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Jimmy Archer Is Greatest of All Men Behind Bat
+•+ +•+ +•+ +•+ 4.«4. ■{-•4*
Former Atlanta Backstop in Class by Himself
By. W. J. Mcßeth.
WE have with u« 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, taking in his of
fensive as well as his defensive
ability. Backstop 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, te the best
catcher In ths National league.
The statement Is made keeping In
mind Meyers' all-round utility—
principally his deadly hitting eye,
for no major league maskman
pummels the pill as doss the Mis
sion aborigine. But as a backstop
there la no man before the public
who can hold a candle to the Cub
stalwart FTom a defensive stand
point he is as superior to Meyers
as Meyers is superior to Jimmy of
fensively
Stts on Back of Heels.
You have often heard a catch
er's highest form of flattery toward
Me pet battery mate. "Say, bo.”
•aye he, "I conld catch that guy
sitting In a rocking chair." Archer
has never besn known to make
such a boast- But every game he
works he handles hts pitcher to the
height of perfection from a far
more difficult position He doesn't
sit In a rocking chair. Rut he sits
on his heels. And while crouched
on the near view of his pedals he
can throw just about twice as ac
curately and twice as speedily as
any other man set firmly on his
faet 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
desp-seated rock He is a well
knit fellow, muscled like a Greek
runner, but far from giant propor
tions. Yet, while balanced on the
backs of his shoes, he can take the
speediest shoots of Ed Ryulbach
without rocking an inch, and Reul
bach, when pushing them over, is
renowned for terrific speed
A Nimble. Agile Fellow,
Few pitchers that wotk with
Aicher have many wild flings dur
tog a season For his peculfa
apoc laity gives Jimmy a marked
advantage in receiving. From his
regular working attitude he is so
low to the ground that a low ball
c-an scarcely get past him. Ho can
smother it in the dirt with his big
mitt or shift more quickly from his
crouching attitude to intercept It
if it takes a mean hop. He is a
nimble, agile fellow, quick as a cut
on his feet and with his hands
Wherefore, if the ball shoots high
he has simply to spring up and
spear it. It 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
from wild flings also keeps Archer's
passed balls to a minimum.
Backstopping literally means the
receiving of the pitcher's delivery,
in this special line, as pointed out.
Archer has no equal. But 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 99 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 away again. He never draws
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 tmsltlon 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 1s just one Chase. But they
can not mimic Archer as they try
to Chase, for he—as mentioned in
the introduction sentence—is the
real big novelty of the national
pastime. Until there comes a gen
eration of acrobats reared on their
heels instead of high chairs Jimmy
TFODDER FOR FANS |
Ihe 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 burler. who
has been a star with Des Moines, will
join the White Sox next week
• • •
George Pierce, tried bv both the Cubs
and the Giants and listed as a total fail
ure. has again been bought bv the Cubs
He has starred with Scranton this rear
He struck out 21 plajers in a recent game
• • •
Clark Griffith, who has seen every
pitcher worth mentioning since the days
when they began to throw 'em overhand,
says that Walter Johnson is the greatest
pitcher the world ever knew. He says
Walter has it on Rnsie's best efforts in
speed and control.
Joe Willis, the Cardinal southpaw, has
a couple of misDlaeed ligaments in his
shoulder and is due a week of rest not
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.
...
The players who kick don't last the
longest on Hie diamond, according to
Hank o'Day. "Nine times out of ten."
says Henry. "Hie players kick to cover
up their own faults."
• • •
If I’aubeit lakes the job as manager at
Brooklyn it Is certain* lhat he will not
have any vei x high managerial standards
to live up to.
Tliey say that Tris Speaker, of Hub
baid City, Texas. Is the reason Texas is
tailed Hi.- Lone Star State
• ♦ •
New < 'Deans has accepted a first divi
sion berth for the Pelicans as the best
thing that can be hoped for and is talk
ing of 1913.
• • •
\ winning ball club disciplines itself
lafist year Patsy Donovan just couldn't
keep a lot of the Red Sox from tanking
ui Th’s \ear. with pennant and world’s
series in sight a man who took two beers
in a row would be paddled bv his own
t earn mates.
