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®OWAN ZISnZFI E-DITLD ty W 9 FARNSWORTH Silk Hat Harry' s Divorce Suit He Didn't Mean What the Judge Mean Copyright, 1912, National News Ass'n. By Tad >————l ' ■ I" ■ --■. -.- * THIS 15 ft WANT TO SEE. OMF ' fOH GEE I’M. SO' UNCLE -MEI PMSSA •Os THEM 8003 J Awm OCJJ TO SEE I ~ IHV FP-lEHD Mfiß-E waor f 7^^JoG^. (> 'iT S J> N/ i \ A 8008. vfiEU-rU-TELX Z>-* RUbAwy ZA K/vAnTS TV SEE I _ us NORTH AtND I WAPT > TMC MAVP - < i I A o a POU TO JHOW Hl M / -j- —X o/xy J - / TDCyET aC ' OH JUVG-€ < A 600 6 i AR<X’V& THE pm 50V ,Jget\ - SOO-SEE Th EbA X ! / JS> A JUDGE- k <Tf 1 P ' COME OvGX- J LvouJ — _ \ ' W/N3OWS WITH / >< -v MfttuMHAl/IER. U HE7t£ -TX £~ WWP-S r. zzwl r _—•x A z v iBlrS - <X Xwr xl v SHI ifew ,3 <7?Bw 4M tit X tMB La J, J'ILJBI 7 v mW . jwß TtW jU-B ---Mi_f« R- I,' ' ” Jimmy Archer Is Greatest of All Men Behind Bat +•+ +•+ -!-«4- +•+ +•+ •!•••!• Former Atlanta Backstop in Class by Himself By. W. J. Mcßeth. WE have with ut today, gentle readers, one of the real novelties of the nation’s delight. Kindly step forward, Mr. James Archer. of the Chicago Cubs, till the populace gets a peek at you. Rather a handsome young gen tleman. isn't he, with his raven locks, swarthy complexion and Ro man profile? Well, take It from all the ball players in the National league he's far better than he looks, even if he is a handsome kind of a chap There may be better catchers in the profession today than Jimmy Archer, of Chicago. But there are no such backstops. There's a slight distinction between the two classes. Catcher involves the broader sense of that special type of athletes that wears mask, wind-pad and mitt. A catcher's value Is reckoned relative to his team worth, talcing In his of fensive as well as his defensive ability. Rackstop only implies the defensive issue—the work of hand ling pitchers, crossing batsmen and keeping runners glued to the sacks. Wherefore —at least that portion of enthusiasts who reside around the metropolis—general fandom will tell you perhaps that Chief Meyers, of the Giants, is the best catcher in the National league. The statement is made keeping in mind Meyers' all-round utility— principally hts deadly hitting eye, for no major league maskman pummels the pill as does the Mis sion aborigine But as a backstop there is no man before the public who ean hold a candle to the Cub stalwart From a defensive stand point he is as superior to Meyers as Meyers 1s superior to Jimmy of fensively. Sils on Back of Heels. You have often heard a cateh err”» highest form of flattery toward hie pet battery mate. "Say. bo.” sa-ys he, "I could catch that guy sitting In a rocking chair." Archer has never been known to make such a boast. Rut every game he works he handles his pitcher to the height of perfection from a far more difficult positirtn He doesn’t sit in a rocking chair But he sits on his heels. And while crouched on the rear view of his pedals he can throw just abont twice as ac curately and twice as speedily as any other man set firmly on his feet for a peg. Jimmy Archer behind the bat Is the personification of athletic grace It is worth the price of ad mission alone to see him work Fully three-quarters of the time he squats on his heels firm as a deep-seated rock He is a well knit fellow muaeled ike a Greek runner, but far from giant propor tions. Yet. while balanced i, n the backs of his shoes, he can take the speediest shoots of Ed Reulbach without rocking an inch and Reul bach. when pushing them over. renowned for terrific speed A Nimble. Agile Fellow. Few pitchers that work with Archer have main wild flings dm tr>< a season For his peculla. specialty gives Jimnij a marked advantage in receiving From his regular working attitude lie is so low to the ground that a low ball can scarcely get past him He can smother it In the dirt with his big mitt qr shift more quickly from his crouching attitude to intercept It if it takes a mean hop. He is a nimble, agile fellow, quick a> a cat on his feet and with his hands Wherefore, i* the ball shoots high he has simply to spring up and spear it. Ir is a well known fact that it is far easier to go up for