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E-DITLD W S FARNSWORTH
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Good Third Basemen Are Scarce
Articles; Southern League Has
Had But Few RealTop-Notchers
By Percy 11. Whiting.
NrOTHI.NO 1h more scarce than
hen-’ teeth. But good thin!
basemen are a close second
Cor all 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
for next year doesn't show any
signs of increase.
book over the bik leagues. The
top-notchers. ths pick of all the
baseball world, the result of in
numerable years of training and
develojiment, are: In the American,
Gardner, Baker and Foster, in the
National, Lobcrt, Herzog and Zim
merman (the last named slipped it)
solely because of biH superlative
ability with the stick).
SW * •
O league that can be recalled
has been hit any harder by the
third basetnan famine than the
Southern. Try to remember a real
ly great third baseman last year.
The year before! Any year since
the league started!!
A jaunt through memory and
, record books does not help much.
Only two third basemen in all
Southern league history were su
perlative good hitters. They were
Delehanty, of Little Rock, and
Brouthers, of Shreveport mid New
Orlean:. The former got a mark of
382 in the hard-hitting season of
and the same year the latter
'smacked 'em .318. Handlbo, of
Memphis, lilt un even .300 in 1901.
and Taylor, of Chattanooga, topped
him two points the some year.
Red Smith beat .800 and so did
Almcda. Otherwise, the .300 lilt
tere have been desperately infre
quent in Southern league history’.
There have been 'es»s .300-hitters
among third basemen titan among
men who have played any other
position except the slab job
4 4 4
*pilE fielding averages of the third
s . basemen are equally barren of
high murks. Old I give Cross, the
year he slumped Into the Southern,
set a mark that will stick a while,
989. But that was for only part of
a season. Roy Montgomery’s .978
is the be«t mark for a full summer's
work
Not ov et a half dozen fielders in
all the league's history have fielded
over .950
• ♦ *
z"'iF tours*, mere averages don’t
tell the whole story, or even
the largest part of it What a man
age- wants at third !s a man who
will play the position, who will plug
rhe hole, who will go after every -
thing within reach.
Give your memory a lounre and
see how many men really did this.
Delehanty, for all his batting
fielded under 900 and was only a
fair peiformei Handlbo and Tay
lor were mediocre fielders.
Lave Cross, the fielding leader,
helped to pile up his average by
going after only such balls as he
was sure he could teach. Roy
Montgomery, whose fielding mark
w> next best, was never regarded
as a top-notcher.
Yf-t there hav> been a few third
basemen in the leagu,.
Charley Babb, the year he enme
down from Brooklyn to Memphis,
qualified all right. Hi was a (lash,
could go either way. would tackle
a fourteen-inch projectile in full
motion. He batted and fielded well.
Another third baseman who will
stand out In the memory of the
old-timers was Brouthers. He was
■L a tangy, agile lad. a good ba'ter
art a ■ .! * m 903
’<>P, boiq m batting and fielding
His bavins curing that time would
THESE ARE TOP-NOTCH
DIXIE THIRD BASEMEN
Brouthers, Montgomery,
C. Smith, Walker,
Babb, Rohe.
Almeida, Perry,
Delehanty, Manush.
Phelan, Cargo.
average .280 to .29(1 and his fielding
was flashy.
Another third baseman who had
a season or two of brilliancy was
Bobby' Cargo. As small as Scotty
Walker, he wielded a monstrous
bat with murderous force; and he
knew how to field.
"Pug" Bennett, a contemporary
of Cargo, was a man well remem
bered for clean, aggressive work.
Bennett was. for a while, a heavy
hitter and 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, fn consequence, the dis
covery of a lud who could field his
position, throw to first and who
wasn’t afraid and didn’t tank up
with cheap booze was a real event,
and he was hailed as the wonder of
the world. More brilliant fielding
and throwing tlqtn Scotty Walk
er's have seldom been seen in the
league. Dike Babb, Walker had
but on* 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
Georg' l Rohe and Clayton Perry,
Rohe appears first In the record
book in the year 1904. The ygars
of 1905, (90S, 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 even
longer. He figured in 1906, 1907.
