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Bill Smith Has the Southern League Guessing
+ •->• +•+ +•+ •!•••!• +••!• +••*•
May Spring Old Trick to Evade Salary Limit
Bv Percy 11. Whiting.
-/Tr.l-'l’ etn guessing," Is the
LA motto of tlu two most suc-
-u<■< t-Asful managers In the
Southern leugtle--Charley Crank
and Bill Smith. In an effort to
live up to this precept. Bill Smith
has grabbed one of Charley Frank’s
pet ideas and has allow, d it to be
rumored that next year he may
be, for a blind, president of the At
lanta Basebell association If he
took this office he could appoint a
playing manager, and thus keep
down the salary roll. For, with a
playing manager, only half his sal
ary counts against him In figuring
the total salary for the month
Thus, for example, he could get
one 1500 a month man -lip him in
as phony manager, and only have
1250 appear on the payroll
Smith may have sprung this
scheme Just to get a little talk
stirred up. At the. fame time, ho
may right now have a high-priced
man he plans to get for next year,
whose salary he intends to split up
In this manner.
• • •
OF course if Smith put through
such a deal it would be nec
essary to account for I’resi
*dent Frank Callan ay. who Is the big
mogul for next year, just as he has
been for this. It would be an easy
matter, however, to make him
chairman of the board of directors
or to give him some other phony
title, leaving all authority in his
hands.
• • •
THE thief drawback to this
scheme of ma-king Bill Smith
president Is that he could be kept
off the bench However, at home
this would be no hardship at all.
for Smith could sit in the next box
and direct the players just as well
as though he sat among them, on
the mad th. problem would be
more d'-licate. At the same time,
it is always possible to keep in eom
• munication. in one wax qt another,
with the team
And Bill Smith may chance it.
♦ • ♦
AMOUNT on Bill Smith for one
thing He will give Atlanta a
team next year made up neither ex
clusively of youngsters nor exclu
sively of old-timers, but rather of a
well-balanced mixture of both.
Bill Smith had his fill of old-tim
ers in Chattanooga last year.
He figured that season that It
didn't matter how old a man was.
so long as he was a ball player.
He found out, however, that it was
one thing to have been a ball play, r
and quite another to be a ball play
er. Atlanta fans saw the workings
of that, under Hemphill this year.
TICHENOR. BLOCK. AND
OSBORNE STILL IN FIGHT
Match play in the three flights for
the Davis & Freeman gold trophy havr
just about reached the semi-final
stages. -
Two rounds of matches will have
been completed at the conclusion of to
day’s play.
Here are the matches that were
played Tuesday and Wednesday
First Flight.
First Round H Block defeated c
P. King. 3 up and 2 to play. D. B Os
borne defeated H. J. Hopkins. 1 up.
W. R. Ticheuor defeated J. l>. Eby, 2
up and 1 to play.
Second Round H Block defeated E
G. < Utley. 5 up and 4 to play.
Second Flight.
First Round J. McMichael de
feated T. P. Hinman by default. H. G
Butler defeated R. Jones, 1 up
Second Round —R. J. Jones, Jr, de
feated J. C. McMichael, 5 up and 4 to
play ; G. A Nicholson. Jr., defeated C.
E. Corwin. 1 up; H. G. Butler defeated
T. C. Fleming. 1 up, 19 holes.
Third Flight.
First Round—T. L. Cooper defeated
H M. Ashe. 3 up and 2 to play; P A.
Wright defeated H. L. I'ix. 3 up and 2
to plav: R. D Gresham defeated W. C
Spiker by default: A W. Hodnett de
feated H. Hertz by default.
Just because a. man had batted .321
in the American league in 1901
didn’t prove to be any sign that he
could bat better than .230 In the
Southern in 1912.
This year Rill Smith is "getting
his gorge” of youngsters. He
switched to the, other extreme at
the first of tills season and tried to
stock up entirely with kids. it
didn't work well, as. the averages
demonstrate.
Next season- Bill will return to
the right principles. He will have a
team made up largely of young
sters. but with enough old-timers
on the job to steady down the kids.
Most of the successful teams of the
Southern league have been built on
that principle.
• • •
A Nt>THER thing that Atlanta fans
x can look for next year Is a
changed attitude toward umpires.
Bill Smith believes that a certain
amount of word-beating and intim
idation is necessary to keep the
umpires giving a reasonable num
ber of close decisions his way. He
knows that the arbiters hate to he
tongue-lashed, and he certainly
knows how to apply the tongue,
when the occasion arises.
