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pKSKHAT WOW fflyEW * EXBUF
Tommy McMillan’s Baseball Life Began at Tech
■?•••> 4-*4" ■?*•*£■ .»*•?’ -:-•■!• -I-e-I-
Highlanders’ Small Shortstop Is a Natural Player
' By Percy 11. Whiting.
T T THEN the first call went out
VV for baseball candidates tn
the spring of 1904 at the
Georgia Institute of Technology,
there was the usual response. A
hundred or more young men turned
out —and one little boy. The boy
f was a clean cut little shaver, in
short pants, about the size of a
half-grown bat boy.
When Coach Heisman looked
them over he saw the makings of a
fine team —and he also noted the
kid
"I hope he doesn’t get in the way
and get hurt. I’ll have to eliminate
him at the first cut,’’ was Coach
Heisman’s comment.
Then followed a lot of indoor
work. For days the candidates
worked as best they could in the
restricted space of the gymnasium,
doing such small things in the
baseball line as the scant room
afforded.
When the time for the first cut
came Coach Heisman wielded the
pruning knife with reckless aban
don, as usual. But when he came
to the name of the kid he didn't
uso it.
“I guess m see that boy work In
the open," was his comment.
Another cut came. And then ths
final one.
Whan the first game was played
the smallest man on the squad was
at shortstop. He had shown such
a positive genius for baseball that
he had stuck through.
The name of the boy was Tommy
McMillan.
M• • •
x; OW, Tommy McMillan was un
’ doubtedly the very Utt lest boy
who ever got on a real varsity
team In th* South. He won his
place because he could bat fairly
well, because he could field excel
lently, and most particularly be
cause he had a baseball mind.
“McMillan ha*," nays Coach
Heistman, who perhape knows him
better than any other man, "that
rare faculty of knowing whore a
ball is going to be hit. He seems
to #iw the matter no thought. No
doubt he divines the thing by the
working of his subconeclous mind.
<liven a batter he knows and given
some hint of what is to be pitched
to him and lie can come nearer to
telling where It ia going to be hit
than any living man who has ever
come under my observation."
It Is this faculty that has given
McMillan positions on three big
league teams and that lias made
him, with the sole and glowingly
brilliant exception of Willie Keeler,
the greatest bail player of his
inches who ever graced a diamond.
• • •
THE faculty of knowing wtiere
a ball wm going to be hit was
McMillan's most troublesome weak
ness at first. When he figured out
th*t the srtiare was going to be hit
between first and second he didn't
hesitate st aU to run over back
of th* pltotisr and tsks it away
front tile second bneem&n.
And thio peenrtarty Irritated the
second bweman- -who was. the
year Me Millan broke tn, that ex
cellent performer Fr«d Richardson,
n took all of Richardson's patience
•nd eJi of Coach Heisman's author
ity to confine McMillan's activities
to a territory about twice ae large
as any other shortstop in the
Rooibem college world covered.
And to this day he can come as
near to playing the entire infield
unassisted jut anybody you ever
•aw
• * •
JXJST how diminutive McMillan
waa it) hie first year is hard to
realize. Coach Heisman estimates
that st the time he ™ probably
five fleet, five Inches tall and that
he weighed perhape 110 to 115
pounds.
How young he Is best illus
trated by a story told by one of
his team mates that year.
The Tech team wae off on a trip,
it doesn't matter particularly
where; and after a game the boys
went out for an evening at a girls’
jc ollege.
Tommy was the first man home
and he was particularly glum
"What’s the matter?" he was
asked on his return.
Aw. those girls make me tireqj,”
said Tommy. ,
He was pressed for particulars
"Why, confound it.'* said Tom
in), "one of ’em wanted to kiss
mi-.''
Wheieupon he went indignantly
tn bed.
• • •
epOMMV required a world of
1 coaching —and he got it. Final
ly. by agreeing to let him play two
or three extra innings after the
game was over, all by himself, they
got him confined inside a normal
territory Ami after that he began
to electrify the college world with
his (>erformanees-
I remember his first appearance
In Nashville, w here I was then
writing sports for the lamented
Nashville I tail) News Tommy was
the hero of a brilliant series with
Vanderbilt His small size and his
wonderful work made him particu-
larly conspicuous, but one play he
made stands out above-all the rest.
A ball was hit tbward 1< ft 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 rapid!' appro.ichng
leather, and with his back toward
the home plate he jumped an in
credible instance into Ihe all- and
speared the ball.
