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10 *< 1 . MB E-DITLD W S FARNSWORTH ' Aw, Well, Christmas Comes But Once a Year :: :: :: :: ;; By “Bud’ Fisher *---- J ‘ '' '" y 2 *' ' 7- f- cTfijrr, IS’F Ger z. * jy - 8 ' f’S A Gofl> ij £1 <* ——-x } __ L Jr ' L^ c * ' */7oT , ? VHP KCH.‘{MNS, TVa • ...I . . 'e .» ft THS Pt>e« . ... : * i r, ' JAN o*L p(*.k. the Poor. i si»- i »--=-■ * Pok. « I 1 T-.VJ VKAK’N, ’ ' > ——' ft ■f' BOwka. / I c —Apor %f I r 1 UM6 - pl J" »--■. MOke4 tk 11 '<*SaL W L& iI»W«OkW Tfe* Ml «n F w I® A 7 . ..sllL qwY,* ajjF ■■ '- j <'SLafffiS i jfe b| I . 'jl vteyS&daL —. ■ I is» JSESI " J -*'" ■* ■ ' r®® — I _ O t ■**•«■. lES' 1 . asaj i"ffinr WftWyT' I <w/// . i ss2E®«S> * Fl™ ' —~ "~ '— s coPYtaxswt&p jaiob t>y JtAtt. cb | 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 2°