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Good Third Basemen Are Scarce '
Articles; Southern League Has
Had But Few Real Top-Notchers
By Pcrcv 11. Whiting.
NroTHING is mo. s* arc* than
hen.- teeth. But good third
basemen are a close second
I for .ill around, consistent scarce- .
ness. Some things are scarce most
. of the time, like seventeen-year lo
custs. But there haven’t been
enough good third basemen to go
around since the baseball was in
vented. And the crop coming on
1 for next year doesn’t show any
signs of innease.
Look over the big leagues. The
I op-Hoteliers, the pick of all the
baseball world, the result of in
numerable tears of training and
development, are; In the American,
Gardner, Baker and Foster: in the
National, Lobert. Herzog and Zim
merman (the last named slipped in
, solely because of his superlative
ability w ith the stick >
* *
NT*> league that can be recalled
h is been hit any harder by the
third baseman famine than the
Southern. Try to remember a real
ly great third basentan lust year.
The yeat before! Any year since
the league started!!
A jaunt through memory and
record books does not help much.
only two third basemen in all
South* ; a !■ ague history were su
perhitivi good hitters. They were
Delehanty, of Little Rock, and
Brouthers. of Shreveport and New
• irleans. The former got a mark of
' US.! in the hard-hitting season of
s 1903 and the same year the latter
; smacked ’em .Ills. Randibo, of
Meimdiii, hit an even .300 in 1901.
and Taylor, of Chaltajiooga, topped
, him two points the same year.
Red Smith beat .300 and so did
A m da. Otherwise. tile .300 hit
-1 t.rs bait been desperately infre
quent in Southern . ague history.
Then have been less .300 hitters
among third basemen than among
|s." .. n who have played any other
■ position except the slab Job.
HU fielding averages of the third
* basemen are equally barren of
high marks, old Lave Cross, the
v< ar l:< slumped into the Southern,
set a mark that w ill stick a while—
.OSfi. But that was for only part of
a st.ison Roy Montgomery’s .978
... the best mark for a full summer’s
w<' r k
Not ov» r a half dozen fielders in
all the league’s history have fielded
over .95°.
* • •
z-'vE course, mere averages don’t
tell the whole story, or even
the largest part of it. What a man
’ ager want- at third l»’a man who
will play tile position, who will plug
th* hoi*', wbo will go after every
thing within reach.
tliv your mentor.' a Jounce and
.-ee how tatty men r* ally did this,
lielehanty, for all his batting,
bolded under .9tm .ml was only a
fair pe: forme. Handibo and Tay
lor w* .* mediocr* fielders.
I. tv* Cross, the fielding leader,
lelped to pile up his average by
going alu-t only such balls as lie
"is sure ll* could reach. Roy
Montg. i i\. whose fielding mark
was next best was never regarded
as a top-notcher.
Vo' there nave been a fi w third
iia«**-n’en in the league.
Chalky Babb, the year he came
down free Brooklyn to Memphis.
•lUakfi'i! ah right. He was a flash.
* "it "! go cithe: wnj, would tackle
font I* *n -inch projectile in full
t'tton li, i.attod and fielded well,
er ' rd ban man who will
" B ‘ere H* a.*-
good batter
tiling ft* ib r. In 1903. 1904,
’ ■ was tight at th.
' •• t■ ng ..nd fielding
K?. ” • ,l - curing that time would
average .280 to .290 and his fielding
was flashy.
Another third baseman who had
a season or two of brilliancy was
Bobby Cargo. As small as Scotty
Walker, in- wielded a monstrous
bat wit it murderous force; and he
knew how to field.
’’Pug” Bennett, a contemporary
of Cargo, was a man well remem
bered for dean, aggressive work,
Bennett was, for a while, a heavy
hitter ami a quick thinker.