• • •
In building foi next year all the old
material Jennings intends to use is Ty
Cobb, <'rawford. Rush and Stanage
• • •
Thes« 'Dux-Coach" league managers
are concision! Says Moffett, of Kn<*x
' ville, "My new first baseman, Hanes, is
THE 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 Cub catcher's backstopping
and throwing skill is his natural
speed. Pew catchers are fast. But
Archer is an exception. He belies
the theory that constant squat
ting slows up the leg muscles of a
receiver. Archer is far from a poor
hitter; in fact, he is above the
average as catchers 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 DAYS IN NEW ORLEANS, THEN GO TO MOBILE
By Percy 11. Whiting.
WELL, after losing two games
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.
And after that it opens in Mobile
for three days of hard going.
Not that it makes any particular
difference.
Nothing matters now but next
yea r.
And that doesn't matter so much
—now.
* * •
J7 ORMER Southern league play
ers, with such notable excep
tions as Daubert, Rucker. Joe Jack
son. Dode Paskert, Tris Speaker
and the ehaps who always make
good, haven’t shown such a tre-
one of the best first basemen in the coun
try He works like Hal Chase and I be
lieve him to be in a class with that peer
less performer. Manes has just been re
leased by tlie Northwestern league."
And there you are.
The Appalachian league nas sold a half
dozen players to clubs of higher classifi
cation already and is negotiating for the
disposal of others Knoxville got $3,000
for Pitcher Davis-- which is almost more
than the salary of all the players on the
team for all the season.
• • «
Pitcher Dixie Walker, kicked out by
Washington, has slumped from Baltimore
to Wllkesbarre Pitcher Martin has also
been sent to that club.
Vernon, recently picked up by Wash
ington, is the Amherst college star, signed
originally by the Cubs
• • •
If Washington should happen to beat
the Red Sox, Jim McAleer would feel that
he had been whipsawed
Armando Marsans is said to be the one
best bet of the Red team this year. Next
5 ear the Reds xx ill have two Cubans play
ing with them regularly.
* * »
’The bitterest cup for O’Day to gulp
down is the thought that, bin for those
fifteen straight games that his Reds
handed McGraw, the New York team
wouldn’t have an absolutely commanding
lead in the National
♦ ♦ •
The extremely high price paid for mod
ern pitchers is said to be due to the
livel.v ball It is a 10l harder to get
away* with it now than it used to be
• ♦ ♦
Thorpe, tin all-runni athletic champion
of the world, will prohablx begin pitch
ing for the Pirates at the end of the 1913
college season Thorpe is said to be a
Sac tor Sauks) Indian, with some con
siderable white blood in his veins.
• • •
Lee 'Tannehill lasted a long time in the
big leagues and all he had was fielding
abilitx Jle couldn't hit and he xxas slow
on bases
• • •
Hank O’Dax admits that enough is
plenty. He has passed on the news that
he is through as a manager and that he
xx ill ask for his old job of umpire back
again.
•• « •
Harrj Stahlboefer. of Evansville, is a
cundidaie for Hie $3,000 job of president
of the Central league Unfortunately for
Harrs they offered him the Wheeling
franchise last year and he tactfully re
marked. "Give SB,OOO for the Wheeling
franchise" Whx I wouldn't give <3.000
for the whole league!" And now they're
holding that bright remark against him
and somebody else will get the $3,000
job.
! r i
1 Ih e 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
LA JOIE 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 hits 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
yea r.
Kirke who looked like a wonder
with the Braves, 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 good work with
Brooklyn, and so is Red Smith,
while Pitcher Frank Allen manages
to 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.
Bridwell has been out of the game
virtually all of the season with an
injured, foot. Mclntyre, former
Memphis hurier. has dropped out of '
the running and will go in for sa
iooning Os course, Buck Becker
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. But
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
ratic for regular big league service;
Lively has dropped off the Detroit
team; Lindsay didn’t stick with
Cleveland, neither did Butcher;
Clarke has gone from the St. Louis
team, and Casey has departed from
Detroit.
