10
GEOWAN ffl«B * EXHKm
EDITED W. 9 TARNS'VZ’ORTH •
Here’s the Only Time That Georgia Gave McWhorter Any Kind of Interference---and It Wasn’t Much
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Georgia has some football material, but in the game against Vanderbilt Saturday their attack was verv
much bush league. McWhorter, a wonderful offensive player, tried time and again to make decided gains,
but nearly always was dropped in his tracks because his team mates gave him no help. Georgia's interference
amounted to naught, and Coach Cunningham must work hard to improve this important part of the game, or a
Atlanta Is Off Again on Football-less Week
*•*•%* V®*.* **■*’•'•*• V®V *i*®*i* •**•*!•
Georgia Plays Alabama Saturday and Will Win
By Percy 11. Whiting.
ATLANTA Is off again on an
other footbaJlless week. On
Saturday the Teoh team
plays - but It playa in far-away
JaoksoiwUle. Not until a week
from Saturday will there hr a
contest in Atlanta And that day
there will be a real one. for Au
burn playa here that day, and the
Auburn-Tech game ts always some
performance
Georgia has a very moderate
grme Hasiu-dmy. with the Unirersri
ty of Alwbaeija ae the opposition.
T9»e foUowtng Baturday Cunnliw
harnte man get busy with Sewanee
Va®dertrtlt takes on a llgtit game
Sfctuwday, wtth the University of
MWMrtpid (prwfdert that team
«n«Kl*t oanurtl), bat the following
ShtmtUtr «wt» b««y in eaawwt with
VArgtma At that rhe fact that
Virginia waa go unmercifully
twenwsS SSaturCey by V. M. I.
fwMdh 1 airier team lost the pre
view RmutCh j- 81 to ft, to Prtnoa
ton), makes tbtw game look rather
elrgihy tor the Commodores, find tt
w!T> m* aurpstewi anybody bore ts
the Otxmmortorea run up aimost the
seine on the Virginians that they
dWI o® Georgia
Sewanee piays Tenneaeae Sat
tn ChaWatKngm. and it
<honlK be an Internet'.ng game. The
Knoßille team is all of nn uncer
tainty and nobody is absolute
ly mire ae yet Juet whal to expect
of Sewanee.
Tt appear* that, In the South at
laaat. the comtng week doeein’t
promise any eftrring football do
ing*
• • •
WW that the mud, lashed up tn to
•I’ the aemblance of a billowy
ocean by the heroic struggle on
Ponce DeLeon field Saturday after
noon. has begun to settle back to
its normal smoothness and the
football folks have had a chance to
think over the strange happenings
of that fateful mime, Georgians are
asking themselves a lot of things,
among them this: ' How the dick
ens did It happen, anyway?"
Forty-six to nothing scored by
what appears to be only an aver
age Vanderbilt team on what
seemed an except tonally strong
Georgia eleven 46 to 0! It wasn’t
a mere defeat It was a merciless
drubbing.
it will not take over our more
At Lyric this week, the
* ‘ Mother Love ” drama,
“Madame X.”
is sixom h
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game like that for everybody to
reconstruct their notions about that
Vanderbilt team. Unless the dope
is badly deranged, it Is a wonder
team - an eleven so good that It
will make history tor itself that
will not for many years be forgot
ten.
There wasn’t any license for an
aw erage team to beat Georgia the
way Vanderbilt beat them. There
was not a lot of difference in the
weight. Tn experience the Athe
nians had perhaps a slight edge.
Georgia had the advantage in con
dition Tire Commodores’ vaunted
speed was nullified by the muddy
field.
And yet, despite all these things,
Vanderbilt just everlastingly
romped. There wasn't a time
when there appeared ant real
chance that Georgia would score.
Once, and only once, was there a
worried expression on a Vander
bilt face. It was when Georgia had
made a couple of first downs In
atiocassion and were going good.
It even looked bad enough so that
Joe Covington, who was re
served for near trouble, was stuck
in. Whether it was Joe's peppery
presence or Just the petering out
of Georgia's sprint, but, anyhow,
the ball was lost, and Vanderbilt
was off again on the mad chase on
ward and ever onward to Georgia's
goal line
If the Vanderbilt team has no
hard lock with injuries -and In
juries are always a dangerous pos
sibility, for the Commodores have a
tolerably fragile bark field—the
Vanderbilt team wil’ not have trou
ble this year, except with one game
and that one with Harvard. And.
say what yon please. If the Com
modore® get up there in good
shape and with everybody on edge,
look out for surprises! It is like
ly that the Crimson will have
enough power and drive to down
the Commodores, but they are like
ly to be treated to forward passes
and end runs that will startle
them.