A player who, for one season,
looked a world beater was Scotty
Walker, of Atlanta. The little lad
came to the Gate City at the end of
a long period of wretched third
basemen. In consequence, the dis
covery of a lad who could field his
position, throw to first and who
wasn't afraid and didn’t tank up
with chehp booze was a real event,
and he was hailed as the wonder of
the world. More brilliant fielding
and throwing than Scotty Walk
er’s have seldom been seen in the
league. I.ike Babb, Walker had
but one good season. After,that he
began to fade,
for consistency, the palm goes to
two performers who year after year
figured creditably in the record—
George Rohe and Clayton Perry.
Holte appears first in the record
book in the year 1904. The years
of 1905, 1908, 1909 and 1911 find him
in the third basing division, always
with a good fielding mark, occa
sionally with a good batting record.
For good, steady, dependable work
he has seldom been equaled.
Clayton Perry’s record is tven
longer. He figured in 1900, 1907,
1908, 1909 and 1910 as a Jhird base
man. And when he wasn’t playing
third he was playing second and
doing moderately well. Berry has
been the sort of chap,who has bat
ted around .250 or a bit less and
fielded around .933 ever since he
broke in. He isn't a great fielder,
but he plays a pretty steady game
and. all things considered, is one
of the best.
* * *
A COUPLE of Southern league
third basemen who looked like
wonders for a while were Humpty
McElveen and George Manush.
Botli were strapping big fellows,
smacking hard hitters and afraid
of nothing. In 1907 and 1908 Mc-
Elveen batted in the .280's and
fielded well. "Humpty’s" disposi
tion proved to be his worst enemy
and, though he had a chance in the
big leagues, he couldn't make a go
of it. Manush is another who
“went up" with the prestige of tin*'
records and a big send-off. But he
didn't linger.
• • •
<ptlE Southern ' league has never
‘ had a really great third base
man. The Southern has never sent
a third baseman to the big leagues
who became really great. The
Southern league never had a player
who in previous times had been
great in the big leagues. Os course,
these statements are subject to
some explanations. "Red” Smith
may develop into a wonder, though
he didn’t quite arrive last year.
Phelan, under mote favorable sur
roundings. may be as good a man
some day in the National league as
he was in the Southern, though he
did not show It last year. Bobby
Byrne, a famous big league third
baseman, played shortstop on the
Southern. And. of course, the ex
ception of Lave Cross should be
mentioned. He was a once-great
who slumped back. Rut he does not
have to be considered, because be
played but part of a season.
Verily, verily, third base is a
tough old position to play and good
third basemen have been alarming
ly scarce.
BAKER STARS AT HOCKEY.
k’ORK ’Hobey” Ba ‘
ker. the wonderful Princeton halfback,
---it*' s* ,en wals and was stene wall
.. 'ciise w iicii th. Tiger Imekey
■ io ..'-feateii \V ifiiauia eolb*g, . 4 J, m
st A l * holes r j>lt, here lust night.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATI'KDAY. DECEMBER 21. 1912.
VETERANSCOFFS'
AT “KID" BOXEH
OF NOWADAYS
By Left Hook.
JACK EVERHARDT, once known
as lightweight champion of
the South and in his day about
as tough a bit of fighting machin
ery as the American ring ever
knew, bobbed up in Chicago tile
other day. Jack found that many
of the men who were prominent in
the game along about the time he
was doing his best stunts in tin
ring were no longer on earth, but
he dug up enough of the old-timers
to have a merry time of it.
Jack Is a fairly prosperous fellow
these days. He has been in South
Africa for the past two years and
did well there. It may suiptise the
American fight fans to know that
it wasn’t so very long ago that Jack
won the middleweight champion
ship of that country, showing that
even a veteran many times is bet
ter than a bunch of green hands.
Brings Out Good Point.
Here is a pretty good point that
Jack brought out one day in the
course of a conversation on the
modern fighting man of the light
weight class.
“In these days we learn that the
youngster of the game is the whole
thing, and after a boxer gets to be
25 or so people are beginning to
figure that he is getting passe,”
Jack said.
"Why, I've seen in several papers
the absolute statements that Ad
Wolgast is all through as a fight
ing man. a thought inspired by his
defeat at the hands of Willie
Ritchie.
