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®O®GIAI SPCSK
EPITLP W. 3 FARNSWORTH U V/
Tommy McMillan’s Baseball Life
Highlanders’ Small Shortstop Is a
By Percy fl. Whiling.
x -f THEN the first call went out
VA/ for baseball candidates in
the spring of 1904 at the
Geoitgia Institute of Technology,
there was the usual response. A
hundred or more young men turned
out —and one little boy The boy
was a clean cut little shaver, in
short pants, about the size of a
halt-grown bat boy.
ffVTiun Coach Heisman looked
them ovw he saw the makings of a
fine team- -and he also noted the
hope be doeen't get tn the way
*nd«v* hurt. FU have to eflmlmute
fctm at the firm out,' 1 was Coach
Hetamarfie ©ommeut.
>Tt*D Colkzw«4 2 tot of Indoor
•art. For days th® condldatee
m beat tbay could In the
Vtotrlotad apart® ctf the fymnaatum,
4otn* ascii amaU thin*® !n the
bwebot] Bna aa tha scant room
M*mb Ota Omo ttir the first cut
eaaM Ckakfii Betaman wielded the
■aoutD* kntfis wtth renkteaa obon
ftuex *• taaual But when be came
M**4nacoa «f the kid ha didn't
boy worts tn
0» apanZ wa. hta eomsnent
AwCber-cul cams. And than the
AM <m
Whm Cbwflrak garn® wea played
Q» tanadDeat-anan <m the ®q nod wm
a* aboafaacp Ha had atunrn such
» ppalMw. geutua to® baeebafi d>at
ba had atim* through.
The name at the buy woe Tommy
McSMXnaa
see
mommy McMillon wwe m
doatbtedJy tha very Pttleat boy
who ever got on a real varsity
team tn the Routh, He won his
plaoe because be coaid bat fairly
wen. because be coted field excel
lently, and meet particularly be
cause lie had a baseball mind.
"McMillan has," says Coach
Heisman, who perhaps knows him
better than any other man. “that
rare faculty of knowing where a
ball Js going to be hit. He seems
to give the matter no thought No
doubt he divines the, thing by the
working of his subconscious mind.
1 lit en a batter he knows and given
some hint of what Is to be pitched
to him and he can come nearer to
Idling where it is going to be Mt
than any living man who has ever
come under my observation."
,It Is this faculty that hae gtven
McMillan positions on three big
league teeuna and that has made
him, with the sole and glowingly
brtlßant exception of WTUe Keeler,
the gseeteet bail player of hts
inches who ever graced a diamond.
• • •
'T’KEA ftamlty of knowing where
* *>«U was going to bo Mt was
ItafiKHtarte mort trouMesrrme weak-
MMS a* first. When he figured out
(bad tbo sptMse was going to b® hit
betaswen first and aacend he didn't
tetotato at ail to run over back
•f tbs stanbar sod take it away
f*OTO ft® anennd boaecnaux
Anfl this pecufinety Irrtnwed the
sootnsd baseman- who was, ths
(tasr MOnnan broke tn, that ex
<Mosm ptuftumer Fred Rlrbardean.
O took an of Richardson's patlenoe
sckl afl at Orwti HetamaoM
to confine McMillan's iwfh-m«R
tea territory about twice Inrge
as any other ehortetop in the
ftortbern ccdlegn world covered.
Axsl to this day he can come n»
riear to pjnytng the entire infield
unassisted aw anybody you sver
aww.
...
JVWT how dinrtnnftte McMillan
wee in his first year Is hard to
enallze. Coach Heisman estimates
ffeat at the time he waa probably
five feet, five inches tall and that
he weighed perhaps 110 to 115
potrads.
How young he was tn best Illus
trated by a story told by one of
Ms team mates that year.
The Tech team was,off on a trip
It doesn't matter particularly
where, and after a game the boys
went out for an evening at a girls'
college
Tommy wa- the first man home
and he was particularly glum.
"What’s the matter?" he was
asked on his return
"Aw. those girls make me tired,"
s.iid Tommy.
He was pressed for particulars
"Why, confound it." said Torn
my. "one of ’em wanted to kiss
me.”
Whereupon be went indignantly
to bed.
