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Bill Smith Has the Southern League Guessing
4>*4* +•+ ❖•+ +••£■ 4***? •!•••?•
May Spring Old Trick to Evade Salary Limit
By Percy H. Whiting.
z-w- guessing." is the
motto of the two most suc-
■*■ successful managers In the
Southern league—Charley Crank
and Bill Smith. In an effort to
live up to this precept. Bill Smith
has grabbed one of Charley trank s
pet Ideas and has allowed it to be
rumored that next year he wax
be. for a blind, president of the At
lanta Baseball association. If he
took this office he could appoint a
plaving 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 SSOO a month man slip him In
as phonx manager, and only have
$250 appear on the payroll.
Smith may have sprung this
scheme Just to get a little talk
stirred up. At the same time, he
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 Presi
dent Frank Callaway, who is the big
mogul for next year. Just as he has
been for this. It xvould 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 tn his
hands,
• • •
'T* HE chief drawback to this
scheme of making Bill Smith
president Is that he could be kept
off the bench However, at home
this would he no hardship at all,
for Smith could sit tn the next box
and direct the players Just as well
as though he sat among them. On
the road the problem would be
more delicate At the same time,
it is always possible to keep in com
munication. in one way or another,
with the team.
And Bill Smith may chance it
• • •
/"'OUNT on Rill Smith for one
thing He xvill give Atlanta a
team next year made up neither ex
clusively of youngsters nor exclu
sively of old-timers, but rather of a
w ell-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 player
and quite another to be a ball play
er, Atlanta fans eaxx the xxorkings
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 have
just about reached the semi-final
stages.
Txxo rounds of matches will have
been completed at the conclusion of to
day's play.
Here are the matches that xxere
played Tuesday and Wednesday
First Flight.
First Round H Block defraud c
P. King. 3 up and 2 to play D h. Os
borne defeated H. J Hopkins, t up;
W. R. Tichenor defeated J. I'. Eb> 2
up and 1 to play. *
Second Round—H. Block defeated e
G. Ottley, 5 up and 4 to play
Second Flight,
First Round—J. C. McMichae' <
seated T. P. Hinman by default; H G
Butler defeated E. 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. Dix. 3 up and 2
to play; 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 Bill Smith is "getting
his gorge” of youngsters. He
switched to th- other extreme at
the first of this season and tried to
stock up entirely xvith kids it
didn't xvork 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 NOTH FIR thing that Atlanta fans
1 can look for next year is a
changed attitude toward umpires
Bill Smith believes that a certain
amount of word-heating and intim
idation is necessary to keep the
umpires giving a reasonable num
ber of close decisions his wax'. He
knows that the arbiters hate to be
tongue-lashed, and he certainly
knows how tn apply the tongue.
\x hen 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 ft was still broad
daylight Bill xvent after Shuster
like a terrier dog after a tat, and
it players hadn't Interfered xvould
have hammered him sure.
Bill has been In Atlanta long
enough to know, however, that the
public and the press is opposed to
anything 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
ANOTHER thing Bill Smith is
i 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. But he
will not stand for a drunkard. If
a player gets to drinking on Bill
Smith's club—off goes his head.
Rill realizes that a drunkard is al
xvays an inefficient ball player -
but more than one drunkard can
always put the team on the blink by
creating other drunkards.
• • •
MOTHER thin< that will depart
x 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. tinder agreements filed with and
approved by the commission
National League.
By Philadelphia From Atlanta,
• Max er.
Bx New York From Mobile Detna-
Jree; Dallas. Bader
American League.
Bx ''lm ago From Macon. Douglass;
Austin. M< Larry and Taylor. Bfrtning
; ham. •Johnson.
Bx St Louis —From Houston. Riggs.
Sherman. Mapier; Bristol. Sloan.
Montgomery. Williams; .Mobile, Walsh;
Montgomery. •McAllister and Johnson
By i'li \ eland—l'rotn Bristol Walker.
Neu Orleans. Nagelsen and Clancy.
Bx Detroit From Chattanooga, Burg.
A.banx. Ga.. Berkel. Jackson, Deal.
Dalias Gibson. Vicksburg. McGehee.
Jackson. Clauss.
Bx Philadelphia—From Memphis
Altman. Baltimore. "Walsh ami ’Mur
phy.
By Washington- From Chattanooga.
Moran. Atlanta. •Aghr
•Agreements not received and,
therefore, subject to approval.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. THURSDAY. AUGUST 29. 1912
Smith regime a man will have to
play his level best or 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
difference 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; he 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 JIARQUARD’S RECORD
I X ▼ ASHINGTON, D. C„ Aug. 29.
y/V/ -Old Jack Powell's glass
arm was good enough yes
terday to cheat Walter Johnson out
of getting up to or passing Rube
Marquard’s winning record of nine
teen straight victories. Having
won sixteen in a row. all Washing
ton turned out to see Johnson beat
the lowly Browns, it looked like a
cinch for him, after the way he has
been handling all the first division
dubs. But it was not to be.
Today disappointment hangs low
and heavy over the village. Even
the president Is not wearing his
usual happy smile. Casey fanned in,
the pinch at Mudvills, 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 bits,
against seven off Powell, but Wal
ter xvas wild and his support xxas
of the bush league .brand. The
Browns oopped the argument. 3 to 2.
But Johnson is game. Although
the season is getting late, he is
going to go right out and try again
to break the record.
Greatest Pitcher of All Time.
Unassuming 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 tour 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
tn direct line with his duty. There
"as not the least action signifying
that ha even thought of his great
accomplishment, and Instead of
waiting 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 stands.