Bill is a peppery' individual and
isn't above jumping on an umpire
if the circumstances seem to war
rant it. He showed that the day of
the Justly famous "Shuster inci
dent" —when an' umpire of that
name called a game on account of
darkness, though it was still broad
daylight. Bill went after Shuster
like a terrier dog after a rat, and
if players hadn’t Interfered would
have hammered him sure.
Bill has been in Atlanta long
enough to know, however, that the
public and the press is opposed to
any thing bordering on rowdy ball
On the road, however, he does not
feel himself in the least restrained,
and he gets all out of the umpires
that he can.
Strange to relate, however, the
umpires .seem to like Bill, and he
gets along nicely with them.
• • •
MOTHER thing Bill Smith is
going to do for the Atlanta club
is to pitch overboard the tank ar
tists. Bill Smith doesn't mind an
occasional glass of beer Bui he
will not stand for a drunkard. If
a player gets to drinking on Bill
Smith’s club—off goes his head
Bill realizes that a drunkard is al
ways an inefficient ball player—
but more than one drunkard can
alway s put the team on the blink by
creating other drunkards
• • •
thing that will depart
* with the coming of Smith will
be indifferent playing. Under the
NATIONAL COMMISSION
APPROVES MANY SALES
CINCINNATI, Aug. 29 The national
baseball commission has announced the
list of players whose releases have been
purchased by major league clubs from
minor league clubs since August 20.
1911. under agreements filed with and
approved by the commission
National League.
By Philadelphia—From Atlanta,
* Mayer
By New York From Mobile. Detna
ree. Dallas, Baier.
American League.
By Chicago—From Macon. Douglass;
Austin. McLarry and Taylor. Birming
ham, ’Johnson.
Bv St Ixnils From Houston. Riggs.
Sherman. Mapier: Bristol, Sloan.
Montgomery. W illiams; Mobile. Wal-h.
Montgomery. ’McAllister and Johnson.
By Cleveland- From Bristol. Walker;
New Orleans, Nagelsen and Clancy.
By Detroit From Chattanooga. Burg.
Alban. Ga . Berkel, Jackson, Deal;
Dallas. Gibson. Vicksburg. McGehee;
Jackson. Clauss
By Philadelphia—From Memphis.
Altman. Baltimore. ’Walsh and ’Mur
phy.
By Washington From Chattanooga.
Moran; Atlanta. ’Agler.
•Agreements not received and,
therefore, subject to approv.l.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. THURSDAY. AUGUST 29, 1912.
Smith regim" a man will have to
play his level best ur get out. Bill’s
whole heart is in the game, and he
expects those of his players to be
right in the same spot. Bill has
various methods of uprooting in
differenee. He gives presents to his
players, he pays them all the salary
the law allows (and, it is to be sus
pected. more sometimes); he in
spires them with his own enthu
siasm; ho bawls them out and fines
them If they are stubborn. Then,
if they don't come around, he fires
them Which Is as it should be.
Gloom Hangs Heavy in Capital When Browns Defeat Great Hurler
JOHNSON FAILS TO BREAK MARQUARD’S RECORD
WASHINGTON, D. C„ Aug. 29.
-Old Jack Powell’s glass
arm was good enough yes
terday to cheat Walter Johnson out
of getting up to or passing Rube
Marquand's w inning record of nine
teen straight victories. Having
won sixteen in a row, ail Washing
ton turned out to see Johnson beat
tile lowly Browns, It looked like a
cinch for him, after the way he has
been handling all the first division
clubs But it was not to be.
Today disappointment bangs low
and heavy over the village. EVen
the president is not wearing his
usual happy smile. Casey fanned it?
the pinch at Mudville, but gloom in
that burg never compared with the
layer of it that blurs Pennsylvania
avenue today on account of John
son’s defeat.
Johnson only’ allowed four hits,
against seven off Powell, but Wal
ter was wild and his support was
of the bush league brand. The
Browns copped the argument. 3 to 2.
But Johnson is game. Although
the season Is getting late, he i
going to go right out and try again
to break the record.
Greatest Pitcher of All Time.