“And Wolgast is only a little over
24 years old right now! Surely you
can't put down a statement like
that as being anything but rot.
Maybe I'm too old-fashioned in my
ideas of things now. but 1 hark
back to the old days when the class
I was fighting in was fairly bris
tling with the toughest of the tough
ones. Then a mart was considered
only a kid at 25 and wasn't fit to be
classified as the real goods until
after he had reached an age of close
to 30.
No Kid Fighters Then.
"We never had arty kid fighters
in the old days. It is my opinion
that the greatest lightweight that
ever lived, past, present or any
other old time, was the Williams
burg boy. Jack McAuliffe. And let
me tell you that Jack didn't really
. get ripe until he was 28 years old.
And just look how he has lasted!
Why, he's still able to box well and
looks the picture of health.
“That old farmer boy of Illinois,
Billy Myer, one of the greatest of
them all when they left him in his
crude state, but who fell when they
taught him to be clever, was an
other wito didn’t ripen until he was
28. The same may be said of
Frank Erne, than whom there «as
no greater boxer tn the world.
"And take Jack O'Brien, the New
Yotk lightweight, and George Mi
•Faddcu and all the rest <.f that
gang of heroes Wow. but that was
a tough bunch to go up against!
But there "wasn't what you would
call a kid in the entire lot. Joe
Gans, too, didn't get good until he
was past 25, pool old fellow.
Jack O'Keefe a Marvel.
In those days the youngest
lightweight in the business was
Jack O'Keefe, of <'hit ago He was
only eighteen when ho boxed Jim
my Britt in that wonderful contest
out West. Ho was a wonder, too
age considered. Perhaps it was
California. where they grow things
so fast, that set the fashion of
rushing kids into the ring and into
desperate matches early in their
careers.
“At .my rate, they hare ki ■ ■<! off
many a promising bov by trying to
make champions of them before
they liav< hall attained thei
growth. Just take the woof an
observing old-timer to th.it. too.
Ami who will ay that Jack isn't
ight 7
! BASEBALL 111
Diamond News and Gossip
\ woman owning a ball xlub is THE
LIMIT, is the official decision of the
American league. Therefore a ruling has
been passed that no woman shall be al
lowed to own a franchise in the Ameri
can league and no woman shall he a)-,
lowed to attend a meeting.
* * »
Fletcher, one of the bush league players
<luring part of the world’s series, will
hardly be a Giant regular next year.
* b- n
‘‘Tlie proof of (tie pudding is the eat
ing/’ says Lurrx McLean. "The higher
the proof, the better the pudding."
The Seitna. fans have raised S3OO to
finance th* team during the. corning sea
son. It looks as though that ought to
be enough to finance the whole league.
Inn's ANYBODY want the Montgomery
franchise? It s a pitiful thing to see any
thing. going begging, right here on the
edge of Christmas.
• * *
L. Noojin. formerly University of Ala
bama, Chattanooga, Greenville, Charlotte.
South Bend and Cincinnati player (he's
only a kid at that) will probably play
with Asheville this year.
France is to have a baseball • league,
anti they want Larry La.loie and .lean
I’ubuc to come over and manage clubs.
I.arry s-iys he's forgotten how t«» talk
French, but Jean, who is byway of being
a hold-out, is inclined to go.
* :<• *
Big league writers are talking of Al
Demaree as a "finished product" which
may be a compliment or may not.
• * *
Os course we all admit that Charley
Murphy is a simp: but then he’s out
traded every man he’s ever encountered;
he’s won more publicity than Ty Cobb,
and he’s made more money than any man
in baseball. A poor simp, surely.
♦ A
Boh Harmon has gone in;«» the wall
paper business and says he’s stuck on it.
» » *
The Browns have already sent a
groundkeeper to Waco to prepare for
what’s, to follow. If last spring’s re
ports were true, what they should have
sent was a cook.