high ones than to dig down for crazy chucks. The same natural advantage that protects a pitcher a from wild flings also keeps Archer's passed balls to a minimum. Backstopping literally means the receiving of the pitcher's delivers In this special line, as pointed out, Archer has no equal. Rut his re sources do not stop there. His pe culiar catching attitude seems to be admirably adapted to perfect throwing. .Archer Is a deadly marksman. Either standing or squatting, he can peg the bull's eye at any cushion hit times in 100. His throws snap out with riflelike ve locity. but his greatest adjunct is the faculty of getting that throw away at once. He wastes no time in starting the ball on Its course. The minute the ball hits his glove It’s awmy again He never draw's back his arm; he shoots the ball with a snap peculiarly his own. and he saves stolen bases by mak ing the foe hug the sacks. Let a man stray two feet beyond safe ground at any base and he’s dead as a door nail, if any one is on the job at the other end. His squat ting position behind the batter seems to give Archer a distinct Advantage over a base runner. He can watch his man like a hawk without tipping his hand. Good For Many Seasons. Hal Chase revolutionized play around first base. Archer has not revolutionized catching simply be cause there are none to follow his lead There Is just one Archer as there is Just one Chase Rut they can not mimic Archer as they try to Chase, for he—as mentioned in the Introduction sentence is the real big novelty or the national pastime Until there comes a gen eration of acrobats reared on their heels instead of high chairs Jimmy FODDER FOR FANS The departure of Pitcher Kent from Brooklyn to Toronto marks the end of another man sent up from the Southern last year He was a Baron in 1911. • * • Bill Douglas, right hand hurler. who has been a star with Des Moines, will join the White Sox next week George Pierce, tried by both the I'ubs and the Giants and listed as a total fail ure, has again been bought bv the Cubs He has starred wijh Scranton tins veal He struck out 21 play era in a recent gam< * • » Clark Griffith, who has seen everx Pitcher worth mentioning since the days when thex began to throw iem overhand, says that Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher the world ever knew He says Walter has it on Busies best efforts in speed and control. • • « Joe tVtllis, the Cardinal southpaw, lias a couple of misplaced ligaments in his shoulder and is due a week of rest no’ that it will make any material difference in the pennant race • • • Cobb Is a great ball player, all right But that strike he started so disorganized the Detroit team that it hasn't been in the running since The signing of a two year contract with Detroit by Jennings marks the end of that famous incident * * * Even Birmingham now admits that the Barons will win the pennant • M • The players who kick don't last the longest on the diamond, according to Hank ’ » Dax \'ine times out of ten." sass Henry, "the players kick to rum up their <»w n faults • • ■ If Daubert lakes the job hs iiianap r at Brookix n it is certain that tie will not < haw anx xetx high managerial standards to live up to I hex sax that Tris Speaker, of Hub bard x’lix. Texas, is the reason Texas is called the Lone Star State • • » New ’Ohans has accepted a first divi i sion berth for the Pelicans as the best < thing that can be hoped for and is talk I mg of 1913 • • • X winning ball club disciplines itself l«ast year Paisx Donovan just couldn’t keep a lot of the Red Sox from tanking , up This \ear. with pennant and world's series tn sight a man who took two beers in a row would be paddled bx- his own , teammates • • • In building for next xear all the old ’ material Jennings intends -to use s T\ Cobh. <’raxx ford. Hush and Stanag* • • • These I '.iy 'mach'' league managers are <■>!!- -lent Sa'S Moffett. ..I KmA- Ville. My new first baseman, Hanes, is TTTE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. MONDAY. AUGUST 12. 