Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE ATT. A NT A GEORGIAN AND NEWS. TUESDAY. MAY 13. 1913. UTTERS CAN Jeff Says It Was Worth the Money By “Bud” Fisher By John ((Thief) Meyers. B ATT1N6 ability it* the high art of baseball. True skill with the i stick hides many a minor fault. | Brilliancy in all other lines pales into (nothingness if not bac ked by at least j! average hitting power. There is a so-called axiom in our ■ profession that “batters are born, not Jmade.” 1 disagree with such logic. [There is the same opportunity for improvement in batting as in fielding lor bas«e running. Not every one. of course, no matter fh|»w studious, may become a Ty Cobb [or a Honus Wagner. And it is n mighty good thing for the pitchers [and catchers that this is so. Few athletes have the lightning speed of Cobb, w'hich enables him to beat plenty of infield taps which would be easy outs against average runners. Few again have the muscular power f£f Wagner, which enable? him to fHrive the ball with rifle-like velocity. 300 Notch Real Feat. When one stops to consider condi- f tions, a .300 batting average strikes home as real achievement. It means 1 hitting safely three times in every ten chances. The batsmen, single-handed, must fight an army of obstacles. In the first place he has a per fectly round stick with which 'to change the direction and propel a perfectly round ball thrown from a distance of 65 feet with all the force or human power He has approximately half a sec ond from the time the ball leaves the I pitcher's fingers until it is up to him. | In that half-second he must swing his hat ao that the curved surfaces of the two objects (bat and ball) meet fairly in the middle of their re spective lines of flight. Now there are nine agile and active opponents so distributed throughout tihe playing field that any sort of high «ly means certain retirement. If the batter hits a fraction of an inch over the ball he sends it down to the ground wher£ the speed is checked, and where it is generally quite easy for one of the Infielders to intercept it. Add to these complications a skilled pitcher who can make the ball vary many ways in its flight to the plate, and that little half second of grace dwindles almost into an infinity. The wonaer then ie that so many reach the select class. Chief Tells Secret. Still there are certain principles of hatting science that will help to over come these obstacles. The most im portant. to my mind, is that of meet ing the ball in front of the body. This is no more than the swing of the player who is termed the natural hitter. Zimmerman, Wagner, Lajoie. Doyle and Cobb all employ the style. Some of them may do it all uncon sciously. I know I did for several vears before I Joined the Giants. Mc- [nJraw pointed out to me the reason. He drills and drills this idea into his men. A1 Bridwell is a player that I would iterm a “made” hitter. In a pinch he {was one of our most trusty batsmen, for he was sure to play every shade In his own favor. Bridwell became proficient by learning to meet the hall in front of himself. Uppercutting Is Fatal. In the old days great hitters, like McGraw and Jennings, used to run out to meet the ball before it broke. The present rule about staying in the batters’ box prevents this. But the principle may be applied through the medium of the natural swing. The swing should be made in a horizontal arc. The bat naturally has a tendency to propel the ball directly in its course. An “uppercutter” is a batsman whose thrust ascends after the fash ion of fungo hitters. This style of hitter usually raises high flies or pop-ups. and can never hope to be- come proficient. A downward stroke is practically as weak, for by It It is practically im possible to hit the hall with speed along the ground. SEATTLE CREW TO ROW IN EASTERN REGATTA NEW YORK, May 13.—Permission was to-day granted the University of Wash ington to compete in the regatta at Poughkeepsie on June 21. The Seattle oarsmen, whose expenses will be paid by a student subscription, will leave for . New York about June 1. ALBERTS MEETS LOUGHREY. ». NEW YORK. May 13 —“Kid" Al berts, of Elizabeth. N J . and Frank B 1 Ivoughrey. of Philadelphia, will meet Iw here in ?: ten-round bout to-night. r ■— GEe.IHMtN'T PLfcv eo pooc for. A Couple op Ye/yiy. , t-ll Go up 1 *nd Shoor a Mo l'*K NOT 'U.LOWeD To PL NT BUT I'LL FIND B Gt NiTLFKAH To PLFY WITH YOU |P YOU MO objection to fo?y iQ.NSR.'i r, SEND HIMV over. I'll Pl<vy HIM I MN'T NqjCH of a. shooter. But mo Omly covr 10 CENTS Excuse, But TOu THg &ENTLEN\FN 'NAiNT PLAT NVL y Pool -- - W BATTLES Bv W. TY. Naugliton. S *N FRANCISCO, May 13.—Inthf balance of his journey toward the championship goal Gunboat Smith will have to do principally with cowboys. The rough riders he has to work past are Luth McCarty and Jess Willard and if he can es cape being thrown, roped and brand ed he will be in a position to write champion heavyweight of the world after his name. At least that is the way the heavy weight outlook looms at present. That the Gunboat Smith-Jess Willard bout at Coffroth’s Eighth Street arerfa on May 17 will be the semi-final in the blue ribbon tourtiey is universally ad mitted. But that Luther McCarty will be the man the winner will meet is not so sure. Luther is to hook up with Arthur Pelkv at Calgary,on May 24 and while it does not look as though McCarty is endangering his title, you can’t always tell. Pelky is the big husky who recent ly held his own with Tommy Rurns and vanquished Andy Morris. That may not be much, to be sure, but it suggests that Mr. Pelky is “a build- in’ up." There are no really finish ed products among latter day white hopes and the sporting world is apt at any time to ring with the praises of some new heavyweight who was scarcely known twenty-four hours before. • Willard Defeated Pelky. It’s strange how Pelky’s fortunes have been linked with those of Jess Willard and Lute McCarty. Willard defeated Pelky in New York. At another time Pelky was to box Luth er McCarty and failed to put in an appearance. Willard took his place at short notice and. in the opinion of Eastern sport writers, outboxed Mc Carty. Now McCarty and Pelky are to meet at Calgary. The month of May will surely cleaf the way for a decisive championship encounter The Gunboat Smith- Jess Willard and Luther McCarty-Ar thur Pelky bouts are only a week apart and there should be little dif ficulty in signing the two victors for a Fourth of July match. It is un derstood that Promoter Coffroth has his eyeytn the attraction and it is to be hoped he lands it, for it will be the biggest thing that has happened In pugilistic circles for a long lime. O’CONNOR IS TICKLED; HE WINS HIS LAW SUIT ST. LOUIS, May 13.