♦ ♦ v
An All 1 »r*ive-in-runs team, selected ac
cording to the ability to "shove cm
over," would include ritcher Hall. Bos
ton. with 17; catcher. Stanage, Detroit, 42;
first base. Gandil, Climbers, 85; second
base. Lajoie, Naps. I'6; third base, Ba
ker. Athletics, 133; shortstop. Barry. Ath
letics, 68; left field, Lewis, Red Sox. 111:
center field* Speaker. Red Sox. ’.'B; right
field. ’ TawDfrd, Detroit. 108. Rather
shifty team. too.
» * *
Ray Schalk will catch Ed Walsh next
year which indicates a busy season for
the Milwaukee graduate.
♦ w •
Sam Crawford is holding «ut now for
the first time in fourteen years
When Huh Northern slips su far that
he is traded to Toronto for Benny Meyer
it’s about time he settled down.
Clyde Engle has signed for 1913. and no
questions asked.
Jack Doyle, after some umpiring in
the International, expresses delight with
his job of scouting f< r tin- White Sox.
Clarke Griffith only put three Sena
tors on his all-star team: Johnson. Mi
lan and Henry.
Nashville reports lave it that Charley
Frank has waived on Rowdv Elliott after
all.
♦ ♦ ♦
Business office item: Colonel Samuel
Crawford has gone to New Orleans as the
Southern representative <-i tin Peerless
Weighing Machine Companx. (You. ho, it
is the same "Wahoo Sam" who u-t«i to
hit 'em out for the Tigers.»
TENNESSEE BUYS LAND
FOR ATHLETIC FIELD
KNOWN!’ I.E. TENN. Dec 21 The
athletic association of the Cniversity of
Tennessee has just acquired property
adjoining the university campus at a
cost of >12,C00 for a n< w athletic field
\s mut’h m«»r<‘ will be spent in gran
Ing the erecting grandstands
ami training quarters ami laying out
baseball, t*»».t hall, track ami other athletic
grounds. 'Phis improvement; will remove
from the vieinit.v of the university an un
desirablv quarter that has been occupied
as (heap tenant property.
The land is immediately adjacent to the
Tei nesst. river so that • cili h . ■an be
provided ;or water sports. The present
athletic field on the campus, which is in
adequate, particularly for baseball, the
outfields being shallow, will provide a
drill ground for the university endetw
MARQUARD. SICK OF BEING
GOAT. SAYS HE WILL QUIT
CHICAGO. Dec. 21. Rube Marquard has
b’-. ken out again H- is quoted here as
axing that he is through with baseball
"sick ami tired of being the goat ’
"I have had enough of McGraw's rough,
stuff is the wax "Nineteen Straight" is
quoted "They say I'm holding out for
<IO.OOO a \ ear I never said that. May
!»♦• I uni signed up for lw< ->r three years
nmre. hut that’s all the good it will »io
M<Graw ami the Giants."
Concluding his talk. Marquard calmly
a mil »u neo. l *« «pevted to maiTied
Januui x 1,, ten < 'd mu mention tlu natne
of his brule-to-he
COBBGOtS39JS
FDD EACH HIT
LAST YEAR
EX'ERY time Ty Cobb made a
base hit during the season of
1912 he earned $39.65, accord
ing to figures of Herman Wecke, a
baseball dopester, and according to
the same busy little statistician in
1910 lie was pa|d at the rate of
$45.92 per safety, while in 1911 he
made $36.29 per swat, fielding and
base running not being considered
in figuring his compensation.
Does it pay to play baseball? Ty
ius Raymond lias been drawing a
salary of $9,000 for his services each
of the last three years. Now Ty’s
contract is run out and he wants
another calling for $6,000 more.
In the last three years, according
to XX ecke, Ty Cobb has made 671
hits, while his salary for the same
lengtii of time was $27,000. If Cobb
were getting paid for making hits
alone, lie would have received more
titan S4O for each safety, which is
some payment for swinging a bat
and iiitting tile ball “where they
ain’t.”