It may not sound spectacular,
but Coach Heisman calls it the
greatest fielding play he evi-r saw
on a college diamond, and I’m well
content to agree with him in the
verdict.
A VOLUME could be filled with a
'* narration 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
In Tech’s favor, a nasty fly was hit
back of shortstop. McMillan start
ed back after it and just as he
was slowing down and settling
himself for the catch he stumbled
and fell. There was no time to get
up, no time to do anything but
throw himself full length and
stretch out hfs hands. This he did.
and lying flat on the ground on
his back and with his hands be
yond his head at full length, he
caught the ball, retired the side and
saved the game.
Probably no Incident of his col
lege career showed better his 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
-with Lafitte and Day as twin
ers- -and It won 23 out of 26 games.
The .rackets hail just made a clean
run of 12 straight wins and en
tered the thirteenth game with
some superstitious misgivings. It
was 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 the ground keeper
bad used overmuch Hine on the
lines.
With the score 3 to 1 In Tech’s
favor in the eighth inning
and with men on second ami
third basen, the times were
tense. The batter hit the first ball
pitched a mighty wallop toward
McMillan. And as 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 lime and dirt.
Yet suddenly, out of the middle
of the miniature whirlwind, the
ball shot, straight into the first
baseman's hands, the runner was
out and the side retired.
As McMillan came back to the
bench he was pawing at his eyes
and almost blind.
"Well, how In the Dickens did
you see that ball?” Coach Heisman
asked
"Aw, I didn’t see it,” replied
McMillan lightly. “t lust 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?”
• • • •
lIfHEN McMillan finished his col
’ ’ lege course he decided on
baseball as his profession. And
Bernie McCay grabbed him and
took him to the Baton Rouge club,
where he played his first profes
sional season in 1906. batting .187
and fielding .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 hie
club 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
hist In the South Though his rec
ords were not as good as the pre
vious year (batting .217. fielding
.918). Pat Donovan looked him over
carefully while his Brooklyn team
was training in th. South and in
the fall he grabbed him.
McMillan continued bls sensi
tlonal fielding In the National
league and showed a mark of 914
tn 105 games with Brooklyn. His
batting average, however, was but
.212,
The following year, 1910,■ McMil
lan's battim* slumped and Brook
lyn asked waivers on him. Cin
cinnati claimed him. His batting
mark for that season was only
183. but bls fielding was .921; and
iie ranked with such men as
Sweetie), of Boston. Fletcher, of
N w York; Downey, of Cincinnati,
and Zimmerman, of Chicago,
Fli.it year it was decided to send
hint to the Eastern league. But
Brooklyn wanted him for the Roch
• st, i team, while Clark Griffith,
then with Cincinnati, wanted to
sene, him to the rescue of Bill
Smith at Bufialo. After a big
wrangle, in which Ebbets was fined
sot sending him to Rochester with
out getting waivers. Tommy fin
ished out th< season in the Nation-
Las'. year Ebbets managed to get
McMillan to Rochester in time for
ATLANTA GEOKGIAN ANIWA’S, TFESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. 1912.
him to play 24 gamek at shortstop.
In Eastern league company Tommy
fielded .201 and batted .279.
This \ea: .McMillan got a grand
Start with Rochester. So brilliant
was his work that Harry Wolver
ton lm.tg.it him a couple of weeks
ago a <1 he has joiner the High
landers. When lie left tin- Inti r
natlonp! league he was batting .300
.’nd was’far ami a wav the best
shortstop in the organization.
Who McMillan will be able to
accomplish in thK American league
is uncertain. if athing inter
feres with his success, it will be
hfs alarming lack of size. Barring
that, he has everything that goes
to make a ball player.
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SPEARING A HIGH LINER.
Here is another one of Percy
H. 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
made while a member of the
Yellow -Jackets.
RIOT WHEN MONTE ATTELL
FOULS BENNIE CHAVIZ
TKIXII COGO., Sent. 3 Bennie
Chaviz. of Trinitiad. was awarded the de
cision over Monte At tell, of San Eran
cisco, on a foul. In the twelfth round of
a gruelling tight here.
I‘elivery of the foul caused wild excite
ment Spectators crowded into the ring
and the platform collapsed, but no one
was injured.
HOUSTON CLUB LANDS
TEXAS LEAGUE PENNANT
!>.\l.Jj.\S. TKX Sept 3 The 'Texas
league seasoh of 1912 ■ nded yesterday,
with Houston in first place, San Antonio
seonit'. W aco third and I‘alias fourth.
