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6 ffIOKM SjOFWWPWffiTFI - EDITLD & W. S FARNSWORTH I \Jf Mutt Is a Savant, Jest Is Some More Savant :: :: ;; :: ;; ;; By “Bud” Fisher . IM .. I —■— , ■ r ’ • .. - • - ’ ■ ' - ——. . . „ , _ __ —.— I ■ .. ■ - . To I WTKe ' 6i o! QH ? HtLLO ' x <«, r..,., , w . ; •«-. bAx.Hfc- IWMM WOOWM | AMONG HtiA-M-OS, -T / ~I VH xu/x-j-j AIN'T >■<■’ PvW BUT Jc<A6 ownwif • <A\LK*MG 1O? ‘ > ' 9 lA*\.iAiO'ntetwOßOS, , u »N<r * VMI ~ '. . > 3'fr 56 €LM> TO. HUH*? pft|DA'V’ / l GO O\i . ,- V 4 ILS O N > A “TH£IU" SOGALUV, -- X7'- f CH,VtRN WEU-. SoUONG, / ’ ■ ” AN D /-' y . ~Tv -- ~ » .kj./ ■ STOR.Y e • * F, , 1.. n zL Sk I >4 *- so-, ’ AQf ‘>UK M As '/ I ' |//W f. < ? JU 1(3 jsK/ 1 i *0 M \ zliuf 'i Hiii ■ MHf 4-w Ju -—-7 ■ ’.... S ■ // ' / ML '■:. 'I. / W* !__ J -~y —t >/ J — -■' " - ■ --■ ■-■■ - : __ *V S«MUMO» Dixie Pitching Averages Are Stupidest in World ••*•’•* v®v •.••%* ••••.• %-•<• •?•%• •>•*? %••<• %•••> Sport Writers Association Needed to Effect Reforms |J\ Pri’cv 11. W hit ilig. r-t-yliE stupidest thing in baseball I is the pitching averages. The stupidest pitching averages in the world arc those of the Southern league. Hack in the dru k ag< -onic secretary to President Kava naugh thought out a. way of de termining how a pitcher should get credit for tic work lit did in win ning a ganic. And ever since lids method has stuck—not because it was a good one (for it isn't): not because it contains sin iota of hu man intelligence (for it doesn’t); not for any reason in tile world ex cept that nobody lias bothered to change it. In the American league they have had for years unnumbered a bet ■er way of figuring pitching uver iges than the Southern's, but Ban Johnson has gone that one better. He has abolished entirely the old scheme of ranking pitchers by the games they (and their supporting reams) win and lose. Instead he will, before next season, devise a system which will show how many hits or how many’ runs a pitcher allowed per Inning or per game. I’ll is will afford a fair method of measuring pitching efficiency. rp HE idiocy of the Southern * league's system of figuring gamer- won and lost by pitchers and the unwillingness of the league to bother to make a change brings i out strongly the need in this league of a baseball writers association. There would have been an asso elation of this sort long ago ex cept for one fact, w hich Is that the ii.iteball writers never get together in large enough numbers to justify a meeting It D possible, however, to work | out a pretty efficient organization which should hold meetings and transact business by mall. About seven-eighths of the time the Southern league does its business by wire. There is hardly a day I during the season when -ome mat ter of waivers, rules or some con stitutional fol de rol isn’t on the wiris. Tin Southern league could l:>e mighty well run without a meeting oftener than once in fifty years. The honest truth is that the Southern would have been a lot tau ter off if it hadn’t held a lot of its meetings. But. anyhow f tin* Southern league tun be run by wire, why • tio't a Southern League Baseball Writers association b- tun l»y mail? Tile answer probably Is: it tan Anyhow , a test will soon be made • « pHE point is in organization of j " this son could put n deni of uiessur. on th. South) u ■ ague to think over this matter of pitching averages. If the league stopped to think on. , p would thereupon d reel .Presidon- Kat.uiaugli to de vise u new and a fair naans of kv- ping pitching ateragts A lite organization of baseball writers might noi stop here, tint if they would oven accomplish this they would not liavi lived m vain • • # 'p HE thank- of 11 basebal play < rs will be due to the man who det ises some really Intelligent way of figuring pitching : verage-. Even Hun Johnson ba.- be. n forced to ad mit that h< hasn’t devised it per fect method yet and w hen Uy ion Bancroft gives in that l e s shy of perfection he has indeed tackled a difficult problem. Baseball magazine.- and sporting pages save been full of the mat ter for a year or so, and as yet no-. b<.< | IU s r.-ached mtlsfaetory conclusion, a mo el method of tic urmg ri'- .c-o. . ffi.