1908. 1909 and 1910 as a third base
man. And when he wasn't playing
third he was playing second and
doing moderately well. Perry has
been the sort of chap who has bat
ted around .250 or a bit less and
; fielded around .938 ever since he
broke in. He isn't a great fielder,
but he plays a pretty steady came
and. all things considered, is one
of the beet
j 'T’HII Southern league has neve
* had a really great third base
man. The Southern has never sent
i third basetnan to tile 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 arc subject to
some explanation- tted" Smith
may develop into a wonder, though
he didn't quite arrive last year.
Phelan, under more favorable sur
roundings. may be as good a man
some day in the National league a?
he was In the Southern, though he
did not show It last year. Bobby
Byrne, a famous big league third
baseman, played shortstop on th,
Southern. And, of course, the ex
ceptlon of Dave Cross should bo
mentioned. He was a once-great
who slumped bark, But he does not
have to bo considered, because he
played but part of a season.
Verily verily, third has. -s a
tough old position to play and good
third basemen have been alarming
ly scarce.
BAKER STARS AT HOCKEY.
NEW YORK, Dec 21 "Hobev" Ba
ker, th, wonderful Princeton halfback,
sere,. 1; goals and was a stone wall
on • d -f.’ii <• t oi’ j.e Tiger ho> l.e,
'ear ■ rie. Millian * college. 4 to 1 at
<■ Kiel, ■>- her,- la*, right
rzIE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS s.ATERI >A Y. DECEMBER 21. 1912.
VETERANSCOFFS
AT ‘ KID” BOXER
OF NOWADAYS
By Left Hook.
JACK BJVERHARDT, once known
as lightweight champion of
the South and in his day about
us tough a bit of fighting machin
ery as the American ring ever
knew, bolibed up in Chicago the
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 the
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 surprise the
American tight 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.
Bring* 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 tie 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 on > a little ovei
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 I hark
back to the old days when the class
1 war fighting In was fairly bris
tling with the toughest of the tough
ones Then a man was considered
only a kid at 25 and wasn’t fit to be
classified as the real goods until
after he had reached an ago of close
to 30.
No Kid Fighters Then.
"We never had any kid tighter*
in the old days It is my opinion
tiiat the greatest lightweight that
ever lived, past, present or any
other old time, was the Williams
burg boy, Jack McAuliffe. Ami let
me tell you that Jack didn't really
get ipe until he was 28 years old.
And just look how he lias lasted!
Why. he's still able to box well and
t looks the picture of health.
"Tlmt. o'<i farmer bo; of Illinois,
itlllx Mye ope of t>: ■ greatest of
them all when they left him in his
crude static but a ho fell when they
taught him t > be clever, was an
other « ho didn't ripen until he was
28. The same may be said of
Frank b'rne. than whom there «a
no greater boxer in the world.
"Anti take Jack O’Brien, the New
Vmk fightwolght. and George Mc-
Fadden and all the rest of 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 be
was past 2 .. poor old fellow.
Jack O'Keefe a Marvel.
"In thus. dais the youngest
ightw e.lg'nt in the business was
Jack • I'Keefe. of Chicago. He was
only eighteen wlien he boxed .I'm
tny Britt Iti that wonderful contest
out West. He was a wonder, 100
age considered. Perhaps it was
California, where they g ow things
so fast, that set the fashion or
rushing kids into the ring and into
rlesperate matches early in their
ca reers.
At any rate, they have killed oft
many a promising boy by trying to
make champions of them before
they liavi ha i attained the!
giowtn. Just ake the word of an
observing old-timer for tiiat. too.'
Ami who i't -IV t I leek t t
•ifrhf *
Georgia Football Team
Won't Meet Vanderbilt
On Gridiron Next Fall
ATHENS. GA., Dec. 2f.—John
Morris, graduate manager, has
announced the University of
Georgia football schedule for 1913.
It is radically different froyi any es
sayed during the past few years.
Louisiana State university conies
to Athens for the second game of
the season on October 11, while
Virginia takes the place of Vander
bile in Atlanta on October 25, and
North Carolina comes to Athens on
November 1.