1912 Archer is very likely to get the big hand as one of the passing side shows. Almost as astonishing as the great t'ub catcher's backstopping and throwing skill is his natural speed. Few cat< hers arc fast. Rut Archer, is an exception He belies the theory that constant squat ting slows up the leg muscles of a leceiver. Archer is far from a poor hitter; in fact, he is above the average as catchers go. He's an all-round star any way you wish to take him. Crackers Fairly Started on Semi-Final Trip—With Two Defeats in One Day PLAY 2 HAYS IN NEW ORLEANS, THEN 00 TO MOBILE By Percy 11. Whiting. T A 7 KI " L ' af,Pr losing two games y\ their first day away from home, the Crackers are fairly started on their semi-final road trip. They play in New Or leans today and tomorrow. Then the club gets a couple of off days. Ami after that It opens in Mobile tor three days of hard going. Not that it makes any particular difference. Nothing matters now but next year. And that doesn't matter so much —now. * ♦ ♦ J* ORMER Southern league play ers, with such notable excep tions as Daubert, Rucker. Joe Jack son. Dode Paskert. Tris Speaker ami the chaps who always make good, haven't shown such a tre- one of the best first basemen in the coun ir\ He works like Hal Chase and I be lieve him to be in a class with that peer ess performer. Manes has just been re leased by the Northwestern league " And tliere you are • • • The Appalachian league nas sold a half dozen players to clubs of higher classifi cation alreadx and is negotiating for the disposal ot others. Knoxville got $3,000 for Pilcher Davis which is almost more i han the salarx of all the players on the team for all the season. ♦ * * Pitcher Dixie Walker, kicked out bx Washingion. has slumped from Baltimore to W ilkesbarre Pitcher Martin has also been sent to that dub • • • >ernon. recently picked up bv Wash ington. is the Amherst c ollege star, signed originally by the Cubs. If Washington should happen to beat the Red Sox. Jim Mi Aledr would feel that lie had been whipsawed • • \rmando Marsans is said to be the one best but of the Red team this rear. Next >ear the Reds will have ixx o Cubans plax - ing with them regularly. * ♦ ”» The bitterest cup for o Day to gulp down is the thought that but' for those fifteen straight games that <iin Reds handed McGraw, the New York team xxouldn t have an absolutelx' commanding lead in the National. • ♦ * The extremelx high mice paid for mod ern pitchers is said to be due to the lively hall It is a lot harder lo get awax with it now than it used to be ♦ ♦ • I horpe. tht .ill r.cind athletic champion of the world. xx ill probablx begin pilch ing lor the Pirates at the end of the I9i:i • ollege season Thorpe is salt! to be a Sac ’or Sauks> Ind’un. with s«»me con siderable white blood in his veins • • • Lee Tannehill lasted a long time in the big leagues and all he had was fielding abiliix IL couldn’t hit and he was slow on bases • • • Hank O’Day admits that enough is plenty He has passed on the news that he is through as a manager and that he will ask for his old job of umpire back again • * ♦ Harry Stahlhoefer. of Evansville, is a candidaic fol the $3,000 job of president of Hie Central league I nfortunately for Han they offered him the Wheeling franchise' last year and lie taetfulh re marked, -aJive SS,OOO for the Wheeling fraitelilse ' Why I wouldn't give SS,OOO sot tile whole leagttt ' And flow they're holding dial bright remark against hint ami somebody else will get the SI,OOO job. I Ihe Big Race | Here s how the “Big Five” of the American league are hitting the ball, the averages including yesterday’s games: PLAYER. A.B. H. P.C. COBB 402 168 .418 SPEAKER 427 171 .400 JACKSON 401 155 .387 COLLINS 382 127 .332 LAJOIE 263 80 .304 Cobb has been out of the game for two days now and both Speaker and Jackson have climbed up nearer to him. In Saturday and Sunday games Speaker garnered four hils in eight times at bat. Jackson did even better, smashing forth six swats in eight at tempts. Collins got four hits in ten trips to the plate. Lajoie connected twice in eight chances. mendous lot in the big leagues this year. Kirke who looked like a wonder with the Rraves. isn t in the line up now. Jackson. Who went from the Memphis team to the Braves, is doing better, though his batting av erage is perceptibly