-tf., . w;1 , i cent.ly proposed by h New York inau I in Sporting News, as follows: 1 Taking up the subject of a sys t» in of averages for pitchers that w ill do the twirlers as near exact justice as is possible and give the fans an idea of their true worth. Henry Harwich, of New York, of fers a suggestion and presents a few figures to show how it works out Harwich’s idea is that the percentage of runs allowed by a pitchei should be balanced with a team's fielding average, the idea being thus to reach a basis of runs fur which the pitcher is really re sponsible. < me fault that may be found with this system at the outset is that Harwich uses the season’s field ing average of the team to reach ids basis of run for which a giyen j pitcher is responsible. It must occur to him on second thought, that the team has not fielded at the same per cent behind each pltejier. if ids work is to be carried out to an exact science it would he necessary to take the fielding done behind each pitcher in each game, or even part of a game in which a pitcher worked. The Harwich letter: Having read an article on pitch ing axerages. I thought over the subject, and would like to sub mit the following system of grad •ng pitchers, aeeonling to their run-preventing efficiency, which would represent their true value t«< the team. This system would take into account th< fielding avuragt of tlie team behind that particular pitcher. Excluding errors, men get on first base bj safe hits, hit by I pitcher, and bases on balls, and a certain percentage of them score. Now, this percentage will b«- greater or less, according to the ability of the pitcher If hr had [ Here Are Five Greatest Heroes of 1912 Thorpe, Wood. Ritchie. Brickley, Mathewson HERE a.v rib tl\< gieatrst uvfoCH of 1912 sportdom: Jim Thorpe, of i'ai-lisle, .inks fit si. Not only did he shim- in th.- intercollegiate H ick m< ct and win th 11-> unci championship of the A. A. (’.. but be also won the penlath don and decathlon at the Stockton Olympics and was the greatest point manufacturer among the college football players. Joe Wood slnuihl eome next. Hr made a remarkable record as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and contributed largely to the victory of the American leaguers in tin world’s seri-■ Willie Ritchie, by his vic tors ov< • k< W 'Z.if n th< ba fdi In lightweight fistic crown, mds in third place. Charley Brickl y. ihe great Harvard halfback, is entitled I io fourth place because of Ins wonderful kicking and all-round playing, while Christy Mathewson also g< > p’mc in tin ba’l of fame by virtue of : his sterling work against Boston in the World s series pitching that was all tin- mon emarkabh by ; • -a of Mathvwsuii ha ving been a big league inirler for eleven years. BIRMINGHAM THREATENED WITH 2 GAMES SAME DAY BIRMINGHAM. Dec. 26. Her, s a. pu tty howdy-do: Birmingham's two bigg, si football games are .-ehedulcd for the inn day in 1813. tn the announei mem oi Sewanee's . rootball schedule for next lull appears ti I game with Alabama In Birmingham for* November I X short while ago aimoimcemeu was made that Kuburn ami Vanderbilt had agreed to play In Birmingham Novem ber 15. Isn’t thi« enough to make any wild ey cd football tan;.tit sit down on the curb and scalp himself'.’ It means that the ithletic associa tions of four institutions Auburn. Ala bama. Sewame and Vanderbilt must get together, for the two games on the same day for Birmingham would hardly be tlu thing It means that one of the games will have to be moved up a bit and of coirs.- it should hi played In Birmingham. PAPKE MAY MEET M'GOORTY < 'll 1< ’ XGt\ De- 26 Billy Papke, who elain s • middleweight championship of -he w rl- aid fiddle Mtloorty. who does ditto. agree. saying kind words about each '.till r. an th. i» -a prospect of s mat.-! l . ..a , THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.TIIERSDAY. DECEMBER 26. 1912. 1 1.000 per cent fielding behind hinn Taking Walter Johnson for an j < xumplc, we would compute his | efficiency thus, based on his rec- ' ord: Number of men reaching first bus** while Johnson is in box: Hits 25’J. Hit batsmen 16. Bases on balls' 75. Total 851, reaching first base through Joimson’s agency. Divide this by number of runs scored on him. R 9, and we have .254. which w r ould be the percentage *»f runs to men reach ing lirst scored against Johnson. Now, let us assume that every team fields 1.000, then all pitchers would be equal in the matter of fielding support behind them. If this were the case we would mere ly subtract .254 from f.OOO, but would have: .954 less .254, or .700, which would represent Johnson's run preventing efficiency and true value to his team. According to this basis we have this grading: K c x x x'S C z z ~ s - -z? .