If Cobb Were getting paid for this
alone, his most profitable year so
far would have been 1910. In that
season lie made 196 hits at a salary
of $9,000, which would have given
him $45.92 for each bingle. f
That's a whole lot more than the
average workingman receives for a
week's hard labor, so It ean be seen
at a glance that it pays to be the
best ball player living.
In lon Ty made 248 bingles, for
which he received an average of
$36.29 each. This was his poorest
year, when the amount of stipend
is taken into consideration, but at
that it is a very nice little sum.
For each hit in the 1912 campaign
lie gathered in $39.65. All in all,
lie received for each bingle in the
last tlrtee seasons the wee sum of
$40.25 each.
< 'obb's batting and fielding marks
since he started playing profession
al baseball follow:
Year. Team. Games. B.Av. F.Av,
1904—Anniston 370
1904—Augusta .. 37 .237 .946
1905—Augusta .. 103 .326 .927
1905 —Detroit ... 41 .300 .958
1906—Detroit ... 97 .320 .931
1907—Detroit ... 150 .350 .961
1908—Detroit ... 150 .324 .944
1909—Detroit ... 156 .377 .946
1910 —Detroit ... 140 .386 .958
1911 —Detroit ... 146 .420 .957
1912 Detroit ... 140 .410 .940
CHINA WILL HAVE TEAM
IN FAR EAST OLYMPICS
SHANGHAI. CHINA, Dec. 21—A na
tional team of athletes will represent
China in tennis, basket ball, track and
field sports, volley ball and swimming
at the Far Eastern Olympic games, to
be held in Manila February 1 to 10,
191"'. This .vas decided at a meeting
held in the Chinese Y. M. C. A., attend
ed by representative men of Shanghai
fom th' universities, student bodies i
and the Y. M. C. A athletic depart
ment.
Professor G. N. Scigei. of St. Johns
university, and A. H. Swan, physical
dir. . tor of the Chinese Y. M. C. A., will
hold a series of tryout games to select
men. while similar efforts are being
made by the different athletic bodies in
Pekin. I'ientsin and Hankow.
Regarding a foreign team to compete,
it is probable that a meeting of the dif
ferent clubs will be called soon, so that
a selection may be made of competitors
in swimming, golf, tennis and possibly
other events.
Tokiu expects to hold the Far Eastern
< -.tipic games in 1914. and ft will be
i'liina's turn to act as host in 1916.
BRESNAHAN TURNS DOWN
OFFER TO BECOME ACTOR
ST. LOVIS, He. 21. Roger Bresna
-lat . .iep.’seil manager of the St. Ixiuis
Cardinals, turned' down an offer to go on
the stage nt a handsome salary and star
it a sketch, “Petticoat Rule." saying:
"1 am no actor, and 1 refuse to be a
Toe ski • 11 is written around 1 is ex-pe
" » to es v ii>i the St. I.oeis Hub. which is
vincd Tn Mr« Helene Britton
Bert Shorten' Browns’ Young
Outfielder, Is Classed Among
Fastest Stars in Big League
I
(This is the fifteenth of a series
of articles on youngsters who made
good in the big leagues in recent
years.)
By Sam Crane.
THAT tiny speck on the map
of Loraine county, Ohio,
known to postal clerks and
a few others of that section of the
Buckeye State in which it is sit
uated as Elyria, haw a hunch that
some day in the not too distant
future it will be hailed as widely
and prominently as Royston, Ga.,
or Trappe, Md.
For what Ty Cobb and J. Frank
lin Baker have done to bring these
formerly obscure places to the no
tice of the public Bert Shotten
hopes to do for the city of his
birth, and the citizens of Elyria
swear by him.
Bert Shotten is not exactly a
new-comer in the ranks of the ma
jor leagues. He has worn a St.
Louis uniform for several years.
But it is only recently that he
has impressed the fans with his
ability and been hailed as a young
ster with a bright future on the
diamond. Shotten’s greatest asset
is speed. As yet he has not learned
how to use it to the best advan
tage in circling the base paths.