• • •
'pOMMV required a word of
A coaching—and he got it. Final
ly, by agreeing to let him play two
or thie»- extra innings after the
game was over, all by himself, they
got him lontim d inside n normal
territnrx zknd after that he y n
to < ic. • fy th* t o'Jege world with
his performance
I rem* mb* r hi< ti st *id - - rat ■
In Nashville, wb.-re I u;i> then
writing sports for the lamented
Nashville !>aih N* vs Tojmnx
the hero of a brilliant <eries with
Vanderbilt. His *mal| size nd his
wonders ul a "th man*, b m puiticu-
hi
larly conspicuous, but one play he
made stands out above all the rest.
A ball was hit toward left field.
It was a liner and normally a sure
hit. Tommy turned with the crack
of the bat, ran without looking at
the ball to left field, stole one
glance at the rapidly approachng
leather, and with bls back toward
the home plate he jumped an In
credible distance into the air and
speared the ball.
It may not sound spectacular,
but Goach Helsm4n calls It the
greatest fielding play he ever sa w
on a college diamond, and I’m well
content to agree with him in the
verdict.
• • •
a VOTTTNTE could be filled with a
narraxlon of Tommy's wonder
ful stunts. Once in a game at
Clemson, with Tech leading In the
last of the ninth, two out, two
men on bases and the score 5 to 3
1n Tsoh’s favor, a nasty fly was hit
back of shortstop. McMillan start
ed back after it and just as he
we» slowing down ajid settling
himanjf for the catch he stumbled
and fell. There was no time to get
up, no time to do anything but
throw himself fun length ajnd
stretch out his hands. This he did,
and. lying flat on the ground on
Ms back and with his hands be
yond hte head at full length, he
caught the ball, retired the side and
eared the game
Probably no Incident of his col
lege career showed better Ms In
nate baseball instinct than one
which happened when the Tech
team was playing at Spartanburg
with the Wofford college team.
Tech had a grand team that year
I-Afitte and Day as twirt
•te —and it won 83 out of 26 games.
The Jackets had just made a clean
run of 13 straight wins and en
tered the thirteenth game with
some superstitious misgivings. It
wae a blustery day. with a gusty
young hurricane blowing into the
faces of the fielders. The diamond
was skinned and sandy and to com
plicate matters tha ground keeper
had used overmuch lime on the
lines,
With the score 3 to 1 In Tech’s
favor In th® eighth Inning
and with men <m second and
’* bases, the times were
tense. The batter Mt the first ball
pitched a mighty wallop toward
McMillan. And an he did so the
worst gust of the day swept a cou
ple of cartloads of dirt, sand and
lime down across the field and
right toward McMillan. The murky
blanket reached the clever little In
fielder before the ball did.
The situation looked hopeless No
man could see through the curtain
of Itme and dirt.
Yet suddenly, out of the middle
of the miniature whirlwind, the
batl shot, straight Into the first
baseman’s bands, the runner was
out and the side retired.
Ae McMillan came back to the
bench lie was pawing at his eyes
and almost blind.
“Well, how In the Dickens did
you see that ballT" Coach Heisman
Mked.
''Aw, I didn’t see It," replied
McMillan lightly. "I just knew
where It was coming and put my
hands out and it jumped In."
“Well, how did you manage to
throw It to first—you couldn’t see.
could you?" Coach Heisman per
sisted.
"See—naw,” said McMillan "But
don't you suppose I know where
first Is?”
• • •
iirHEN McMillan finished his <ol
'* lege course he decided on
baseball aa his profession. And
Bernie MoCay grabbed him and
took Mm to the Baton Rouge club,
where he played his first profes
sional season In 1906, batting .187
and .872—n0 very brilliant
performance. The next year, at
Jacksonville, under the leadership
of the eruptive Dominick Mulla
ney and playing then on the same
Cracker, he came nearer to bls
dub with Vedder Sitton, a present
normal gait, batting .258 and lead
ing the shortstops of the league
with an average of .934,
The year 1908 was McMillan’s
lost In the South. Though his rec
ords were not as good iIR the pre
vious year (batting .217. fielding
918). Pat Donovan looked him over
<arefullj while his Brooklyn team
was training in th® South' and tn
the fall he grabbed him.
McMillan continued hls sense
tlonal fielding In the National
league and showed a mark <>t .914
in 106 games with Brooklj n. His
batting average, however w is but
.212.
