Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

25 Greatest Southern League Players~-No. 7 ThatMolesworth Crouch By Fuzzv Woodruff. EMEMBER, gentle reader, those halycon days of your youth when it was the bounding desire of your heart of hearts to hurt some one? Remein ber now. when prompted by that desire, you visited the county fair, the joj’s of Jo Jo, Princess Zoo Zoo and the Bevy of Beloochistan Beauties were counted as naught and you even foreswore your pre dilection for wagering your hard earned savings on the chances of an animal with a pedigree as long as that of the House of Hapsburg? Remember the keen elation with which you paid out five cents for three throws at the elusive head of a Senegambian, who had suddenly attained new eminence by trans fecting his activities from toting grips at the depot to standing be hind a screen with a duck pond painted on it and tauntingly invit ing the body politic to do damage to his cranium? You had known this negro all your life and not until it cost five cents for three opportunities for you to break his skull had you ever seen your keenest joy rest in the prospect of braining him. But now. at five cents for three throws, thSre was nothing else on earth worthy of being done. Jo Jo might bark from his canine physi ognomy . Zoo Zoo might tell you that you were about to take a long journey. The entire Bevy of Be loochistan Beauties might shock you with all the writhing motions of Gertrude Hoffman, Mary Gar den. Eva Tanguay and the thou sand and other Salomes. The pedigreed horse could pace for Sweeney or the rest of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Your ambi tion was to castigate the counte nance of the coon with baseball at three throws for five A Regular "African Dodger.’’ The artful dodging of the dinge that kept his skull immune from your projectiles was a thing to be admired, but never in your long life did you imagine that this same dodging ability was responsible for certainly the most consistent bat ter the Southern league ever knew, probably one of the most scientific hitters the national pastime has seen. Now. I am not seeking to de prive Mr. Mack of his fame of be ing the MichaevelH of baseball. Tt Is not my purpose to assume Na poleonic pose and tel! Mr. McGraw things that he has left undone in running his gang of athletes, nor would I attempt to say that I could have operated the last world series to greater glories than did Mr. Stahl. Still J wish to go on record right now as making affidavit that in these days jvhen the pinch hitter is as valuable an asset as a prize pitcher, major league managers overlooked bets for many years by letting one C. Molesworth stay in the Southern league to make things miserable for Southern pitchers. And Mr. Molesworth did this by his unerring ability to yank his head out of the way of a fast thrown ball, hurled with the ex press Idea of shattering his brain or making him pull away from the plate. Had Great Batting Record. Tn ma.|. r and minor leagues for seventeen years Molesworth had a general batting average of .317. and he never for a second cared what kind of a pitcher was working against him. He would just as soon hit Mathewson as the newest recruit the South Atlantic league ever possessed. To Southern league fans the .11l fIRI L - ' V :iir .!< Hi' I lilii j,i l: • 4!fc^nimWl s? i • Jf J* vtW iip - i IMI TO l ETO w®j "j/ F/iV\ MODEL Bio wJr! [yUf $4 -°° La ft- to I $6.00 I.| ■ We selected our Fall Ralstons ’""' I R with an eye to the style require- —inentsof the man who keeps instep with Fashion, who draws the line ? at “ Freaks ” but at th® same time wants styles that are really new. You’ll not find a behind the calendar style MV g in our store. I,Ta i>? Ralston foot-moulded lasts I ■ ■—■.———■■» I ■ 1 ™l J. ■ M insure comfort as well as style. M wc i lavc H ie privilege o£showing you? R. 0. BARKSDALE CO 11 D’catSt.. zJ O Kimball House. fifrtjtfftftftfttflnTinn iwmaM fiy Molesworthian crouch over the plate was as familiar a sight as the corner of Whitehall and Alabama streets to the crossing cop. The bugs believed that it was simply a peculiarity. They did not know that in this crouch lay the batting secret of the man who had defied every great pitcher since the days when Rusie was a star and Math ewson was in swaddling clothes. Eor years and years they watch ed him stick his head over the pan and wonder by what freak of for tune he was enabled to keep his brains from being spilled over the catcher’s box and how from this awkward position he was able to whale any kind of hurling. Molesworth told me the reason for this crouch. He told ft after he had quit playing ball and had started the more pleasant pursuit of managing a pennant winning club. Was Weak on Low Balls. The rotund Baron manager, un like most great hitters, had a bat ting weakness. He could not con nect safely if the hurler kept the pill whizzing around his knees. Otherwise he was a perfect bats man. Veteran pitchers have de clared that he never nit at a ball that was not over the plate. He drove with equal ferocity to right, center or left field. He was a cork ing good hunter and rarely struck out. But that low ball weakness both ered him. Tn his early days Moles worth was a pitcher: in fact, his big league