• • ♦
QNB thing about the Georgia turn
they had some clever place
One was a fake end run which was
built around the known fact that
every opposing team will play to
hold McWhorter. On thia play
McWhorter ami the interference
are started around one end. Then
the ball Is passed to somebody else,
who comes tearing through center
for a good gain Owing to the
eagerness of the Vanderbilt men
not to let .McWhorter get through
their lingers, this worked capital
ly several times. Cunningham's
men also uncorked some neat doti
b < passes and showed that they
knew a lot of advanced football.
\\ hat they fell down on. often, was
ack of aptness and training in
he rudiments inability to tackle.
" start fast, to charge hard and
e like. And these are things
that Georgia teams must learn
from assistant < caches, if at all.
For the thin the
scope of a head Coach. If the Rid
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1912
and Black is to show well through
the rest of the season, it needs
some of its many loyal alumni to
come to the rescue and to give
their time as individual coaches.
If the Georgia material can learn
the rudiments and can leave Alex
Cunningham free to teach the big
principles of football, It will yet
come through the season with the
record of only one defeat. For the
material is surely there.
• ♦ *
SATURDAY’S game was adver-
K - tised as a duel between Mc-
Whorter and Hardage. It came
mighty near turning out an un
equal but mighty brave fight be
tween McWhorter and the whole
Vanderbilt team. It wasn't quite
that, for Henderson and Peacock
played good ball and several other
Georgia men did fairly well. Rut
in the main McWhorter played the
largest part of the game for Geor
gia.
It is pointed out that McWhorter
did not gain as much ground as
Hardage. Well, hardly.
Suppose conditions had been re
versed and McWhorter, aided b>
the brilliant Vanderbilt interfer
ence and starting behind that
hard-charging Commodore line, has
played with Vanderbilt against
Georgia! And suppose Hardage
had been working with the demor
alised Red and Black eleven.
Would Hardage have gained as
much ground as McWhorter did?
We don’t know the answer. But
it’s worth considering.
No danger that we shall try to
detract anything from the brillian
cy of Hardages performances.
There’s a halfback worthy of the
very highest position! What John
Craig at his best had on him we
don't pretend to know. Also, be it
mentioned, his running mate, Col
lins, is only a step or two behind
in brilliancy, but he is a shade
fragile to compare with the Com
modore captain.
• » *
TT was our impression that, after a
• football game, the ball belonged
to the winning team. If this is
true, it was poor sportsmanship on
the part of the Georgia team to
attempt to get away with the ball.
From our own personal viewpoint,
it would seem that, to the Geor
gians, that ball would be a rather
spri y souvenir.
GORDON AND RIVERSIDE
IN BIG BATTLE TODAY
BARNESVILLE, GA, Oct 21. The
Gurdon football team emerged from the
Locust Grove game with unit a few
bruised players Today Gordon lournevs
to Gainesville, where a game will be
played with the fast Riverside team. Both
teams appear to be pretty evenly match
ed, and a bard game la sure to he the
result.
BIG PREP GAME TODAY.
LOCUST GROVE. GA.. Oct. 21 An in
teresting game in prep school circles will
be played here today, when the Stone
Mountain team comes to Locust Grove
for a game with the locals
Eugenie Blair in “Mad
jame X,’’ at the Lyric this
' week.
ME GEORGIA
ROPE PICKER UP
AT BIG OSES
By W. S. Farnsworth.
JUST before the last game of
the world’s series in Boston 1
had a long talk with Frank
Farrell, president of the New York
league club. He tipped me off that
he doesn't believe Tommy Me-Mil
lan. ex-Yellow Jacket star, will
stick up in the fast company be
cause of his inability to hit.
“I am going to give McMillan
another chance next spring,” said
Mr. Farrell, "but 1 don't believe he
will do. He can’t hit. The little
fellow is a mighty good infielder
and a fair man on the bases, but
I have got to get some hitters for
my team next season, and unless
McMillan takes a big brace I fear
1 will have to ask waivers on him.”
♦ * *
,\ PHILADELPHIA scribe at the big
games tolii me an interesting
story about Claude Derrick, former
Georgia crack, who has been secur
ed by the Yankees for next year.
It seems that Connie Mack let Der
rick go to Baltimore the past sea
son, where he played corking ball.
Mack tried to get him back by draft
this fall but Washington drew him
and then traded him to New York.