The follow ing (>ar. 1910, .McMll
.■in s batting slump.d ami Brook-
Bn asked waiters on him. Cin
cinnati claimed him His batting
n.ark tor that season was only
183. but his fielding was .921; and
Ik ranked with such men as
Sw>enet, of Boston. Fletcher, of
X-w York; Downey, of Cincinnati
ami Zimmerman, of Chicago.
I oat year t was decitied to send
n o the Cistern league. But
Brooklyn wanted him for the Roeh
. s’.’- team, wlule Clark Gritt’uh,
then with Cincinnati, wanted to
-enu hint to tin res. tie of mu
Smith .it Buffalo. After a big
’or | in ; him to Rot luster w ith
olt getting waivers, Ti.inmi fm-
-Mc.M..:.u l tv Rovhesnr in iim v f<, r
THE ATL ANTA GEORGIAN A ND NEWS. Tl ESDAY. SEPTEMBER 3, 1912.
Began at Tech
t®4- 4-®-F
Natural Player
him to play 24 games at shortstop.
In Eastern league company Tommy
fielded .901 and batted .279.
This year McMillan got a grand
start with Rochester. So brilliant
was his work that Harry Wolver
ton bought him a couple of weeks
ago and lie has joined the High
landers. When he left the Inter
national league he was batting .300
and was far atjd away the best
shortstop in the organization.
What McMillan will be able to
accomplish in the American league
is uncertain If anything Inter
feres with his success, it will be
hts alarming lack of size. Barring
that, he has everything that goes
to make a ba 11 player.
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SPEARING A HIGH LINER.
t *
Here is another one of Percy
11. Whiting’s sparkling stories
on Georgia boys who are mak
ing good in baseball. Mr.
Whiting witnessed McMillan
in ateion while Little Tommy
played with the Tech team, and
in this story describes many
sensational plays the wee one
mad? while a member of the
Yellow Jackets.
RIOT WHEN MONTE ATTELL
FOULS BENNIE CHAVIZ
I RlXll' AI ’ tTH a> . Sent s Bennie
t'haviz, of Trinidad, was awarded the <1 ■ -
vision over Monte Attell. of San Fran
cisco, on a foul, in the twelfth round *f
a gruelling tight here
Delivery of the foul caused wild excite
ment Spectators crowded into the ring
and the platform collapsed, hut no one
was injured
HOUSTON CLUB LANDS
TEXAS LEAGUE PENNANT
DALI.AS. TEX. Sept. 3- The Texas
league season ot 11'12 ended vestt-rdax
with Houston in tirst place. s an \ntotiio
second, Mao third and Dallas fourth.
Houston gained the lead early in June
and retained first position until the end
tits- ■: finished fifth, <;,»t ■-v t. n sixth,
t ort Worth seventh and Beaumont last.
Here’s Tom McMillan
In a Yankee Uniform
/ 4 /
Here + s How Crackers
Are Hitting the Bal!
Right Up to Date
Tfi. -e iveru.ees include yesterday's dou-
Ible uill with Memphis:
Players— G. AB. R H. AV.
Price, p 1 2 0 1 .500
Harbison ss .. ..71 248 28 70 .282
i Mperman. 2b. ..123 163 61 1:T .279
Bailey. 1f125 435 79 120 .276
Agler. lb 61 203 34 54 .266
Callahan, efß4 3IS 30 82 .258
Graham, e 60 185 17 45 .243
McElveen. 3b. .. ..130 470 52 ill .236
I Heeker. p 15 35 2 7.200
| Reynolds, e22 68 11 14 .206
. Wolfe, utilitv .... Hi 42 5 7 .167
Brady, pd 2 11 .15”
Sitton, p 27 64 It 10 ,15!i
| lohnson, p 7 14 0 1 .071
j Waldorf, p .... 10 25 0 I .040
r— —..... i. ■ iini -„ ■■ i ■„ i .. i
1 he Big Race
Here is the up-to-the-minute dope on
how the "Big Five" batters of the
American league are hitting:
PLAYER— A. Be H, Aver.
COBB 467 192 .411
SPEAKER 491 195 .397
JACKSON 475 175 ,363
COLLINS 442 147 .333
LAJOIE 342 111 .325
Tris Speaker lost five points yester
day when he failed to get i single safe
swat against the New YotZ pitchers in
six times at bat. On the other hand.
Ty Cobb gained a point by grabbing
two hits in four times up. Jackson was
up six times and garnered tv\o safeties.