less than the .347 he made in the 39 big league games he worked last year. Northern is doing goqd work with Brooklyn, and so is Red Stnitli. while Pitcher Frank Allen manages lo hang on. though he isn't going very strong. But Brooklyn has sent back all the other Southern leag uers of last year's crop—Daley, Kent, Coulson and the rest, and also Dolly' Stark. Pat Flaherty has passed back. Bi'idwell has been out of the game virtually all of the season with an injured foot. Mclntyre, former Memphis hurler. has dropped out of the running and will go in for sa looning. Os course. Buck Recker and Tris Speaker, graduates of the lamented Little Rock team, con tinue to play big ball for league leaders. Hank Griffin has come back to the Southern and then dropped out of this league. Hub Perdue manages to keep In the » limelight in one way or another, and so does Hess, who went to the same club from the Southern. Rut i Bugs Raymond has dropped out of baseball entirely; Oldring, a former Montgomery player, has slumped tremendously with the Athletics; Neal Ball continues to be too er i ratic for tegular big league service; Lively has dropped off the Detroit team: IJndsay didn't stick with Cleveland, neither did Butcher; Clarke has gone front the St. Louis team, and Casey has departed from Detroit. Hotvever, at that the Southern league is probably as brilliantly represented in the major leagues t ight now as any Class A league. So , long as Joe Jackson. Jake Daubert. Zack Wheat. Dode Paskert. Beals Bicker. Jimmy Archer. Nap Ruck er. Slim Sallee. Tris Speaker. Ed Sweeney and Russ Ford continue to represent tin* Southern in tile big show as brilliantly as they have in the past year, the Dixie league will not soon be forgotten. » • • ,l1 '" t,le Birmingham team has got the pennant and gone with it. it is recalled with some amusement that at the first of the season Baron fans and some Baron snort writers couldn’t see the Bir mingham team at all. AVhlle At lantans were picking the Barons to win the pennant, the Baron base ball experts were poking fun at the team and panning the life out of Moles w orth. It's an odd thing, but somehow Birmingham has not been able to appreciate Molesworth. He has had hi- team "right up there'' ever since ho really got h straightened out and going some. And he is going to take this pennant in a canter. lohnson a Wise Champion in Retiring From Ring ❖•■{• -i-e-I- 4**4* +••{• Flynn Fight Made Him Realize He's Going Back By W. W. Naughton. JACK JOHNSON says he has re tried, and it remains to be seen whether he means it. Just at present his resolve is of an ada mantine character. He swears that the world will never hear him say, as John L. Sullivan said. "J tried once too often,” and that, never hereafter will the lure of gold bring him back to the ring as it brought Jeffries back, when he was far past his athletic prime. The writer believes that Johnson Os course, he has had enthusiastic financial backing—but so did Hemphill. So that doesn’t provq anything * ♦ » L' ROM a man who claims to have 1 seen the letter, it is learned that the Atlanta Baseball association is conducting a near-dicker with Nor man Elberfeld to take the manage- , ment of the Cracker club for next year. We are a trifle inclined to doubt the story. In the first place, the local club isn't going to do any dickering with a man under con tract with another club.' In the sec ond place. Kid Elberfeld has had his chance as a manager and has failed The Kid knows baseball and he has the pepper. But Elberfeld never has been able to control him self and will never be able to con trol others. |NEWS FROM RINGSIDE] Paekey Hommey was signed up a few days ago to meet either Jim Coffey or Boyo Driscoll for next Monday’s show at the Garden A. C. in New York If Hom mey gains the decision Matchmaker Gib son lias promised him a scrap with Young Shugroe or some other leading feather weight. • • • Although Luther McCarthy lost the popular decision to Jim Stewart in Go, tham a few days ago, he is not a bit de spondent. Luther is matched with Tom Kennedy a week from today and says he will win in a walk. The big battler said the crowd got his "goaf last