The shrewd Mack hung onto Der
rick for two years, but Claud went
to the bad after the Athletics had
made their first Western trip to
Chicago last spring. Mack sold him
to Baltimore, believing he had
reached the end of his career be
cause of an accident that happened
in the Windy City. But Derrick
soon recovered in Baltimore and
today is considered the best of the
youngsters drafted by the Majors.
The accident was the result of a
lot of tomfoolery. A member of one
of the swellest clubs in Chicago in
vited the Athletics one hot night
down to his club to take a plunge
in a big pool. In the party were
Derrick. Rris anti Rube Oldring.
Oldring and Lord thought they
would have some fun with Derrick
and began holding him under the
water. First one and then the other
would pu-h him down. Finally he
became exhausted and nearly
drowned. It took two physicians
al! that night to bring him around.
The shock Derrick suffered was
so great that he went all to pieces
and was unable to pl a x any kind of
ball. Mack as a result sold him to
Baltimore But the Georgia lad
is O. K. now and all the scouts at
I the series predicted that the Yan
kees have made a swell "cutch."
/"GORGE STALLINGS believes
' T he will hind in the first divis
ion with Ills Boston team next year.
All I w ill need to finish better than
fifth is a couple of pitchers." he told
me on the return to New York after
the deciding game.
Wise baseball men consider
Stallings as great a manager as
.McGraw and Mack. Hughex Jen
nings claims that the Georgian
knows how to handle players bel
ter than anybody in the world.
Look at the way he carried that
New Vprk hunch into second place."
said the Detroit manager. "And
look what t'lia-e did the next year
with the same outfit. ” lie added.
good team of husky, likely-looking players will have a bad season. The Georgian photographer snapped tiearlv
every scrimmage when the ball was in possession of Georgia, and in this picture alone did the Athens eleven show
any interference for the man with the ball —and surely the interference in this play doesn’t amount to much
Coach Cunningham verily needs some assistants at Athens.
Twenty-Five Greatest Southern League Players
No. I--Sparks Wore Ball Room Pumps at Debut
By Fuzzy Woodruff.
Abair of pumps, entirely prop
er for a ball room, but
strangely out of the picture
on a ball field, and a pair of hose
as red as a blood-stained Balkan
hillside made a debut of a career
notable. And the career afterward
made baseball history, and base
ball history that the lovers of the
game are proud to boast about.
The shiny slippers and the in
carnadined hosiery were worn by
Frank Sparks on his first appear
ance as a professional ball player.
They were discarded the next day,
but the brand of baseball that' the
youthful hurler pitched to the ac
companiment of the fancy foot
wear remained to keep him as one
of the most formidable slabmen the
National league knew for years.
Not more incongruous to his sur
roundings than rhe adornment of
his nether limbs was the man who
made his debut that afternoon in
the early nineties.
The scene was set in the old
Highland park grounds in Mont
gomery. Birmingham was the op
posing team. John McCluskey,
after.ward manager of the St.
Louis Cardinals, was manager and
first baseman of the Montgomery
club. He had dug Sparks out of
Howard college, where he had
starred for Alabama’s Baptist in
stitution of learning and baseball.
Fans Have Never Forgotten.
McCluskey’s club was dragging
along in the race, and then, as now,
the finances of the Montgomery
club were not of .J. Pierpont Mor
gan proportions. The attendance
was slim that blazing August aft
ernoon, but right now Columbus
himself could not discover a man
between the ages of eighteen and
eighty in Montgomery who will
not swear that he saw that debut.
There were fine and resounding
whoops of derision when Sparks
took the slab and began tossing to
old Heinie Peitz. who caught him.
Those crimson stockings and that
pair of putpps could not be over
looked by the native wits. Some
choice jests were flung across the
field for the benefit of the embry
onic star.
He seemed as much like a ball
player as Roosevelt is like Taft.
He was not of a pitcher's size and
helft, though those were not the
days of the gigantic hurlers. He
was blushing a beautiful accom
paniment to his hosiery and his
delivery was as awkward as a real
debutante's.
The Birmingham batters were
not slow to go after him. Old Dad
Phdlan, with his brigand mun
tachlog, and all the rest of tile
rough neck crew threw badinage
that added to his discomfiture. The
home fans settled back to watch
the revelry.
Was Sold to the Phillies.