When he does it is predicted he will
bi credited with a base-stealing
record that will compare favorably
with those of Cobb, Milan and oth
ers.
Stovall a Good Tutor,
George Stovall has not been with
the Browns long enough to perfect
Shotten in the art of base running.
When the Browns go into training
next spring the St. Louis boss will
give him a special course in this
department of the game, and he is
free in stating that he confidently
expects to make a great star out
of him. Even in the short time
Stovall has been with the Browns
he has improved Shotten wonder
fully by his instruction.
In beating out bunts and little
hits there is not a player in the
league who compares with the St.
Louis infielder, excepting Cobb, ac
cording to such an authority as
Hal Chase. It is not often that
the Yankee ®rst baseman is caught
napping. Shotten. however, put
one over on him last season. Hal
was caught unawares because be
never dreamed the player possessed
such great speed, it was during a
game in St. Louis.
Shotten rapped a grounder be-,
tween first and second and Hal’
started for the ball. It appeared to
be an easy unassisted play for
Chase. He had made similar ones
hundreds of times, and figured it an
out, as did the spectators.
But Shotten darted down the
line. and. although Chase sprinted
and flung himself headlong toward
the bag, the fleet outfielder crossed
the sack in safely.
3 hat night, after the game,
Chase, in discussing the play with
his teammates, said some highly
complimentary things about the
youngster, and no time was lost by
Hal thereafter in handling his hits
Speed Helps Percentage.
Shotten is a fairly good hitter.
His speed, too, enables him to get
many hits that less speedy players
would lose. But. aside from thia,
he is improving rapidly in batting,
as well as in base running.
Shotten was Just picked up by
the Browns in 1909. He played in
only seventeen games that season
and did not get a chance to show
anything. The following year he
was sent back to the minors for ad
ditional seasoning. He epent part
of ills time with the Omaha club of
the Western league, and finished
the 1910 seasot with Wheelinc.
v vz
Record of Shotten
In Last Four Years
Club. Year. B.A. F.A.
St. Louis (A) 1909 .262 .915
Omaha -
Wheeling 1910 .'.3m .932
St. Louis (A). .1911 .255 .950
St. Louis (A). ...1912 .290 .9-11
being recalled in the fall by lie
Browns.
Got Regular Position
He got a regular berth ii
outfield in 1911. C’onsidvrin >■
fact that he was with ,-i tai” ini
outfit, "he made a good r cord, bat
ting .255 ami fielding .950.
Last season, although tb. a
was more or less of a Joke, he iribe
his work stand lout quite pro a
nently and' showed no little
provement in batting and ;>a- .li -
ning. He played through IT ■
tir* season without mfitsing a r i.■
boosted his batting avt-rag* :
points and stole ten mu ■
than in 1911. W hen tin- ii
records were published B< . .-ir
sered a severe shock, f■ >. a
anticipated his rating wii
pride, and discovered that a ■ -
ical error robbed him of er* in o r
stealing ten baser:. This was r. .• -
tied by Ban Johnson in as; ■*.■!
bulletin.
Shotten was born In th* 11 1
town mentioned In tile opening'
paragraph 25 years ago. He began
his professional baseball caner ii
1907. He is a well built *-hup. - ■ -
to six feet in height. He ihruv'
right handed, but bats from
left side of the plate, whieli s »
him an added advantage in mi
ting down to first in recon I li *
HARVARD MAKING STRONG
BID FOR PERCY HAUGHTON
CAMBRIDGE. 'MASS.. I h■< -1 H 1 •
newed pressure will be brought 1 '
on Percy Haughton within the nexi wee
In an effort to influence him t" "
five-year contract at SIO,OOO a ' r
head coach of the Harvard ’
squad.
- in-
' Nothing else in the g
; world, but the in- g
dividual blending
of purest tobaccos, |
could give Fatima |
|1 Cigarettes their g
If “distinctively in
dividual’’ attrac- H
I tiveness.
WAX