time, hut that now he has got used to the mob and will show them some speed next out. ♦ * ♦ Mike Gibbons is about ready to descend upon the East once more. This time Michael will carry along his brother Tommy, who is as good as Mike, so Mike says Anyway, the pair will reach Go tham early next month • • • Eastern sport scribes believe Jack Johnson's retirement from the ring is simply a bluff to get larger nurses for his tights. Johnson could star in seclu sion for several months until some "hope'’ has made such an impression on the pub lic that the promoters would be willing to offer another purse, such as was posted when Johnson fought Jeffries, then all "Lil" Arthur would have to do would be hammer him around awhile, collect the money and then retire again. • • • * Harrv Rafael, who is managing Charley Miller, the latest entrant to lhe "white hope " ranks, was in New York a few days ago blowing about what Miller could do. He says what Charley will do to Rai ner and the rest of the big [mgs will be enough to send him to the electric chair Miller will leave for the East after his battle with Jim Flynn on Labor Day. • * • Luther McCarthy ifnd Jess Willard are scheduled to mingle at the Garden A. C in New York August 19. • * • Jim Stewart has challenged Al Palzer for a ten-round Iwttle to he staged in Gotham Stewar't has won eight of his recent fights by the K. O. route and says he has earned a crack at the big tighter • • • The Terre Haute boxing club is trying to match George K. O. Brown with Kid Skelly for a match there Labor Day • • • Packet McFarland will signalize his return to lhe ring and the start of his fall campaign of 1912 by a six-round en gagement with Joe Hirst tn Philadelphia August 3(1 • * « Johnnie I Mjcm kru*. wrJ is out of the game to stay. The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and no one knows better than Johnson what rough sledding it was with Fireman James Flynn at Las Vegas. Two years ago Johnson would have literally spanked Flynn for his bad ring manners. As it was, the best Johnson could do was hold on and holler for help. Two years of acquaintance with th.e Paris cases and the pleasure haunts of I-ondon had told in Johnson's case just as similar dalliance had done in the case of Peter Jackson. When the state police were clam bering into the ring in New Mexi co and Referee Smith was mopping his perspiring brow, a little bird whispered in Jack Johnson’s ear, "The time is ripe for retiring.” And who can blame him? He has Required a competence through the use of his gloves, and now that he feels he is not as spry or as sure fisted as he used to be. he is show ing good judgment in sidestepping possible disaster. Because other champions made mistakes is no reason why Johnson should. Wants To Quit Unbeaten. In getting out at this time, John son is catering to an ambition he has long felt, even though he may not have given expression to it. He would dearly like to be known as the only negro who held the world's championship and then retired un defeated. In support of this view, it is only necessary to recall Johnson's 'atti tude toward other colored fighters' since he became champion. It is claimed that he deliberately back ed out of a match with Sam Lang ford. in London, after signing con- appear as the headliner of a boxing ear- • nival to be staged in Cleveland August 13. Joe Rivers and Charley White have • been practically matched for a bout to be t staged some time next month. No club has been mentioned, but it is probable the match will be staged in the East somewhere near Chicago. The only' reason Young Jack O'Brien was not knocked out in the sixth round by Leach Cross in New York the other , night was that he held on to Leach so tight that the dentist could not hit htm EAST VS. WESTON BOXING CARD IN N. Y. THIS WEEK NEW YORK, Aug. 12.