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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. / / /'• J,'/' tefN-vW < A*'' V w / |X V >• r (I JMmA— V( ___ Jk k ’ /'/ \WOu4 fl i r isl I / Va " f W- .twy I v iS&A -i w t s' teO7»NV 1 —do Ob m /Z I W • ' />-■ ■it / ! '■ •• S ■Mn. w < ■, y jgSSap. -. .. •’•WWf•_ ■M i .. / WIWK /i \ - - - I liOlßslßwy y // A u' ' / / J > ///war. / illite-■ x »■» / Übt /jbEHBEg / I // m , ■safe/'y 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. ._