Houston gn’ned the had early in June
and r< tained first position unt’i the end.
Austin linishvd fifth, Galveston sixth,
Fort Worth seventh and Beaumont last.
Here's Tom McMillan
In a Yankee Uniform
/ ‘ ■ -
/ i /
Here's How Crackers
Are Hitting the Ball
Right Up to Date
These avnrag» s include yesterday's dou
ble bill with Memphis:
Players— G. AB. R. H. AV.
Price, p 1 2 0 I .500
Harbison, ss . . 71 248 28 70 .282
Alperman. 2b123 403 01 129 .279
Bailey. If 125 435 79 120 .270
Agler. lb 61 203 34 54 .266
Callahan, cf 84 318 30 82 .258
Graham, c->0 185 17 45 .243
McElveen. 3b .. .130 470 52 111 .236
Becker, p 15 35 2 7.200
Reynolds, c 22 68 11 14 .206
Wolfe, utility .... 16 42 5 7 .167
Brady, p 22 G“ 2 11 .159
Sitton, p 27 64 II 10 .150
Johnson, p 7 • 14 0 1 .071
Waldorf, p 10 25 0 I .040
r - ,
Fhe Big Race
Here is the up-to-the-minute dope on
how the “Big Five” batters of the
American league are hitting:
Toplayer— a. b. h.
COBB .7, 467 192 .411
SPEAKER 491 195 .397
JACKSON 475 175 .368
COLLINS 442 147 .333
LA JOI E 342_ 111 .325
Tris Speaker lost five points yester
day when he failed to get a single safe
swat against the New Yo r k 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 two safeties.
Collins grabbed one hit in an even doz
en chances. Lajoie hit .500 for the day.
He was up six times and made three
hits.
Waldorf and Price Force Turtles Twice to Defeat
No, ’Tis No Falsehood! Crackers Did Win Two
MIRACLES are popularly
supposed to have gone out
o? fashion. Occasionally
we hear of psychic phenomena, but
This shows Wee Tommy slammiro- cut 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 FO DD E R FO R FA N S
1—
, What credit Birmingham Is entitled tn
tb.i: year goes mostly to the pitchers.
’They won the gaxhes in the Gull-Baron
series that stalled off Mike Finn’s rush
and clinched the rag.
• • •
No wonder the Pelicans are nowhere.
George Kobe is their leading batter.
• * •
One reason why the proposed round
tlie-w-rhi trip of the Giants is fiicltering
is because McGraw wanted all the players
who were to go to put up a big deposit to
guarantee the finhm la - ees ol the af
t.iir. This listens like a to a ball
player.
* * ♦
t’y Morgan was rung in flip other day
on an amateur team at Bryn Mawr. It
was playing in one of these sassy society
leagues and when the real truth leaked
out there was much nawsty talk.
♦ ♦ *
Jimmy Callahan is talking of taking
his team to Hot Springs (Cai., not Ark..)
for training next spring They have sul
phur water there and it is said to be great
for what ails you.
• • •
Th?) re having a new wing added to
the Arlington hotel, at Marlin, Tex., for
the special accommodation of the young
pitchers John McGraw is rounding up.
•lawn Is sort of trying to corner the
market.
• • •
The report that Fonnie Mack would
ghe *IO.OOO for another pitcher as good
as Bender seems incredible.
* • »
"Pennants follow new ball parks' is a
big league hum h. In ti e big leagu- s look
at the Ped Sox this year. Pirates in V.iOu.
the Athletics the year Shibe park was
opened. The Giants landed the year the
Brush stadium war renovated. In the
Southern. Atlanta won a rag mighty soon
after Ponce DeLeon was opened. Bir
mingham grabbed one after the new Rick
wood was opened, and the Pelicans
.brought one to their new park.
• • •
Morat Let's have a new ball park.
We don't ..wed one, but it might change
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 tuil-enders, grabbed both
> our luek.
...
From Lynn. Mass., comes the storv that
1 a ten-year-old boy batted a fly ball with
such force that it knocked over a tele
graph. pole. Either they have mighty
weai. poles or mightv strong liars up
Lynn-way.
• « •
Mike Simon, the Pittsburg catcher, has
, made only two errors this year.
