHITING
SAM CRANE. WJ MSdLTH,
DAMON RUNYON,
CHARLES DRYDEN ♦
and-two he gave s noble example
of the nearly lost art of “fouling
'em off." This practice has fallen
into disuse since the days of the
foul strike, but Alperman made
good use of it. Every good ball that
came along he spoiled with a foul.
Ho ’must have ruined a dozen
strikes before Aitchison weakened
and slid a ball over. Alperman
let it go by’, the umpire called it
and Alperman scampered to first.
O'Dell and East followed with sin
gles and Alperman scored with the
run that ought to have the
game—but which lacked such an
awful lot of doing it.
IK
Secondary Defense Important
Part Baseball Team Nowadays
By Damon Runyan.
MANAGER John J. McGraw, of
the Giants, places almost as
much impendence In his sec
ondary defense as he does in his tegu
lar line, and the fact that the Giants
are making such a wonderful show
ing this early in the season proves that
the McGraw theory is a sound one.
But for the capabilities of that second
line the New York National league club
might have been in dire straits for
several weeks, as some of the most val
uable regulars were Injured or ailing
at the start of the season.
McGraw has always argued that the
strength of a club is in its substitutes.
He has made it a point to pay as much
attention to getting high-class ball
players on his bench as on the field.
There is rarely a time that he does not
have a second string of half a dozen
prominent youngsters taking their edu
cation from cover of the players’ coop,
and he usually has two or three finish
ed men who can Jump in and handle
any position.
All managers now endeavor to or
ganize a reserve force, and practically
every club in the two big leagues car
ries its full allowance of twenty-five
men—which means that half of them
<1 I'o O > I K c-f i 4 11 4 z.f . . . . , , 4 1 V* 4 . .
are substitutes. not counting the
pitchers Some managers run largely
tn twirlwrs. and carry a big flock of
reserve heaving talent, but the major
ity are content to hold on to just a
fair-sized star that can be worked in
rotation, and devote the other space
to utility infielders, outfielders and
catchers. The system now generally
j in vogue, of having a coach for the
I young pitchers with the team, displaces
one working player.
Jennings Used Pitchers in Garden.
At the Gotham hilltop the other day.
Hughey Jennings, manager of the De
troit club, erstwhile champions of the
American league, sent three pitchers in
as pinch hitters, and wound up with
' a pitcher playing the outfield. Jen-
I nings declared that it was the first
I time in his big league career that he
had to use a pit* her as an outfielder.
Os course pitchers are frequently used
as pinch hitters, because many twirlers
are crack batsmen, but the average
manager dislikes using his fingers for
utility purposes.
So the second line of defense has
become all important with most big
league baseball clubs Now and then
had luck so persistently pursues some
clubs thai both the first and second
lines are shot to pieces, as was the
case with the Philadelphia Nationals
this spring. and with the Detroit
Tigers, but these are exceptional cases
AVhen a manager is forced to place
his reliance in his regulars alone,
and those regulars hwomp incapaci-
HerN-Sheim.Ck,af?~l
Good ><sn)pke
eq.uin.e-
•THE ATL \ V T '
■
“Tex” Griffin, Who May Come to Atlanta
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tated. the result is sometimes very
disastrous. Harry Wolverton, manager
of the Yankees, ran against such a
condition. His second line of defense
could not produce sufficient strength
w hen Cree, Wolter and Chase were out
of the game, and his pitchers were
nearly all going bad at the same time.
Wolverton has gradually developed
a pretty fair second line, and It is un
likely that another season will ever
catch him short handed in any de
partment. But it takes almost as much
time to build up the reserve force as
it does to build up the first line.
Since the return of Ed Sweeney to
tite Yanks, he presumably again takes
his place as "first catcher." with
"Gabby"” Street as second man, and
Williams as third. Ford is said to
work better with Sweeney than with
any other receiver. Johnson. the
Washington wonder, has ben paired
off with Ainsmith by Clarke Griffith
and Bobby Groom with John Henry. It
would be hard to choose between these
two catchers in point of mere" ability.
Lapp usually catches Coombs, of the
Athletics, although Thomas is Sup
posed to be the “first string" man.
Thomas generally works with Bend ir
and Plank. Nunamaker and Carrigan
apparently work impartially for the
Boston Red Sox and Kling divides the
work with Kiarden for the Boston Na
tionals.
McGraw Is Well Fortified.
McGraw could now lose the services
of practically his entire first line, and
still have a formidable team in the
field. If Devore, Snodgrass and Murray
were Incapacitated at the same time,
McGrawxcould use Beals Recker, Mc-
Cormick and Burns in the outfield.
Murray has been out recently and
Becker filled his place acceptably.
Doyle and Fletcher have also been laid
up at the same time, and the infield
was Just as strong with Shafer and
Groh working at second and short.