£ A Z "z Tie 04* t: o i-C / = - G Cq u TS'C - U Si Johnson 351 89 .254 .954 .700 j R. Collins ....236 65 .275 .957 .682 blank 323 90 .279 .958 .679 Wood 361 104 .288 .957 .669 Walsh 428 125 .292 .956 .661 Gregg 342 99 .289 .953 .664 Render ... .203 63 .310.958.643 . diskette .162 50 .309 .95.“. .644 «• Brien . .337 107 .317 .957 .640 Dilbuc333 10G .318 .949 .63) • ’ashion2sß 84 .326 .954 .628 Baumg’ner .312 101 .324 .947 .623 Ha 11252 85 .337 .957 .620 Groom .. . 386 133 .345 .954 .609 Bedkni .264 93 .353 .957 .605 (’o. nibs 331 120 .362 .958 .595 Now. wr all know that Bender and Gregs pitched better last year than this. This system empha • x( . this strikingly. Bender’s av ct ixe being .710 and Gregg's be ing 7C.. Johnson’s was .637. I —■ - ————■'' ■—— -• ■ - BRAVES WON'T WAIVE ON M'MILLAN: MAY GET HIM ■ NKW YORK. Dec. 26. Tonin i .Mc- Millan may not play with the New York Highlanders this year probably rill not. But he will nevei get out of the big '.-agues, IV Liu e Tommy looks 'w in worth i u waiver price to George Stallings. manager of the Boston Braves rib olio day til. Yankees tried to pass McMillan l>,.ek to Rochester. Tin attempt failed, however, for the Bos ton Braves refused to waive. It fs possible that a deal may b. fixed up before long which will allow the Atlant:, lad to go to Boston. ST. PAUL TRYING TO GET RID OF CHAS. HEMPHILL Lol ISV 11.LK. Dee. 26.- The St. Paul team evidently isn’t tickled with its purchase of Charley Hemphill, deposed Cracker manager, for within the last day or two th. Saints offered the for mer star to th. local team. Thi offer, i.owev. .. was turned down, along with th. tender of La. ry McLean. The ’oral ’.lb - no .-> t..- o’ >< FOOTBALL STARS - ON MNDERBILT OOINTET rpHE Atlanta .Athletic club will I play its third game of the season Saturday night, and tueii opponents will be the Vander bilt boys, who eome highly touted. All there is to say about the game is that it will be a bearcat strug gle and some classy, speedy and unheard of stunts are sure to be pulled off by both squads. The Vanderbilt boys are out for revenge, for the local lads pur one across on them in the game last season. Atlanta won, but they will clearly remember that they had to go some to do it. Vandy is made up of a bunch of celebrities, who have won for them selves a. name on the football grid iron this season. Following are the men to compose the team: Nelson. ' captain; Enoch Brown, star end and captain of 1913 team; Buddy Morgan, the hefty center; Swafford, the big guard, and Tom Brown, the all-Southern tackle. \ underbill has always been a big drawing card in this neck of the woods, and a victory over the locals would mean a heap to fheth. The A. A. C. team has a record of three straight wins, and they are going to work their blooming necks off to annex the fourth one. A treat out of the ordinary will be put on during the intermission. It will in- a tumbling match be tween House and Francis, both members of the eiub. The usual dancing feature will end the night’s enjoyment. BASEBALL Diamond News and Gossip i Rube Robinson, sent up from the Tex as league .<» Pittsburg, is spending the winter in Lloyd, Ark., v.here he and Papa ; Robinson run a general store. « * * John Murph'. rhe. Giants' grounds "keep er, is ]. uttir.g in a few flown beds at th** Marlin ball ground. The Giants are such an esthetic lot thev just demand stuff like this. >X t tjt .lake Stenzel, who batted .409 in the Nati<>nal league in 1893. and not under .350 for the next three years, is keeping bar now in Cincinnati. \ Cincinnati manager must win a pen nant or quit -pleasant alternatives in deed. < >’l'ax was tired for finishing fourth and they didn't pin any medals on the noble breast of Joe Kellej for finishing third. Lee Tannehill was handed SBQ<I as a present by Charley Uomiskey in lieu of ns Cub-Sox series money Yt i Comls kej let late out two months before ibo series was played. Aw. let s cut out all this valnmermg about what to do with the Montgomery ■ franchise, chuck one other club and eu’t the Southern league to six clubs Will some other club kimllv volunteer to re sign, along with Montgomery? The Louisville club has retuse.' to a.- eept Lat'r; McLean. The owners say tin.' are located too near the distillery district. BRICKLEY HEADS TEAM IN INDOOR TRACK MEET NEW YOltK. Dec. 2S -Charles Bri. lt lm. the Harvard baseball am! football star, will head the Crimson squad which will compete in the indoor tield and track events to be hel.l here January -1. in' th. Twent) second regiment armory. BRITTON WHIPS KEEFE: GOES AFTER M'FARLAND PHILADELPHIA. De. .lack Brit ton. the Chicago lightweight, who knocked out Tommy Keefe in the second round last night, renewed his efforts to day to connect with McFarland in ti e ring. COULON MUST REST. NEVX lollk. Dec. 26 —The physi cian of Johnny Coulon, bantamweight champion, has ordered him to tak.