» « * «
, Hans Wagner has denied the report
. that he is to retire after this vear. "I'm
1 too old to learn any other business," said
Hans, when questioned, “and yet they say
I'm not too old to play baseball.”
* * '«
. Clarke Griffith's chase of the Red Sox
‘ this year reminds one that it isn't his
, first fruitless attempt to overhaul the
Bostonians. The famous pennant that
Grifi lost by a single wild pitch the fa
mous hurl of Jack Chesbro’s—found a
: permanent resting place at the Red Sox
1 park.
CAROLINA LEAGUE RAG
IS WON BY ANDERSON
J CHARLOTTE, N. C.. Sept. 3-The
I Carolina association closed its fifth suc
j cesslve season yesterday with Anderson
i winning the pennant. Winston-Salem
| and Charlotte clubs followed in order.
I Anderson’s percentage was .600; Wln
ston-Salem's. .573, and Charlotte’s,
1.570. Both Charlotte and Wlnston-Sa
: leni won morning and afternoon games
. ! from Anderson and Greensboro, re
■ . spectively.
The Anderson team has been in the
lead rince 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
ston and Charlotte for second place has
been on for a month.
games of a double-header here v<. ..
terday afternoon from Bernhard.
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 or,,
fans saw It transpire—and mar
veled.
The crowd which celebrated a
torrid Labor day by journeying .
Ponce DeLeon was one of
smallest holiday crowds that (•
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 a?
fine an exhibition of baseball as
one would care to see.
Crackers Played Like Champ,.
It wasn't any especial disgrace
for the Turtles to lose. They w ?re
up against pennant baseball. The
Crackers were weakened by the ab
sence from the game of their stead
iest hitter. Whitey Alperman. Thev
used on the slab in the first game
Rudolph Waldorf, who hasn’t won
a game since bas.e 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 everything in the
Turtle shop to send one runner
across in each game.
In the first contest Bernhard
slipped in his angular and fre
quently effective southpaw, d oc
Newton. The doctor couldn't have
labored more industriously if | IP
had been operating on a million
aire patient. Somehow all his pre
scriptions failed. He wasn't regu
larly lambasted. 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
i ers biffed him vigorously, and. what
was worse, his support was punc
tured.
Right off the reel things be?an
to break badly for the hurler. With
two tucked away, Harbison sin
gled. Then he stole second. Gra
ham struck out and the ball got
by Seabough, just as one of Gra
b-'m’s third strikes had sneaked
•v from Tonneman in the pre
■s game. Harbison went to
third on the passed ball. Where
upon Seabough picked up th“ pel
let and hurled it over Bales' head
Harbison started In on this punk
peg, but Crandall fielded the wild
throw neatly and threw to the
plate. The hall was in Seabough’s
hands and he would have had Har
bison by a mile if he had held It.
But he didn’t. And the Cracker
shortstop tallied. If it had been
within the rules to give a player
two errors on a play w hich allowed
a runner to advance one base. Sea
bough would have got them.
In the next inning came a play
which made Pitcher Ferguson con
sider himsrlf a badly abused man.
After he had allowed McElveen
Reynolds and Callahan to single,
scoring McElveen, and after M'olfe
had fanned, Price, who was pitch
ing for the Crackers, slipped a
hook down between Bales and the
third sack. At least, that’s where
Empire 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 f
it was a fair ball. But Pfenninger
having no other alternative, stink
by his decision. This decision look
the heart out of the Turtles and
while they worked well enough Os -
fensively they could only get
through with one run.
An Indian No Longer.
Much of the Crackers’ success
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 trjbe 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 Schegg.
but having returned, to civilization,
he has resumed his own cog. He
has had a bit of league experience
in the South Michigan league. He
hurled cleverly against Memphis,
an’d if he can continue the speed
he showed, will be heard from
even if he is hooked up with a
rather slow organization.
BATTLING NELSON WINS
FROM STEVE KETCHEL
ST. JOSEPH, MO.. Sept. 3.
Nelson beat Steve Ketchel, of Chi 'aF
in fifteen rounds here. Nelson displi’)"'
flashes of the old-time form that n' a '
him famous. He worked both hands free
ly to Ketchel’., body, and in return r '
many blows in the face. Ketchel ’9’
floored in the eleventh round, but <'»"<
up gamely. Hetchel had the better ot tu ’
rounds and Nelson of six. The othe*
were even.
BASEBALL
WEDNESDAY
ATLANT* vs. MEMPHIS
Ponce DeLeen Perk
Game called 3:30.