I nassutning and quiet, Walter
Johnson is today the most wonder
ful pitcher baseball has ever pro
duced. Notwithstanding the fact
that he had broken the record
made by Jack Chesbro four years
ago. when he defeated Cleveland
for his fifteenth win, Johnson
walked to the bench after that
game as modestly as though he had
done nothing more than what was
in direct line with his diUy. There
was not the least action signifying
that he even thought of his great
accomplishment, and instead of
walfing to receive the congratula
tions of the players who started to
crowd around him, he grabbed his
sweater off the bench and hurried
to the club house. • He had but
done what he considered was his
work, and he could see little need
for the wild huzzas coming from
the atands.
It is a fact that Johnson, al
though he has been a brilliant per
former since the first day he stood
In a major league pitching box. was
released by two or three minor
league clubs before coming here.
He started his baseball career in
the West and was tried out by
clubs in the Paetfi- Coast and
Northwestern leagues. He was let
go as being useless Probably the
catchers had little use for him with
that tremendous speed, and maybe
they were at fault. But. anyway,
somebody failed to recognize the
jewel and he was allowed to drift
a w ay.
Trims Tigers in Debut.
Al>out the middle of the year he
came to Washington, and as soon
ns he got here was shoved in
against Detroit, then the hardest
hitting and most feared club in the
American league Jennings Tigers
: JOE WOOD CAPTURES;
J HIS 14TH GAME; HAS:
2 WON 29 AND LOST 4 •
• Joe Wood, the speed hurler of •
• the Boston Red Sox, is on his way •
• to pass Rube Marquand’s record of •
• nineteen victories. Now that Wai- •
• ter Johnson has gone down to de- •
• feat, Wood is the White Hope of •
• the American league. Yesterday •
• he won his fourteenth straight •
• game. Also it was his twenty- •
• ninth victory, and as he has lost •
• only four games, his winning av- •
• erage today is .879. Right now it •
• looks as though Wood would •
• break Marquard’s record. Also •
• that he will wind up the season •
• with the biggest percentage of vic- •
• tories ever earned by a hurler, •
»•••••••••••••••••••••••••
FACTS CONCERNING
JOHNSON’S RECORD
OF 16 WINS IN ROW
A.B. R. H.
I Inly 3, New York2s 1 5
Retired at end of sixth, w-ith game
won, 9 to 1. Musser replacing him.
A.B. R. H.
2—July 5, New York 43 2 4
Pitched 12 2-3 innings of sixteen-in
ning game, replacing Engel In fourth
with score 3 to 2 against Senators.
A.B. R. H.
3 July 9. Cleveland 33 3 8
4 July 13, Chicago 34 2 7
5 July 16, Chicago 32 2 7
Eight innings; called by agreement.
A.B R. H
•—July 20, St. Louis. . 6 0 0
Finished for Hughes, pitching 2 1-3
innings. Game ended in a tie
A.B. R. H
6 Jltlv 22, Detroit 36 3 7
7 July 25, Detroit 34 5 6
8— July 28, Cleveland 32 1 6
9 August 2, Detroit 32 0 7
, ’—August 4, Chicago 2 0 0
Relieved Hughes in ninth, that pitch
er getting credit for game
A.B. R. H.
10 — August 15, Chicago 8 0 0
Relieved Cashion tn eighth w-ith score
tied. Senators won tn tenth.
A.B. R H.
11— August 7, Chicago. .19 0 2
Retired at end of sixth with game
won. 9 to 0, Engel finishing It
A.B. R. H.
•—August 10, St. Louis 3 0 1
Relieved Hughes in ninth with St.
Louis in lead, pitcher named losing
game
A.B. R. H.
12— August 11. St. Louis 39 2 4
13— August 15. Chicago 6 0 2
Relieved Cashion in ninth with score
tied, and Senators won in tenth.
A.B R H.
14— August 16, Chicago 29 0 1
15— August 20, Cleveland 34 2 10
16— August 23. Detroit 33 1 6
•—Does not figure in the record.
figured an easy time with the awk
ward-looking Western recruit, but
they had reckoned wrong. Such
speed as Johnson sent across the
plate they had never seen. He had
them backing away from the ball
continually—he was wild enough
then to keep the batters scared—
and when the ninth inning was over
Johnson was the victor over ths
most tried club in the circuit and
everybody knew that the Senators
had picked up a wonderful pitch
er.
Even with a losing club, one
which has been seventh and eighth
so continuously that no other place
was ever figured for it. Johnson
has been a winning pitcher. So
exceptional has his work been re
garded that whenever the Wash
ington club was on the road the
papers in the cities would print ad
vance accounts something like
this: "Tlie Walter Johnsons will be
here next week and," etc.