Collins grabbed one hit in an even doz
en chances. Lajoie hit .500 ter the day.
He was up six times and made three
Waldorf and Price Force Turtles Twice to Defeat
+•+ +•* +•+ *•+ +•+ +e+
No, ’Tis No Falsehood! Crackers Did Win Two
MIRACLES are popularly
supposed to have gone out
of fashion. Occasionally
we hear of psychic phenomena, but
g. TprawjFMßy
This shows Wee Toinrsy slamming out a long hit to center.
McMillan has been hitting well since joining the New York team,
and is leading off for the Hilltop crew.
I FODDER FOR FANS
What credit Birmingham is entitled to
this year goes mostly ,o the pitvhers.
I hey won the games in the Gull-Baron
series that stalled off Mike Finn's rush
and clinched the rug.
* • •
N<» wonder the I•< lira ns are nowhere.
George Rohe is their leading batter.
• ♦ •
One reason why the proposed round
lhe-world trip of the Giants is dickering
:s because McGraw wanted all the placers
who were to go to put up a big deposit to
guarantee the financial success of the af
fair. This listens like a dirge to a ball
player.
• * •
Cv Morgan was rung in the other day
n an amateur loam at Bryn Mawr. It
aas playing In one of these sassv society
vague; and when tin* real truth leaked
mt there was much nawstv talk
* ♦ ♦
Jimmy Calhih.Ti is talking 'of taking
ds team t . Hid Springs iCal . not \rk >
or training next spring. They hasp sui
■l.ur water there and it is said to he great
or what ails you.
* • •
They're having a new wing added to
he .Arlington hotel, at Marlin, Tt x., for
he special accommodation of the y.i.ng
■it 'mis John McGraw is rounding up.
lawn Is sort of trying to corner the
narket.
• • •
.Th" report that Connie Mack would
five >b’.< jO for another pitcher ns good
is Bender seems incredible.
• • *
'Tennants follow new hall parks" is a
tig league hunch. In tlj£ big leagues look
it the 1t,,: Sox this year. Pirates in 1!>OH,
he Athletics :he year Shibe park was
P'licd. Th. Giant« landed the tear the
iru.-'h stadium wa ■ renovated. In the
.oiitl'.e’m Atlanta won a rag mightv soon
tier Pence DeLeon was opened. Bir
ningham grabbed one after the new Rick
' 1 od was opened, and the Pelicans
irougl'.t one to their new park.
Mo-ai. let’s have a new hall park.!
. c dot. t need one, but it might change 1
they are rare and often not well
authenticated.
This being true, it behooves the
Society of Psychical Research to
look into the fact that the Atlan
ta team, lowliest of Southern
league tail-enders, grabbed both
our luck.
• • •
} rum Lynn, Mass., conies the story that
a ter-year-old boy batted a fly ball with
s' jch force that it knocked over a tele
graph pole. Either they have mightv
weal; poles or mighty strong liars up
Lynn-way.
* * •
Mike Simon, the Pittsburg catcher, has
made only two errors this \ear
* * *
Hans Wagner has denied the report
that he is to retire after this year. Tm
to<; obi to learn any other business,” said
linns, when questioned, “and yet they sav
l m not too old to play baseball.”
* • *
Clarke Griffith's chase of the Bed Sox
this year reminds one that it isn't ins
tirst fruitless attempt to overhaul the
Bostonians. The famous pennant that
I.rift lost by a single wild pitch the la
in' 'is hurl ..f Jack i’hesbro's found a
}*rJ’ ianPnt rPS,i,) K I’laCe at the Ked Sox
CAROLINA LEAGUE RAG
IS WON BY ANDERSON
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ Sept. 3—The
Carolina association closed its fifth suc
cessive season yesterday with Anderson
winning pennant. Winston-Salem
ami Charlotte clubs followed in order.
Anderson's pert entage was .600: Win
ston-Salem's. .573, and Charlotte's,
Both Charlotte and Winston-Sa
lem won morning ami afternoon games
from Anderson and Greensboro, re
spectively.
The Anderson team has been in the
lead since May 25, but clinched the pen
nant only a few days ago by defeating
decisively Winston and Charlotte in the
critical series. The race between Win.
stop, and Charlotte for second place has
been on for a month.
games of a double-header here yes
terday afternoon from Bernhard’s
Turtles. The scores were 3 to 1
and 4 to 1,
It can be demonstrated beyond
any question that this thing actu
ally happened. Not less than 5,000
fans saw it transpire—and mar
veled.