Herzog could be out and Shafer could
be shifted to third. If Merkle were in
capacitated Snodgrass would be pulled
in from the outfield, and the Califor
ian plays a rattling good first base
So. too. does Shafer, a fact gen
erallt known. While the Giants were
in Texas this spring, Shafer played
first sot the kid team, and was a
strong reminder of "Stuffy" Mclnnis,
the slugging first baseman of the
world's champion Athletics. There is
no more versatile infielder than Shafer.
All jobs look alike to him.
Behind the hat. McGrew has Meyers,
Wilson and Grover Cleveland Hartley.
Here again. Snodgrass can be used.
FRANK GRABS TWO PLAYERS
FROM NAPS. VIA TOLEDO
NEW ORLEANS, LA . May 22.
Manager Frank, of the New Orleans
club of the Southern league, has pur
chased Outfielder Meloan and Pitcher
Swann f-om the Toledo duh of the
American association.
WEDNESDAY. MAY 22. 1912.
W W NAUGHTON , TAD,
LLFT HOOK. SOL PLLX,
H M WALKLR-z.
LD W. SMITH. * • *
CRACKERS MAY LAND
GRIFFIN FROM BRAVES
John Griffin, better as “Hank”
or "Texas," who pitched for Atlanta In
1910. but who has since then bee.n In
the National league with Chicago and
Boston, may again become a Crack
er.
Griffin has never had inite enough
to make him a big leaguer but for all
that he is a wonder. In 1908 in Fort
Worth he led the Texas league. Out
of 32 games he won 22. The following
year Atlanta got him but farmed him
in Augusta, where he did only pass
ably w'ell, winning 13 and losing 9 with
a team that won 64 and lost 49. The
Crackers brought him back and used
him in 23 games in 1910. He won 11
and lost 12. The club that season won
When Ifs Summer
Ifs Sumar For Suits
The charm of Summer is its possibilities. Warm
weather takes off the handicap and one is free to find
what he seeks if he goes after it.
F irst of these is personal comfort, and such is
the prime essential to all else. The personal part of
comfort in Summer is the Summer Suit.
The suit of Sumar is the surest avenue, because
it’s the porous fabric with naught to bar the breezes.
Feather weight—but strong—that’s because of
the hard-twisted worsted threads that lend them
selves so perfectly to the loose weave.
Blue, tan and gray with C
white silk thread decoration
Geo. Muse Clothing Co.
I
75 and lost 63. Despite this not over
impressive showing the Cubs grabbed
him.
Griffin has never had enough w’ork in
the big leagues to show what he could
do. Yet despite the fact that he hasn't
won any games to speak of he has con
tinued to look so good that nobody had
the heart to let him go.
Now. however, there is a likelihood
that Boston will turn him loose and if
the Braves sell Griffin Atlanta is likely
to buy him.
VOLS TRANSFER GAMES.
MONTGOMERY. ALA.. May 22.—The
Montgomery-Nashville series of games,
scheduled in Nashville beginning on
Thursday, have been* transferred to
Montgomery.
@©]l,lF=*
MUND pm
TO MIK IN N T.
IF COIN 15 810
By Sol Pl ex.
Chicago . May 22.—Ad ifad
gast and Packey McFarland
are closer to a match this
morning than ever before, unless
it be when that Milwaukee sheriff
kept them apart last September.
Tom Jones and Emil Thiry, the
managers of the men, conferred on
the matter of a ten-round fight
between their famous charges veg.
terday. Jones and Thiry have con
ferred many times before and long
and bitter have been the disputes.
But this time everything was as
calm as the old mill pond. When
they’ separated It was understood
that Packey and Ad would fight it
out in New York between June 1
and June s—-provided Wolgast gets
what he wants In a financial w ay.
“It's up to the New York pro
moters now," said Jones, after the
talk. "Wolgast and McFarland
will agree on all terms in five min
utes if I get what I ask in the
way of a guarantee and percent
age. There will be no trouble on
the weight. We'll be lenient with
Packey. All we ask is money
enough, and I guess that is what
the McFarland bunch desires. to°.
"Don’t let anybody tel] you that
Wolgast is not as good as ever.
In my opinion, he is better than
before his appendicitis operation,
and you know lhat -Is saying a
whole lot. He simply toyed with
Ritchie and Daniels because I re
fused to. let him cut loose. They
were just test bouts. From now on
he'll be sent in to win ae quickly
as he can.
“Wolgast will fight once a week
from now until next Thanksgiving
day. If 1 can get a lucrative match
for him each week. I would like to
give him three short fights in the
next ten days. He won’t travel far
ther than ten rounds with anybody
until he meets Rivers.
"Wolgast gets 60 per cent of the
gross gate n’ith Rivers, as we.ll ae
a big guarantee. He won't make
less than $20,000 off that fight.
Will he win? The Mexican will
be as soft for him as Moran was.
and Owen could not hurt Ad. Just
watch Wolgast clean up the light
weights in the next few months.
He’s a real champion, that boy.”
RICE LEADS MERCER TEAM.
MACON. GA.. May 22.—Howard Rlc«
has been elected captain of the Mercer
ball club for 1913.
[SANTAL-MIDY
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SANTAL-MIDY