Johnson has had but one poor
year since he has been in the ma
jor league, and that was due more
tlian anything else to the very poor
work of his club. His record that
year. 1909. was 13 won and 25 lost,
yet he finished the season with a
percentage of wins almost a hun
dred points better than the stand
ing of the club.
Here is Johnson’s record since
coming to Washington:
Success of Lookouts* New Manager Doubtful
•?••+ -h**s- ❖•• I. -i-e-r ■£•••!•
Elberfeld Rank Bloomer as Yankees’ Leader
By W. S. Farnsworth.
LOOKOUT fans won’t get a
pennant winner next year,
but they will get plenty of
action nevertheless. Anywhere Kid
Elberfeld hangs his hat there Is al
ways a heap of life. But how-,
where and why the owners of the
Chattanooga franchise ever signed
the Kid as manager is beyond our
wildest imagination.
Elberfeld, of the rowdy- type of
ball player, made a dismal failure
of his only out as manager. That
was with the New York American
league club in 1909. After having a
pennant lead in May the team
Y® ar • Won. Lost. Pct.
1908 14 14 .500
1909 13 25 .342
1910 25 17 .595
1911 23 1 5 .605
1912 (so far). ... 27 8 .771
May Excel All A. L. Records.
It will be seen by the above rec
ord that Johnson stands a pretty
fair chance of excelling anything
that has been done in the Amer
ican league uryier the present re
gime. Joe Wood is the only man ‘
in the whole circuit who really
leads him in the percentages, but
even at that ft is doubtful if his
pitching has been as effective as
that of Johnson. Wood has had a
pennant-winning club behind him
all the year and has been In shape
since the beginning of the season.
Johnson has had neither. Ask any
player in the American league
which of the two men he had rath
er face and he will answer "Joe
Wood.”
Johnson is undoubtedly one of
the most popular players in the
league, especially in Washington.
Any time the score is Close around
the last couple of innings the fans,
from the president down, call for
the man they- consider invincible.
The great pitcher has no more
stanch adherent and no more ar
dent admirer than President Taft.
The executive rarely if ever misses
an opportunity to see him work.
Two years ago, when Johnson beat
the Athletics in the opening game
of the season by a score of 1 to
0. President Taft was in a box, and
after the game was finished had
Johnson brought to him and in
troduced. The president warmly
congratulated him and autographed
the ball with which the last inning
was played. That ball is one of
Johnson s most prized possessions
today.
Pitches Without Effort.
Johnson is not the Johnson of old.
Instead of the awkward Westerner
who began service with the Amer
ican league, there is now the tall,
graceful, perfectly poised figure.
Every action on the diamond is
almost perfection itself, and when
he pitches it is with little or no
apparent effort. So little does he
appear to exert himself that it is
often wondered how he develops his
wonderful speed.
In all his time in the American
league Johnson has never been
known to grumble at an umpire’s
decision. No matter how things
go against him. he never lays the
blame on the poor work of the ar
biter.
In the box Johnson does not
stand back of the rubber to get the
signals and thus waste time, but
he pitches, and as he is walking
back to his position gets the signal
from the catcher, steps in the box
and immediately pitches again.
When asked once why he did not
take more time and get more rest
while pitching. Johnson looked sur
prised and answered. "That's not
baseball.” The games in which
Johnson works are about the short
est. from the point of time, played
by any of the clubs.
dropped in less than five weeks to
the very bottom of the ladder. El
berfeld treated Hal Chase so badly
that the great first baseman. jump
ed the team and went back to his
home in California. And when the
Kid was finally disposed of he left
such a wreck of a machine that
Owner Frank Farrell had to build
up a complete new outfit.
Here Is what the Spalding guide
of 1909 has to say about Elberfeld:
"Nothing in the season of 1908
was more remarkable than the ca
reer of the New York Highland
ers. With a good getaway from
the starting line, the hilltop team
set out to make what looked like
a runaway race for the flag, and
before the middle of May they
were so firmly intrenched in first
place that the opinion
was Griffith had a pennant win
ner after many years of effort.
But the belief was not to last long,
for before May was ended the
team started a slump which car
ried it down without stopping and
at such speed that in a little over
five weeks the Highlanders hit the
bottom never to rebound.
"Before this happened the res
ignation of Manager Griffith was
announced and the appointment
of Norman Elberfeld was made to
the vacant position. But dissen
sion continued to grow in the
ranks and finally resulted in the
desertion of the crack first base
man, Hal Chase, who jumped to
the California State league. From
these, combinations of tough luck
the team as a whole never recov
ered."