- a complete rest for two montjis because of i g. r ■al b' oakdown in health. McMahon Proves Bush-Leaguer; Main Bout a Joke ••• V ~f‘.~ .'•••J. Preliminaries Take Curse Off Christmas Show By Sam Bell. I-) ERHAPS Walter Little, the Chicago lightw eight, who has haunted local fight clubs for nine months for an opportunity to free himself from the odium of his one-time fiasco with Terry Nelson, deserves another try, after his start at the Dixie Athletic club last night. And again perhaps he e-oesn’t. But let it be said for Little, if he displayed no especial brilliancy or powerful punches he really didn't have a chance. Frank McMahon, his opponent, came to Atlanta with a bunch of newspaper clippings and some fighting tojrs. If he had any thing else it was not in evidence last night. However, he had a crop of long hair, carefully parted in the middle, which he seemed to cherish a great deal. McMahon was a whipped man when he stepped out of his corner in the first round. If he knew what to do with his hands his heart beats were too faint to awake re sponse. Little sent him crashing to the floor for the count of nine after about two minutes of the first ses sion had gone, with a left to the head that would have made a kid like Spider Britt laugh. After that McMahon hung on for dear life, rarely taking a chance with Little’s rather wild but vicious haymakers. Little Was No Marvel. The best that can be said of the mill is that it was an exemplary stalling match. The worst that can be said for Little is that he failed to show any real disposition to stow the Kansas City pug away until the sixth round. Even in the sixth McMahon’s tell-tale heart helped Walter mightily with his finishing touches, although Little t had sent in plenty of steam in the fourth and fifth rounds, succeeding in bumping McMahon’s right eye badly, with a full-blue closing ef fect. McMahon's best tactic was the good old hug. of strategy he dis played none. After the first round he braced a little and in the third showed his best.-He dared here to exchange body punches close in and surprised himself with coming out of the clinches with an edge. Perhaps this fact heartened Mc- Mahon a bit. for he took a fairly large lacing In the fourth and fifth and went down for the count after a volley of right and left swings which landed promiscuously in the sixth. The blow he took his final brodie on was a fight that Little banged on his ear. If he wasn’t out physically he was mentally, so he was justified in staying down. if Little can forget a penchant for fancy stuff, and acquire a keen er sense of direction for his rights, he will doubtless come back to the heart of Atlanta fans. The semi-windup, a clean-cut. hard-fought mill between Tommy- Lavelle and Eddie Hanlon, in which the decision wont to Lavelle, and the ’third preliminary, between Al Smith and Spider Britt, in which Smith triumphed, were tlh night's real bouts. \nd they were slashing TEN EXHIBITION GAMES SCHEDULED FOR DALLAS DALLAS. TEX.. Dec. 26. -Joe Gard iner. owner of the Dallas Giants, has ar ' nounced the pre-season schedule in Dal | las with the big league teams next spring The games: 1 March 1. 2 —New York Nationals | March 8. 9—New York Nationals. Mail'll 5. 16 Philadelphia Americans. March 22. 23—St. Louis Americans. March 29. 30- New York Nationals REDS CAN’T GET BROWN. C HICAGO. Dec. 26.—The announce ment of President Murphy that the Chicago dub has a string on Mordecal Brown, who was released to Louisville, will probaldy end tin efforts of .Man ager Joe Tinker to -rcir-e him for the Cincinnati club. affairs from gong to gong—four teen rounds of consistent give and take. Lavelle and Smith proved the surprises—especially Smith, for La - velle has been a preliminary card • here for months, and has always made more than good. No fighter coming to Atlanta has improved as fast under the eyes of local fans as Lavelle. He sur prised even his most ardent admir ers last night with his cool, heady milling and his lightning-like rights. He shaded Hanlon in every round save the sixth, and in the seventh and especially the eighth he administered a lacing that would have caved a