However, at that the Southern
league is probably as brilliantly
represented in the major leagues
right now as any Class A league. So '
long as Joe Jackson. Jake Daubert.
Zack Wheat. Dode Paskert. Beals
Becker. Jimmy Archer. Nap Ruck
er, Slim Sallee. Tris Speaker. Ed
Sweeney and Russ Ford continue
to represent the Southern in the big
show as brilliantly as they have in
the past year, the Dixie league will
not soon be forgotten.
• • ♦
that the Birmingham team
has got tlte pennant and gone
with il. it is recalled with some
amusement that at the first of the
season Baron fans and some Baron
sport writers couldn't see the Bir
mingham team at all. While At
lantans were picking the Barons to
win the pennant, the Baron base
ball experts were poking fun at the
team and panning the lite out of
Molesworth.
It's an odd thing, but somehow
Birmingham has not been able to
appreciate Molesworth. He has had
his team "right up there" ever since
he really got it straightened out
and going some. And he is going
to take this pennant in a canter.
Johnson a Wise Champion in Retiring From Ring
•ba-;. 4-a-h •i-a-b -i-a-b •ba-b 4 , a4-
Flynn Fight Made Him Realize He’s Going Back
By W. W. Naughton.
JACK JOHNSON says he has re
tired, 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, "I 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 prove
anything.
* • •
17 ROM a man who claims to have
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 uYider con
tract with another club. In the sec
ond place, Kid Elberfeld has had
his cfiance 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!
Parkey 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 has 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, but
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 fights. Johnson could stay 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
’’LU” Arthur would have to do would be
hammer him around aw’hile, collect the
money and then retire again.
• • •
Harry Rafael, who is managing Charley
Miller, the latest entrant to the “white
hope’’ ranks, was in New York a few’
days ago blowing 'about w hat Miller could
do. He says what Charley will do to Pal
zer and the rest of the big pugs will be
enough to send him to the electric chair.
Miller will leave for the East after his
battle with Jim Hynn on l*abor Day
• • •
Luther McCarthy and 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 battle to be staged in
Gotham Stewart has won eight of his
recent fights by the K. O. route and says
he has earned a crack at the big fighter.
• • •
The Terre Haute boxing club is try ing
to match George K. O. Brown with Kid
Skelly for a match there Labor Day.
• • •
Packey McFarland will signalize his
return to the ring and the start of his
fall campaign of 1912 by a six-round en
gagement with Joe Hirst in Philadelphia
August 30.
• ♦ •
Johnnie I jUfqmU u.iJ
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 the Paris cases
and the pleasure haunts of London
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 acquired 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 Satn Lang
ford. in London, after signing con-
appear as the headliner of a boxing car
nival to be staged in Cleveland August 13.
• • •
Joe Rivers and Charley White have
been practically matched for a bout to be
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 him
EAST VS. WEST ON 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
week. At Madison Square Garden to
night Jack Britton, 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
and Backey McFarland will meet in a
ten-round bout under the auspices of
the Garden Athletic club in this city
October 3. according to word received
today from a representative of that
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 traihing. Willie
plans only light work. Hogan also
went to work today. He fought fifteen
rounds with Tonimj McFarland a lit
tle more than a week ago and is in ex
cellent condition.
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 Uppercut 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.
Ihe remark is often heard that
Johnson was lucky—that when he
reached his prime there were really
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 it Sharkey had
had a few inches more of stature,
ring history might have had an en
tirely different twist.
Who 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.
NASH\ ILLE. TENN., Aug. 12. ||
was announced this morning that
waivers had been secured on Harrj
Storch, utility man of the Nashvilh
team, and he did not accompany the
team to Montgomery last night. Storch
has been with the Nashville team sinci
the beginning of the 1911 season, being
secured from Dallas. Texas, where hi
was the leading home run hitter of the
league. He may go back to the Texas
league.
miller knocks out young.
CHICAGO. Aug. 12.—Hirsch Millet
knocked out Billy Young in the third
round Os a fight held over the state ling
yesterday afternoon. They boxed for a
Side bet and $3,000 Changed hands
the battle. A big crowd saw the bout.