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WB ** n <P^lbh0 1 Mp- W ' - —' - -----iLMirsCtr u-srifrjJl |Z_Zj_■’ysssllllg - . ._ - 1- ■ —• J.-I —— ■ *•• I <******-» «WMi*WW ■— M — 3 » a J ■ . * ——— —.. —.—- 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.