And from the Reach guide of 1909
we print the following concerning
Elberfeld’s "success” with the New-
York team in 1908:
• » appointment of
Elberfeld as his (Griffith’s) suc
cessor led to factional troubles,
which resulted in First Baseman
Chase s desertion, Stahl's release
NEWS FROM RINGSIDE
Jack Johnson retires one day and the
next day he is back in the ring. John
son says he has not heard of a $30,000
oner for him to box Joe Jeannette in
Paris. However, the champion said he
would accept such an offer under favor
able conditions.
♦ ♦ •
Emil Thiry, Packey McFarland’s man
ager. has the auto bug. He recently
purchased the ear that Packey won when
he defeated Owen Mqran in New York.
• • »
Harry Singer, one of K. O. Brown’s
sparring partners, has secured a match in
Springfield. Mo., his foe to he Art Magirl.
Jack Epstein is training Singer for this
match.
• • w
With the Joe Rivers-Joe Mandot fight
less than a week off the odds are 8 to 5
in favor of the Mexican.
• • •
Cyclone Johnny Thompson and George
K. O. Brown are scheduled to box ten
rounds at Peoria September 10. Jack Dil
lon was originally carded to fight Brown
but ditched the club when the promoters
would not come across with his demands.
• • •
Packey McFarland says he has no In
tention of passing up his six-round fight
with Young Hirst, scheduled for Philadel
phia Friday. Packey says Wolgast knew
this bout was already carded before he
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honestly and fairly earned by a great blood remedy. It is worthy of its
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The majority of physical afflictions are caused by bad blood, because a weak,
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any medical advice. No charge for either.
THE SWIFT SPECIFIC CO., ATLANTA, GA.
and consequent shifting. The de
moralization was so complete that
in one month the team slid from 1
the top of the heap clear to the
bottom, where it remained contin- |
uously without hope of redemption '
for the balance of the season.” t
1
BAN JOHNSON is quoted as
saying that Walter John- J
son’s winning streak was
broken Monday by St. Louis. He
is alleged to have said: "The win
ning run was made by the St. Louis
team when Johnson was in the box
and the game will be recorded as a
defeat for him. Johnson made a
wild pitch and a St. Louts batsman
hit him for a single that sent home
the deciding run.”
When Johnson took up the
pitching burden there were two
men on the paths. This alone ex- 1
cuses him from a defeat. He had
nothing to gain and everything to
lose. And in such a case he can
not be charged with defeat.
Harry Pulliam, former National
league president, rendered a verdict
on this question years ago and it
sure was good dope, too. He
claimed that the pitcher who was
withdrawn from the game be held
responsible for all runners who
were on the paths when the relief
hurlcr was rushed to the rescue.
Therefore, Johnson could not be
charged for a run until the two
men on the bases when he went
into the box had cashed. Any
others that scored after that would ■
have been rightfully charged to
him.
But I do not believe Johnson
ever gave out such a statement. It
was too good a boost for his league
to have Johnson In line for a rec
ord. And B. Byron is one of our
best little press agents.
signed to meet the chagnpion and that b«
'Y an , t , % ss u up ’ even at the cost of losina
the Gotham go, •
• • •
<oKK die R ? dd . y ’ w llO is managing Mika
Gibbons, denies he has signed articles
for Mike to fight Eddie McGoo?ty m
in New York September 25. or In any
other city for that matter. Reddy saya
he received an offer from Gotham pro
”'l. t . he offer made was about
54.000 shy the lowest possible mark he has
, U ‘T n f ?, r^ the St ' Paul middle
weight to box McGoorty.
* • •
Mike Sullivan, signing himself welter
weight champion of the world, says he la
keen for a match with Jimmy Clabbv. to
be staged at some club near Chicago,
r s « y u he is . willin S to take on any
the fighters right up to and Including
the middleweight class.
• ♦ •
Grover Hayes. Columbus lightweight,
who fought in this city several times laid
year, sailed for Australia Monday to box
in several of the foreign countries. Haves
has five -0-round bouts scheduled Among
those he will fight are Hughey Mehagaru
Jack Carroll and Jack Russell.
» • •
The referee robbed Joe Coster of a de
cision in New Orleans a few nights ago
when he raised Frankie Russell's hand
after the two had fought ten rounds, ac
cording to reports from that city.
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