Then Spnrk= began to pitch. He
used the same slow ball and
sweeping curve and tibsolute con
trol that later made him a terror
: FUZZY woodruff ;
: WRITES SPARKLING :
: BASEBALL SERIES J
• •
• This is the first of a series of •
• stories The Georgian will print on •
• ’’Twenty-five Greatest Southern •
• League Players,” written by Fuz- •
•zy Woodruff. There is no one •
• better acquainted with Southern •
• league doings for the past fifteen •
• years than Mr. Woodruff, and all •
• his articles, like today’s, will be •
• filled with spice and ginger. He •
• opens his series with Frank •
• Sparks, who. after graduating •
• from this circuit, went to the •
• Philadelphia National league club, •
• where for years he was consid- •
• ered one of the world’s greatest •
• pitchers. •
••••••••••••••••••••••••a*
to National league hitters. That
.light he owned Montgomery. The
next season saw him in a Birming
ham uniform, but lie was sold ear
ly in the race to the Phillies, and
for nearly fifteen yeaus he Drew a
salary and earned it, too. as a
slabman servant in the City of
Brotherly Love.
Sparks’ career in the National
league is too recent in date to re
count. Managers came and man
agers went, but Sparks stayed. All
the time lie pitched steady, heady,
consistent baseball. He was rarely
brilliant, but he nearly always
managed to go through a season
with more wins to his credit than
losses, however poor the team be
hind him happened to be.
It is extremely doubtful if a
hurler ever remained in the major
leagues so long with so little stuff.
His fast bail was absolutely of a
negative quality. His curves were
wide, but broke nicely, and he had
that great asset for a pitcher—an
ability to outthink a majority of
batsmen.
Was a Gentlemanly Player. ,
He was one of the first of the
"gentleman" ball players. He was
a rare bird when he first broke
into fast company. Those were
the halcyon days of the rough neck.
.Sparks shunned demon rum, to
bacco, curse words and all those
other pleasures we ate told to
eschew when we are young and
practice when we learn “wisdom.”
He never played Sunday ball. He
was always immaculate in his
dress, being in appearance a rather
finnicky business man rather than
a demon athlete. His voice was as
soft as the whisper of a spring
zephy and his words as carefully
chosen as those of a Sunday school
superintendent when he explains
why the lions didn't eat Daniel.
Until 1910 Sparks remained on
the Philly pay roll. When he was
through he was given an uncondi
tional release us'a reward for long
and faithful service and was not
slow to grab on with Johnny
Dobbs of t'hattanooga. Though
the Lookouts finished fourth In
1910, Sparks led the league in
pitching.
Arm Gone, Won With Head.
The next season found him again
with Dobbs, only this time he was
back on his old stamping ground
in Montgomery, where fifteen years
before he had faced his first pro
fessional batter and bravely brook
ed the taunts in reference to his
pumps and crimson stockings He
pitched Dobbs' outfit into second
place in 1911, but his arm was
practically gone. His thinking ap
paratus remained intact, however,
and he was able to be one of the
league’s leaders.
He saw that his baseball days
were over. His careful living in the
days of his prime had guaranteed a
fat bank account and 1912 found
him, still looking the business man
and now a real business man, en
gaged in the pleasant pastime nf
making two dollars for one in the
little north Alabama town from
which he emanated.
There he teaches a Sunday school
class and votes for Richmond Pear
son Hobson and other prohibition
ists. but among his holy of holies
are a pair of patent leather pumps
and a blazing set of hosiery. He
lias never forgotten that baptism of
blood and native humor.
VANDERBILT LEADS
SOUTHERN ELEVENS
WITH 307 POINTS
\ anderbllt, with 307 points scored
against their opponents, leads the South
ern football teams. Here is how the
Southern teams rank this morning:
, „ Vanderbilt.
10. Bethel o
100 Maryville ” ’* / 3
54 Rose Poly/ 0
46 Georgia 0
307 3
Sewanee,
34 Morgann
101 Florence Normal 0
27 Chattanooga . . .0
162 9
Auburn.
36 Alumnio
56 Mercer ..0
27 Floridaa
27 ClemsonC
146 4
Alabama.
52 Marion/ <1
62 Birmingham.. .( <1
3 Tech|2o
0 Mississippi Agricultural and M . .. 7
117 27
Clemson.
59 Howardo
26 Riversideo
6 Auburn 27
91 37
Georgia.
33 Chattanoogao
33 Citadel.. n
0 Vanderbilt 46
66 4«
Mercer.
29 Gordon 6
0 Auburn•>•'
36 H oward ll
0 Techl6
65 76
Tech.
0 Eleventh Cavalry "
20 Citadel ''
20 \labama . '
16 Mercer
56' 5