Georgia was very anxious to meet
Vanderbilt again in Atlanta, but
the Commodores wanted to carry
the game to Nashville, which is a
financial loss, especially to Georgia,
as was shown in 1911. Virginia was
offered the Atlanta date when Van
derbilt declined, and immediately
accepted, and no game will be play
ed with Vanderbilt.
The schedule follows:
October 4—Citadel or Chattanoo
ga. in Athens.
October 11— L, S. U. in Athens. '
October 18—Alabama in Birming
ham.
October 25—Virginia in Atlanta.
November I—North Carolina in
Athens.
November B—Clemson in Augus
ta (probable).
November 15 —Tech, in Atlanta.
Thanksgiving—Auburn at Au
burn', or at Athens.
BASEBALL?
Diamond News and Gossip
A woman owning a ball club is THE
LIMIT, is the official decision us 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 be al
lowed to attend a meeting.
• • •
Fletcher, one of the bush league players
during part of the world’s series, will
hardly be a Giant regular next year.
• Wl »
“The proof of the pudding is the eat
ing.' says Larry McLean. “The higher
the proof, the better the pudding.”
y * ♦
The Selma lans nave raised S3OO to
finance the team during the coming sea
son. It looks us though that ought to
be enough to finance the whole league.
• * s.
Does 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.
• X.' A
France is to have a baseball league,
and they want Larry Lajoio and .lean
Dubuc t<» come over and manage clubs,
luurry says he’s forgotten how to talk
French, but Jean, who is b\ way of being
a hold out, is inclined to g<>
* •> •
Rig league writers are of \i
Demaree us a “finished product” which
may be a compliment or may not.
6 l> V
Os course we all admit that (’barley
Murphj is a simp; i»ut then he’s otit
traded ever.v man ho’s ever encountered;
he’s won more publicity (han Ty t’obb,
and he’s made more money that' an\ man
in baseball. A poor simp, sureh .
Boh Harmon Las gone into the wall
paper business and say«* he's stuck on it.
The Browns have ahead' sent a
ground keeper to Waco to prepare for
what’s tn follow If last spring’s re
ports were true, what »he> should have
sent was a cook
» t <*
An All Drive-in-runs team, selected ac
cording to rhe ability to “shove em
over. ’ would include Pitcher Hall. Bos
•n. with 17; catcher, Stanage, Petroil. 42;
first base. Gandil. (’limbers. 85; second
base. I.aloie, Naps. 96. third Ba
ker. Athletics, 133. shortstop. Barry. Ath
letics. 68; left Held. Lewis, lied Sox. Ill:
• enter field. Speaker. Bed Sox. 98; right
Held. i'rawford. Ihtrolt, 108. Rather
shifty team. too.
• ♦ •
Hay Schalk will catch Hd Walsh next
year- which indicates a busy season for
the Milwaukee graduate
« w »
Sani Crawford is holding out now for
the first time In fourteen years.
♦ * *
When Hub Northern slips so far that
he is traded to Toronto for Benny Mever
it's about time he settled down.
» * •
Glyde Engie has signed for 1913. and no
questions asked.
Jack Hoyle, after some umpiring in
the Ir.ternallonal. exprei-.se. delight nith
Inh t.f «cont ! rg f'sr the White S.,i
■ GOT 538.65
FDB EACH MIT
LAST FEM
EVERY 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 he was paid at the rate of
$45.92 per safetj. while in 1911 lie
made $36.29 per swat, fielding and
base running not neing considered
in figuring his compensation.
Ix4s it pay to play baseball? Ty
rus Raymonu has 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 Wecke, Ty Cobb has made 671
hits, while his salary for the same
length of time was $27,000. If Cobb
were getting paid for making hits
alone, he would have received more
than S4O for each safety, which is
some payment for swinging a bat
and hitting the 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 he made 196 hits at a salary
of $9,000, which would have given
him $45.92 for each bingle.
That’s a whole lot more than the
average workingman receives for a
week's hard labor, so it can be seen
at a glance that It pays to be the
best ball player living.