—The East and the West will be pitted against each other in the only two important boxing bouts that will be staged here this wedk. At Madison Square Garden to . night Jack Bnitton, a Chicago light weight. will tackle Eddie Smith, of Harlem. On Wednesday night at the St. Nich olas rink. Gunboat Smith, a Califor nia heavyweight, will box ten rounds with Porky Flynn, of Boston. There are several other bouts on the program, but all are of minor importance. McFarland and wolgast TO MEET IN GOTHAM OCT. 3 NEW YORK. Aug. 12. Ad Wolgast ami Paekey McFarland will meet in a ten-round bout under the auspices 4 Hie Garden Athletic club in this city October 3, according to word received lodu.v from a representative of that I club now in Cadillac. Mich. Both men are to weigh 133 pounds at 3 o’clock on the day of the fight. RITCHIE STARTS WORK FOR BOUT WITH HOGAN SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 12.—Willie Ritchie, who is to meet "One-Round" Hogan in a four-round bout at Dream, land Friday, has begun training. Willie I plans only light work. Hogan also went to work today. He fought fifteen rounds with Tommy McFarland a lit- ■' tie more than a week ago ami is in ex- • cwilent condition. t tracts. He has been a veritable will o' the wisp to Joe Jeannette, who has been after him for a long time. He has often talked of going to Australia to box Langford and McVea, but, judging by his actions, he was never for an instant sincere in this. If the last has really been seen of Johnson as a pugilist, he will be remembered as a fighter who was seldom if ever fully extended. Some say that his fight with Tommy Burns in Australia was his hardest. This may be so. He certainly never had any hard fights in the ordinary acceptance of the term in this country. His go with Jeffries, from which so much was expected, was so extremely one-sided that it lives in memory as the joke of the century. A Great Xjppercut Fighter, Johnson's style of boxing was all his own. He was master of the straight left and right crosses that educated boxers usually employ, but he seldom relied upon them. In the use of hooks, uppercuts and lifting punches generally he prob ably never had an equal. Arguments frequently arise as to how Johnson would have fared if he had been sent against a Queens berry crackajack like Peter Jack son when the latter was at his best. Well, there is no harm in forming and holding an opinion on the point, but right there the discussion ends. It is a sporting aphorism that it is bootless to argue any matter that can not be settled by a bet, and certainly there is no way of deter mining which was the better man— Peter Jackson or Jack Johnson. The remark is often heard that Johnson was lucky—that when he reached bls prime there were reaJly no good heavyweights in sight. That is true in a measure, but it is the luck of the game. It very often happens that staleness and long service contribute to a champion's defeat as much as anything else. Seldom 2 Good Men at Same Time, in the heavyweight division, it was seldom in recent years that two really good men developed about the same time. Possibly the best Instance of genuine rivalry in this respect was when Jeffries and Shar key were working to the front. No more stubborn engagements than the two in which Jim and Tom were the principals were ever wit nessed probably, and if Sharkey had had a few inches more of stature, ring history might have had an en tirely different twist. AA ho will be Johnson's successor? Some people do not see much hope for the hopes because Langford, McVea and Jeannette are still ac tive. But these colored gladiators are not by any means as youthful as they used to be, and as there is no negro novice in sight, there is good reason for arguing that a white man will rule the heavy . weight roster within the next cou ple of years. ALL WAIVE ON STORCH. NAbllA ILLE. TENN.. Aug. 12. II A\a- announced this morning that waivers had been secured 'on Harrj Storch, utility man of the Nashvill, team, and he did not accompany the team to Montgomery last night. Storch has been with the Nashville team sin< < the beginning of the 1911 season, being secured from Dallas, Texas, where he was the leading home run hitter of the league. He may go back to the Texas league. MILLER KNOCKS OUT YOUNG. ('Hit AGO. Aug. 12.—Hirsch Millet knocked out Billy Young in the third round of a fight held over the state line yesterday afternoon. They boxed for g side bet and s3,()on changed hands oi the battle. A big rowd saw the bout.