career was confined to the hurling hill. Way back in the early nineties he was a right handed slabman for Washington when Arthur Irwin managed the Senators. His arm went dead. He had. however, always been a good field er and possessed an accurate bat ting eye. Girlish Way of Pegging. His eyes were turned to the out field and he landed a job in a bush league, playing the gardens and throwing with his left arm. He did this throughout the rest of his career, and all Southern league fans remember the peculiar girlish mo tion he had in getting away a peg. When he got on the outfield job, he immediately planned to be a sterling hitter. He knew he could not do this as long as he had the fatal low ball weakness. Natur ally. the only thing for him to do was to make the pitchers keep the ball high when working against him. That was a problem of more than ordinary difficulty. Hurlers rarely do what the batter wants them. Rut Molesworth had been a hurler, and he knew the hurler kind. He knew that every pitcher places more or less confidence in his "bean" ball—that is. a fast ball thrown at the head of a batter, with the idea of making the hitter pull away from the plate when the ball does come over. Working on this theory, he rea soned that if he kept his head over the plate the pitchers would nat urally throw right at it. And if he kept his head on a level with the letters on his shirt he would be able to murder any sort of pitching. He tried it. Pitcher after pitcher kept throwing at the elusive head, and he kept lining out hits. It was dangerous enough, but that season he hit well above .400. His system had worked. Straightened Up to Hit. He never hit from his crouch. He would keep his head over the pan until the ball started. Then he would stand erect and whale away with all his force. He was always THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. FBI DAY, NOVEMBER 1. 1912. Heisman’s Forecast of Tomorrow’s Big Battles *•* Coach Picks Vandy, Sewanee and Auburn to Win Bv .1. W. Heisman. HE most important game of football billed for Dixieland tomorrow is that between the Commodores and the lads from the Old Dominion. One month ago most everybody thought one team had as. good a chance as the other. Some of us, however, thought otherwise: for Virginia’s system of alumni coach ing has not. since its inauguration in 1906. proven the entire success that Virginians could have wished. These coaches have done quite as well as might have been expected from them, but the fact remains that football at Virginia is far from being on a par with that at Yale, Harvard, Pennsylvania. Princeton and at least a dozen other colleges, and it would be asking too much to expect that Virginia’s football graduates could do such w ork and turn out such teams as do the coaches who derived their knowl edge and ability from their connec tion with these higher grade foot ball colleges. The record of I lie Charlottesville team to date but emphasizes this statement, and 1, for one, look to see Vanderbilt defeat Virginia by something like three touchdowns. It is quite possible that they will do even better than that, but not probably, for the simple reason that this has loomed large all the fall on Virginia’s schedule as being her most important game of the season. This being the case, they will be keyed up to their very highest ten sion against the Commodores, and will, I believe, hold the score down to about what I have suggested. SEWANEE V<S. GEORGIA. 'J" HIS is another of the Souths most important battles for to morrow. and it is sure to be a hum mer. Sewanee has done but little thus far this season, but they have done that little mighty well. Geor gia started off promisingly enough, but has not in their last two games come up to , the expectations of their friends. The latent power and strength, including even football experience, are there, and if Geor gia during the past week of prac tice has relearned how to get these out of her system, they will defeat Sewanee. Frankly, though, I do not expect this to happen. Fact is, Sewanee hasn’t been saying much this fall, but they got the goods themselves. They have returned nearly everybody of last year's team, and one or two from previous teams. In addition they have tucked up a couple of aston ishingly high-grade performers of the brand-new label, and has the necessary weight, speed, experience and punting ability. Besides they are smarting under the trimming Georgia gave them last year, and that generally counts for more than most people have a proper idea of. Don't let on that you are the least bit Surprised if Sewanee is returned the winner. The score should be small. • ♦ * AL'BERN VS. TECH. TJ ERE is alyvays a fine draw ing card and one that will be well worth going to see. Auburn will have the edge in nearly all natural departments, and there is no deny ing the fact that they are going just now at a very fine gait. Au burn and Sewanee are the only teams in the South that can still in perfect batting position when he swung. He used his crouch w hen he came into the Southern league, with Chattanooga, in 1902. He .was one of the league’s I ading hitters. And for years he kept it up. Finally it became a fetish among the hurlers that no one could make Molesworth keep his head from that