smaller man. Tommy showed a marked faculty for opening up his opponent with a straight left and for catching him coming in with a hard right that went either to the body or the head. He fought best at long range, outpointing Hanlon consistently. In the infighting Hanlon’s weight told, but he did not shade Lavelle save in the sixth round, when he rocked Tommy's head with right and left hooks. Lavelle announced that he would COBB, JACKSON AND BAKER RETAIN HONOR HAVE you ever stopped to think how few players lead the batters in their respect ive positions for two seasons? Only three players who were top-notchers in batting in their places in the American league hi 1911 again led last season. They were Tyrus Cobb, who led the league in batting; Joe Jackson, of the Naps, and Frank Baker, the Athletics' star third sacker. These were the only ones who topped their positions twice. The uncertainty of baseball is shown in these figures. Not that the players who topped the batters in tln?ir positions are the best in the league, as. there are several players in the American league out side of these who are better than tiie leading batters. But this was the best batting team in the league during the 1912 campaign. One player who topped the swatters in his position in 1911, was not even in the league the last season. "Scoops" Borton, the star first sacker of the White Sox. who is picked by many to be one of the leading first sackers In the national pastime next season, was the star hitter among the first sackers in 1912. He batted .371 in the latter part of tin- season. Jack .Mclnnis, of the Athletics, the smallest initial station guardian in baseball, led In 1911 with .321. Carl Cashion, th- pitcher for the Senators, whom Clark Griffith tried to convert into an outfield' r at the start of last season, led th'- hurlers in 1911 with a great batting mark of .324. Joe Wood was the leader last season with .290, which is a very creditable mark fora pitcher, who takes part in about 10 games. That the best players in the league are not always the best in the position Is shown in the catch ers. Oscar Stanage. of the Tigers, who is Hie best mask and phd man in the junior league, never came close to hitting well. Jack Lapp led in 1911. while Ted Easteriy. who played half the season with the Naps and the other half with the White Sox, topped the stickers in 1912. Both batted above the .300 mark by a goodly margin, but would not be picked on tin all-star team of the A. L. Two great players, and no ora will deny it. wvie tin* leading bat ■ ■ - ni« »nu !hi s| i. tight the winner of the main bout, and if Little is put on with him, Walter’s work is cut out for him. Al Smith Wins Again, Al Smith, a 120-pounder from Jacksonville, who made Myer Pries quit in the second round a week ago, took the measure of little Spi der Britt in six rounds. It was in the sixth round when Smith, willing at all times to swap punches, shock ed Britt with a series of blows. The Jacksonvillian took the fight in his hands. Britt’s directors claimed after the mill that Spider weighed in at IOS pounds; but. while easily five o: six pounds lighter than Smith. h< looked fully- 115 pounds. He foughi his usual hard-hitting, well-direct ed fight, and gave Smith a ham mering that he w on’t forget. Smith is a fighter of the Rattling Nelson type, without much but a punch and an abnormal ability to assimilate punishment and an over weening confidence in himself. He bored in on Britt at all times, save in the third round, when he held on a minute to save himself for a knockout. in the past tw o seasons. Eddie Co - lins. of the Athletics, had t great year in 1911 and was first with .365. widle Napoleon Lajoie was the king-pin batter of the pivot station guardian the last season with a hefty notch of .368. It's hart work to pick the better of th two, as they are both stars of first magnitude. The hardest hitting teams in last two years: 1912. Pet. Position. Wood . .290. .Pitcher Cashion .-;P Easterly .311. .Catcher Lapp Borton . .371.. First base Mclnnis Lajoie . .368.. Second base.. Collins Baker. . .347.. Third base... .Bakei M'agner .274. .Shortstop . ... Elb'rf'l-i Li Jones. . .294.. Left Held M'lntyn : Cobb. . .41.0. .Center field... Cobb Jackson .395.. Right field lacks"" • Average .340 Average -W’ A good cigarette must be the purest of to bacco and most choice in leaf. Such ■ is Fatima Cigarettes the popular, mild Turkish - blend now smoked universally ■ in this country I jS “Distinctively Individual