In 1911 Ty made 248 bingies, for
which he received an average of
$36.29 each. Tills 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
he gathered in $39.65. All in all,
he received for each bingle in the
last three seasons the wee sum of
$40.25 each.
t’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
190"—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, CHIN,' Dee. 21. A na
tional team of athletes will represent
<'hin;i. in tennis, basket ball, track and
field sports, volley ba" and swimming
nt the Far Eastern Olympic games, to
be Imhl In .Manila February I to to,
1913. Tills was decided at a meeting
held iu the Chinese Y. M. c. A., attend
ed by representative men of Shanghai
from the universities, .student bodies
and the V. ,\i. c. v athletic depart
ment.
Professor G. N. Seige . of St. .Ivlins
university, and A. H. Swan, physical
director of the Chinese Y. M. C. A., will
hold a series of tryout games to -elect
men. while similar efforts are being
made by the different athletic bodies iu
I’ekin, Tientsin 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
. selection may be made of competitors
in swimming, golf, tennis and possible
other events.
Tokio expects to hold the Far Eastern
Olympic games in 1914. and it will be
China’s turn to act as host in 1916.
BRESNAHAN TURNS DOWN
OFFER TO BECOME ACTOR
ST. L/H'IS. Dev. 21. -Roger Bresna
can. deposed manager of the Sr. b,, u ts
Cardinals, turned down an offer to go on
the stage at a handsome salary and star
iu e .sketch. "I’ettlcoat Rule," saving*
"1 am no actor, and 1 refuse to be a
fool.”
The sket-i. 4s written around expe
rience, will the St Louis club which i«
' wr» 1 be Mrs H»l»r » Britton
Bert Shotten, Browns’ Young
Outfielder, Is Classed Among
Fastest Stars in Big League
(This is the fifteenth of a series
of articles on youngsters v/ho made
good in the big leagues in recent
years.)
By Sam Crane.
rpHAT tiny speck on the map
I 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, has 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
be 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 A
the Browns long enough to perfect
Shotten in thd ai t 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 lijs 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. Tt is not often that
the Yankee first baseman is caught
napping. Shotten, however, put
one over on him last season. Hal
was caught unawares because he
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 plaj for
''base, He had made similar ones
hundreds of times, and figured it an
out, as did the spectators.
But Shotten darted down the
tine. and. although '’hast sprinted
and flung himself headlong toward
the bag. the fleet outfielder crossed
the sack in safety.
That night, afte: 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 this,
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
on'y 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. H* spent part
of his lime with the ' >maha club of
the Western league, aud finished
ike 1910 season with Wheeling,
Record of Shotten
In Last Four Years
Club. Year. B.A. FA.
St. Louis (A)... . 1909 .262 .915
Omaha-
Wheeling 1910 .233 .932
St. Louis (A)... .1911 .255 .950
St, Louis (A).... 1912 .290 .941
being recalled in the fall by the
Browns.
Got Regular Position
He got a regular berth in the
outfield in 1911. Considering '
fact that he was witli a tail-,--nil
outfit, he made a good record, b.r
ting .255 and fielding .950.
Last season, although tin . ....
was more or less of a joke, he made
his work stand out quite promi
nently and showed no little im
provement in batting and base run
ning. He played through tin- en
tire season without missing a gnu■-
boosted his batting average 2-:.
points and stole ten more bas--=-
than in 1911. When the offi ..
records were published Bert suf
feted a severe shock, for lie ha.'
anticipated his rating with mu-h
pride, and discovered that a ci,-r
ical error robbed him of credit to
stealing ten bases. This was r<-.■;
fled by Ban Johnson in a speci.
bulletin.
Shotten ..as born in the tdu.
town mentioned in the opening
paragraph 25 years ago. He begat,
his professional baseball career in
1907. He is a welt built chap, c1,,-
to six ftjet in height. He throws
right handed, but bats front v
left, side of the plate, which giv -
him an added advantage in get
ting down to first in record time.
HARVARD MAKING STRONG
BID FOR PERCY HAUGHTOh
CAM Blunt; I-:. MASS.. Dec 21 Lb
newecl pressure will be brought to be.-.i
on Percy Haughton within the next week
in an effort co influence him to sign a
five-year contract at SIO,OOO a year a>
head coach of the Harvard football
squad.
§ Nothing else in the ||
I world, but the in
dividual blending
B of purest tobaccos,
B could give Fatima
B Cigarettes their
“distinctively in- |
B dividual” attrac-
B tiveness.
1
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