inviting position. They tried all their steam and all their skill. They never hit Molesworth. he never pulled away, and he frequent ly hit them. Eten the major leagues know of it. They all experimented on him BLOOD POISON Piles and Rectal Diseases. CURED TO STAY CURED to get the right treatment? I GIVE 606, the celebrated Gorman prepara tion for Blood Poison and guarantee results. Come to me. 1 will cure you or make no charge and I will make my terms within you! reach. I cure Vari cocele, Hydrocele. Kidney, Bladder and Prostatic troubles. Piles, Rupture, Stricture, Rheumatism, Nervous De bility and all acute and chronic dis charges of men and women cured in the shortest time possible. If you can’t call, write. Free consultation and examination. Hours, Ba. m to 7 p. in. Sundays, 9 to 1. DR. J. D. HUGHES. Specialist. Opposite Third National Bank IS 1 /? North Broad St., Atlanta, Ga. DR. E. C. GRIFFIN’S $5.00 Oirr •’’••"♦Hl® Cera Gives Modern Dental Health Qk Set Teeth Only $5 M Delivered Day Ordered 22k - ° r,wM lrld «* w#rk Phono 1708 Lady Attendant Over Brown A A'len'e Drug tore 24 J Whitehall Street Ry a true speciajlst who possesses the ex perience of years—the right kind of experi ence-doing the same thing the right way hundreds and perhaps thousands of times with unfailing, perma nent results. No cut ting or detention from business. Dop’t you think it’s about time challenge Vanderbilt’s supremacy. These two teams, unfortunately, do not meet, and it would be difficult for me to hazard an opinion which was the stronger—for a week or two yet at least. Just at present I am inclined to say that Auburn is. If this guess be correct. Atlantans will have tomorrow the only op portunity of the season to see in action the team that best questions Vanderbilt’s right to the pennant. And. believe me. Auburn is going to give the Commodores a real battle. They have been taking things cool ly, but very carefully. Thus far they have not been extended to their fullest and they have not been trying to run up big scores: they are trying to come to a height on November 16. But each succeeding Saturday they have shown more and more strength, and tomorrow they will, no doubt, play the best game they have put up this year. What about Tech? Well. Tech is going to do their dad-blitherest. but what, really, can J 56 pounds do against 171 pounds? In baseball, tennis, swimming and a whole lot of things they can do as much as the big fellots, but seldom indeed can they hope for anything in a foot ball game against them. Tech has mastered their offense, and it’s as good as most any that a light team can attain: but the rub will come in that the light line is almost bound to buckle when it goes up against Auburn's overwhelmingly Superior line, and that will mean that Au burn will probably be able to hold the ball all day against the Yellow- Jackets, thus giving the latter little chance to show whether tney cgn do anything with the ball or not. Tech has accomplished undoubt ed wonders thus far this season, but expecting them to beat Auburn is asking just a little too much of a small quantity of human flesh and blood. 1 can not hazard a guess on the score. I expect Auburn w ill score at least several times, and it may be plentifully. I certainly count on the Yellow Jackets play ing themselves to an “a'l in" con dition. and then some. ♦ ft ♦ L. S. U. VS. MISS. A. & Al. ’J" HIS should be another very good and close game. L. S. U. was barely beaten by the strong Uni versity of Mississippi team, and Au burn dealt out the same meager fate to Miss. A. and M. My opin ion is that the A. and M. will win, but it will be by a close score. , , , ALABAMA VS. TVLANE. '-p HIS game will be played in New A Orleans, and Tulane should have the advantage, in that it will give Alabama, a hard trip before the game. However, Alabama is about over the bitterness and chagrin of their Tech defeat and is coming too strong for Tulane. Alabama should win TENNESSEE VS. KENTUCKY OU little is known in these parts of the present strength of. the Kentucky team that it would be foolish for me to make a guess on the outcome of this game. I will say that Tennessee is playing very good football, and 1 do not believe Kentucky can beat them by a large score, if at all. ft ft ft MERCER VS. COLUMBIA, ep HE Baptists should win this * game, but, if my memory serves me correctly. Columbia defeated Mercer last season. And, by the without satisfaction. Finally, in the spring of 1907, Wild Bill Dono van. then in his glory, was boiling out in Hot Springs. He had all the speed of a racing automobile. He was a terror to every timid hit ter. Molesworth’s fame reached him at Hot Springs. • “There’s a little chunky guy over in Birmingham," Rube Waddell told him, “that sticks his head right over the pan and laughs at you when you shoot 'em at his bean. Nobody can make him move it." "I’ll bet I can." said Donovan, but other pitchers in the fan fest grin ned. Donovan finally reached Birming ham. It was in late spring, and he was ready to cut loose. But he Saved his steam for Molesworth. Five times Molesworth crouched and five times Donovan, shouting his fast ball with the speed of a bullet directly at the head over the pan. waited to see him pull away from this death-carrying delivery. Five times Molesworth’s bat crack ed and five times he registered a -afe hit. And when the game was over Donovan was the first to run to Molesworth and tell him how he had cheapened his boast. Molesworth batted well until 1511, when his eye went wrong and he began to punch at w ide balls He knew his days as a player were over, and he retired to bench man agement. Tlie next year he won a pennant, but if he would win a hundred he would not be remembered In the South as a leader of champions. The bugs would remember that head bobbing over the plate and the bat crack that followed when the ball was thrown at It. way, isn't it about time we were taking some notice of the rapid im provement in form that the Florida colleges are showing. East year-. 