The crowd which celebrated a
torrid Labor day by journeying to
Ponce DeLeon was one of the
smallest holiday crowds that it
lanta ever saw. The fans figured
that there was no use in going out
to the ball park to be miserable
They could get that anywhere
and at a lower price. Those that
did come out were treated to as
fine an exhibition of baseball as
one would care to see.
Crackers Played Like Champs.
It, wasn’t any especial disgrace
for the Turtles to lose. They wore
up against pennant baseball. The
Crackers were weakened by the ab
sence from the game of their stead,
iest hitter. M hitey Alperman Thev
used on the slab in, the first gam-
Rudolph Waldorf, who hasn't won
a game since base hits were in
vented, and in the second a new.
comer. Price.
Both pitchers worked like de
mons. Each allowed a scant four
hits and it took everythiag in the
Tmtie shop to send one runner
across in each game.
In the first contest Bernhard
slipped in his angular and fre
(luentiy effective southpaw, Doc
Newton. The doctor couldn't have
labored more industriously if h e
had been operating on a million,
aire patient. Somehow all his pre
scriptions failed. He wasn’t regu
larly lam. lasted. But what hap
pened to him was enough.
Ferguson Was Dead Easy.
In the second game Ferguson
took the hurling assignment and
it proved a tough one. The Crack
| ers biffed him vigorously, and, what
was worse, his support was punc
tured.
Right off the reel things began
to break badly for the hurler. With
i two tucked away, Harbison sin
gl’d. Then he stole second. Gra
ham struck out and the ball got
by Seabough, just as one of Gra
ham’s third strikes had sneaked
iy from Tonneman in the i ■
> >us game. Harbison went to
third on the passed ball. Where
upon Seabough picked up the pel-
I-t and hurled-it over Bales’ head.
Harbison started in on this punk
peg. but Crandall fielded the wild
tl'.i'o. neatly and threw to the
pla'e. I ,e ball was in Seabough’s
hands and he would have had Ha -
bison by a mile if he had held it.
But he didn t. And the Cracker
shor’.-top tallied. If it had been
within the rules to give a player
t - o errors on a play which allowed
<i run nor to ndvancc ono base. Sea
bough would have got them.
In the next inning came a play
wh’ -h made Pitcher Ferguson con
sider himself a badly abused man.
After he had allowed McElveen.
Reynolds and Callahan to single,
scoring McElveen, and after Wolfe
had fanned, Price, who was pitch
ing for the Crackers, slipped a
hook down between Bales and sh“
third sack. At least, that’s where
Cmpire Dan Pfenninger said it
went. Reynolds and Callahan tal
lied and the game was lost. Os
course, Ferguson protested like a
major and swore-and-be-cussed if
it was a fair ball. But Pfenninger,
having no other alternative, stuck
by his decision. This decision took
the heart out of the Turtles and
while they worked well enough de
fensively they could only get
through with one run.
An Indian No Longer.
Much of the Crackers’ succ-’ c<
in the second game was due to the
useful hurling of Pitcher Price
This man has been barnstorming
this season with the Nebraska In
dians, of which tribe he is not a
bona fide member, being an Irish
man by Inheritance and an Ameri
can by birth. As an Indian, he
worked under the name of Schegz
but having returned to civilization,
he has resumed his own cog. He
has had a bit of league experieni e
in the South Michigan league. He
hurled cleverly against Memphis
and If he can continue the speed
he showed, will be heard from,
even if he is hooked up with a
father slow organization.
BATTLING NELSON WINS
FROM STEVE KETCHEL
ST. JOSEPH, MO., Sept. 3.—Ba’.Li.#
Nelson beat Steve Ketchel, of CbicaF
in fifteen rounds here. Nelson display^ l
flashes of the old-time form that ma
him famous. He worked both hand* s
ly to Ketchel’s body, and in return * " ‘
many blows in the face. Ketche' w,i '
floored in the eleventh round, but can *
up gamely. Ketchel had the better of ‘-y
rounds and Nelson of six. The 'he V
Mere even.
baseball!
WEDNESDAY
ATLANTA »S. MEMPHIS
Ponce DeLeon Park
Game called 3:30. ._