It Is a fact that Johnson, al
though he has been a brilliant per
former since the first dav he stood
In a major league pitching box, xxas
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 Paeifle Coast anil
Northwestern leagues. He was let
go as being useless. Probably the
catchers had little use for him with
that tremendous speed, and max bo
they xxere at fault. But. anyway,
somebody failed to recognize the
jewel and he was allowed to drift
away,
Trims Tigers in Debut.
About the middle of the year he
came to Washington, am! as soon
as he got here was shoved in
against Detroit, then the hardest
hitting and most feared club in the
American league. Jennings' Tigers
j JOE WOOD CAPTURES *;
J HIS 14TH GAME; HAS :
• WON 29 AND LOST 4 2
• 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 Marquartf’s record. Also •
• that he will wind up the season •
• with the biggest percentage of vic- •
• tories ever earned by a hurler. •
*4 •
••••••••••••••••••••••••a*
FACTS CONCERNING
JOHNSON’S RECORD
OF 16 WINS IN ROW
A B. R. H.
1 July 3. New York2s 1 ’ 5
Retired at end of sixth, with 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
w ith 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 It. 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
h—July 22, Detroit3s 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. Chicagoß 0 0
Relieved Cashion in eighth with score
tied Senators won tn tenth.
A.B. R. H.
11 - August 7. Chicagol9 0 2
Retired at end of sixth with game
won, 9 to 0, Engel finishing it.
A.B R. H.
•e August 10. St. Louis 3 0 1
Relieved Hughes in ninth xvith 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, a. .. .29 o 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 w rong. « Such
speed as Johnson sent across the
plate they had never seen. He had
them backing away from the ball
continually—he xvas wild enough
then to keep the batters scared—
and when the ninth inning was over
Johnson was the victor over the
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 bis work been re
garded that whenever the Wash
ington club was on the road the
papers in the cities xvould print ad
vance accounts something like
this: "The 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
than anything else to the very poor
work of hls 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 Johnsons record since
coining tv Washington;
Success of Lookouts’ New Manager Doubtful
-■’•t 4-»4. 4**¥ •?••?•
Elberfeld Rank Bloomer as Yankees’ Leader
By W. S. Farnsworth.
Lookout fans won't get a
pennant winner next year,
but they xvill 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
* ha.ttanooga 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 Nexv York American
league club in 1909. After having a
pennant lead in May the team
Year. Won. Lost. Pct.
1908 14 14 .500
1909 13 25 .342
1910 ,. •. 25 17 .595
1911 23 15 .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 under the present re
gime. Joe Wood is the only man
in the xvhole circuit who really
leads him in the percentages, but
even at that it 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
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 xvas finished had
Johnson brought to him and In
troduced. The president warmly
congratulated him and autographed
the ball xvith xx’hich 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 axvkward Westerner
who began service with the Amer
ican league, there is now the tall,
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 hovx 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 hls 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 ami answered, "That’s not
baseball." The games in which
Johnson works are about the short
est. from the point of time, played
bj any of the dubs.
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 xvent back to his
home in California. And when the
Kid xvas finally disposed of he left
such a wreak of a machine that
Owner Frank Farrell had to build
up a complete nexv outfit.
Here is what the Spalding guide
of 19119 lias 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 general opinion
was Griffith had a pennant win
ner after many years of effort
But the belief was not to last long,
for before Max’ 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 xxas
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, xvho 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” xvith the New-
York team in 1908:
"• • • The 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 dax’ and the
next day he Is back in the ring. John
son sa ?’ s •>? has not heard of a $30,000
oner for him to box Joe Jeannette In
tans. However, the champion said he
would accept such an offer under favor
able conditions.
• ♦ •
Emil 1 hiry. Packey McFarland's man
ager. has the auto bug. He recently
purchased the car that Packey won when
he defeated Owen Moran 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.
• • •
With the Joe Rivers-Joe Mandot fight
less than a week off the odds are 8 to 5
in favor of the Mexican.
* • «
t’j'clone .lohnnx Thompson and George
K. O. Brown are scheduled to box ten
rounds at Peoria September 10. Jack L‘ll
lon was originall.x 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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any medical advice. No charge for either.
THE SWIFT SPECIFIC CO., ATLANTA, GA.
and consequent shifting. The de
moralization yas so complete that
in one month the team slid from
the top of the heap clear to the
bottom, where It remained contin
uously without hope of redemption
for the balance of the season.”
BAN JOHNSON is quoted as
saying that Walter John
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
learn when Johnson xvas in the box
and the game will be recorded as a
defeat for him. Johnson made a
wild ptteh and a St. Louis 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
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 xxas 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
hurler 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 champion and that ha
won t pass it up, even at the cost of losing
the Gotham go.
Eddie Reddy, who Is managing Mika
Gibhons, denies he has signed articles
for Mike to fight Eddie MoGoo?tv in
m »ew- York September 25, or in anv
other city for that matter. Reddv savs
he received an offer from Gotham pro
s4°ooo sh b Vt l i he " ffer n ? ilde "'as about
$4,000 shy the lowest possible mark he has
±7±, d , UI ? n f , n , r , th ' St Paul middle
weight to box McGoorty.
* * »
Mike Sullivan, signing himself welter
weight champion of the world, savs he is
keen for a match with Jimmy Clabbv to
be Staged at some club near Chicago
Mike says he Is willing to take on anv
of the fighters right up to and including
the middleweight class. ®
♦ * •
Grover Hayes. Columbus lightweight,
who fought in this city several times last
year, sailed for Australia Monday to box
in several of the foreign countries. Hates
has nve 20-round bouts scheduled. Among
those he will tight are Hughey Mehagan.
Jack ( arroll and Jack Russell
• * *
The referee robbed Joe Coster of a de
vision 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 citv
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