1 may remind the reader, the University of Florida not only defeated Citadel, but also Clemson. This year they gave Au burn and Tech a “hot old time” of it. and beat South Carolina in the bargain. Then Stetson plays Mer cer to a standstill last Saturday. Let's watch the outcome of this Mercer-Columbia game with a lit tle more than passing interest. For my part. I’m verj- glad to see the Floridians coming out in polite so ciety. Cigar Jars FREE at United Cigar Stores TODAY How time flies! Only a few months since we came here and yet we seem to be as much a part of the town as the postoffice. Almost everybody knows as well where we are, too. But best of all, our goods— particularly our cigars— are already a staple with a constantly widening circle of smokers. They are coming to us for their cigars not only because they get most for their money in quality, (no matter what the price) but because our cigars when delivered are in the best of condition. z Too much emphasis can’t be given this point. We undertake to always sell good cigars and sell them in good condition, but to keep them so we ask the co-operation of customers. epOp’p* — To make it easy for _____ customers who buy ci gars by the box to keep them in the right condition down to the last cigar, we will give to every purchaser of cigars amounting to $2.00 or over TODAY, a Colonial Cigar Jar, worth SI.OO. Ilns tree cigar jar is not simply a gift to induce patronage. We want you to have your cigars always in good condition. We sell them to you in the proper condition and this jar w*ill keep them so. This jar, which holds 50 cigars under a ground-rimmed, air-tight coyer, is an ornament to any library, office, or smoking room table. It is the only practical humidor requiring no special attention. Remember, every customer who purchases $~ °o worth of cigars or over, is entitled to this SI.OO cigar jar free TODAY. UNITED tefg f IB MlTffl Caiy if I I I a 45 Marietta St. (Corner Forsyth St.) jjy ■I I ■ ■| j 65 Peachtree St. (Corner Auburn Ave.) W■ ■ ■ 23 Peachtree St. (Corner Decatur St.) "B " U L2LLJ! ■”-'J !' ■ ' - JIJJ-L' i L.U._— -- '..■■-'BB ( Down To 40 Degrees WEATHER MAN’S FORECAST Up to 70 Degrees COMFORT IN ONE OF OUR OVERCOATS Snug’, Ilcavv I Islers and lighter weights in al) colors and mixtures, with the new lines of style characteristic of all this season’s clothing. Also a line of the latest (Tav- COATS cnetted Overcoats — perfect combination of rain and over- s|s f() S4O coat, SIB.OO up. Rubber Raincoats, $5. Rubberized Raincoats $7.50 to sls and Umbrellas SI.OO to SO.OO. PARKS=CHAMBERS=HARDWICK N—. 57-59 Peachtree Street COMPANY HI Atlanta. Georgia |— FODDER FOR FANS Tom Carson, formerly a catcher with Chattanooga, has been selected to man age the Waco team. He succeeds Ellis Hardy. George Leidy was an applicant for the position, but was turned down because the Texans wanted a playing manager. ♦ * * \ ean Gregg has gone home to Alberta and has resumed his old job of plasterer, just as though he didn’t know anything about big salaries for working once or twice a week for a couple of hours work. Some bean on Vean’s shoulders. * * » Bill Carrigan, supposed to be the brains of the .ted Sox. is at outs with a lot of his teammates. That is said to be the reason why he worked only two of the eight world's series games He may be disposed of before next season begins. ft ft ft St. Paul is said to he after Harry Hinch man for manager. ♦ ♦ ♦ The White Sox may buy an abandoned hotel in the boom town of Lobo, Texas, and train there. • » • Jake Stahl says that Bedient will be a better man next year than Joe Wood— and a lot of folks will noy be surprised if he calls the turn. It. may be that Joe hasn't signed for 1913 and that Bedient has. Those things make a difference in the managerial conversation sometimes. • • • Claud Hendrix cost the Pirates car fare. He won 22 and lost 9 The cheaper they are the better they pitch—sometimes. ... Frank Chance believes that Artie Hof man still has the makings of a grand olit fielder and that he will do a lot of good for the Pirates yet. ED W. SMITH TO REFEREE WOLGAST-MANDOT FIGHT NEW ORLEANS, Nov. I.—Ed W. Smith, sporting editor of Hearst's Chicago American, is to referee the Ad Wolgast- Joe Mandot ten-round bout here next Monday night. After a wrangle between the managers of both lightweights, which lasted almost three days, Smith was se lected. There will be no decision rendered in this battle, this being one of the demands made by the champion before signing 15