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6 IGEOKM ' ' ' _ EDITED S FARNSWORTH Aw, Well, Christmas Comes But Once a Year :: :: :: :: :: By “Bud” Fisher f<7e«=P. t've <Sor /T"' -A <- fl (Aris,”* gcct> t»«n& Q - ~. ga J >’“*i c xx w • Sev£ <'' jl j xIX -'’g' 5 I \L iSjr y ~~- <k f l ' t‘~ : i r~~ »F -w .SSsfL- ~ @i ssM O'-Ss-*- Wj g JB T* -»«»,/// _ XMJjL I i —• ... • 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