—Jack O’Connor, veteran ball player, was happy to-day over the court's ruling yesterday that the St. Louis American League club must pay him the $5,000 salary which he claimed was due him O’Connor was demoted as manager of the club be fore the expiration of his contract. Heisman Ranks AlabamaSecond V • V T#Y *!*tY -T- • +•+ Dobson Works Miracle at Ciemson By,J. \V. Heisman. T Hi: first two ginnes of the Tech-Georgia series were the big noise in college circles last week. They did not have much bearing on the championship no matter how they came out. but they were of special interest to all Georgians and of some interest to all Southerners, nevertheless. No matter how grand a record either of these teams may make or how punk, up to tlie time when they don the gloves for each other, every body lias come to understand that it is going to be a battle to the frayed and frazzled finish between the two despite any seeming disparities. Over and over again this has happened in the past, and the apparently weaker team has overthrown the stronger to the bewilderment of ail fol lowers of the college game in the South. And realizing this to be a fact, as they more and more are doing, people in larger and larger numbers each year find it well worth while to cut out some other attraction and arrange their affairs so they ran go and see the Tech-Oeorgtn games, whether they take place in Athens or in Atlanta. That is the explanation of the huge crowds that last Friday ami Saturday witnessed these contests in Athens. On these two days all previous Athens records for liaseball attendance were badly shattered, notwithstanding it appeared to the man without bias that Georgia was bound to make a runaway affair of both games. Those who remembered their baseball bistory, though, eouldn’t. see it that way, and made sure of I icing on hand when the factory whistle blew. Nor were they disappointed, for if ever there were two hard-fought and evenly-contested games anywhere, these were they. Both games were lost by Georgia by a margin of one run only, and in both the Athenians had men on bases when their last batter was retired in the last half of the ninth inning. What now about the comparative strength of the two teams? Before these games the records of the two teams seemed to have settled that mat ter pretty thoroughly. But when it comes to the all-around effectiveness and playing ability of the two teams right now—as they played yesterday and as they would play to-day—that may he a very different matter. Despite the promising nature of the new material on hand this spring at Tech, it early tieeame evident that seven new men on the team meant a badly balanced organization, and one that was hound to get some bad bumps'from first to last before the season was over. With tills fact recog nized, high aims for a whole season’s record were ruthlessly abandoned, and Every word and plan and step of action was bent toward whipping the green team in such condition of preparedness and fitness as would result in their giving a good account of themselves in the Georgia series alone. That result has, seemingly, been attained by the Yellow Jackets, and that is rtie season why they appear to-day to lie a match for the Red and Black, whereas a month ago they would have been mince pie for, their rivals. B' FT do not lie misled into believing that the tables are turned to any such extent as to make of Georgia mince, or any other kind of pie for Tech. Far, very far, from it. • Tech won the first games by a hair’s breadth only: and perhaps they have good old side pal Mr. O’Coufldenee to thank for helping them to even this much margin. * * * P RAISE, more praise, and .vet again praise, is what Is overdue the Ciemson team and Coach Dobson for ttie way they have fought their way to the light out of dark wilderness and triumphed over teams that were whole laps ahead of them in form and condition when tliE season opened. Two out of three from Auburn on the latter’s own playground is a glorious finish to a game, up-hill season. And I cannot forbear to cite the fact, unknown to many In this section, that besides winning ten straight from the colleges of South Carolina, the Tigers wrested a 4-3 victory from the University of North Carolina and played Trinity a 14- inning 3-3 game at Durham. This certainly puts them itp in the running in Hie estimation of all fair minded fans. By Way of Aftermath , 2r&rd THE UNIVERSAL CAR "Vanity on the highway" still pays a ridiculous toll for automobile travel. But two hundred thousand new Fords will this season go to buyers who prefer real ser vice at reasonable cost rather than ostentatious dis play at unreasonable cost. More than a quarter of million Fords now in service—convincing evidence of their won derful merit. Runabout, $525; Touring Far. $600; Town Car. $800—f. t>. b. Detroit, with all equipment. Get interesting “Ford Times” from Dept. F Detroit; Ford Motor Company. T11 Peachtree Street. Atlanta A few points that neither the box scores, nor yet the detail of the games, show of the recent Tech-Georgia bat tles mav Tie worth jotting down. * * * I never saw amateur pitchers who can wheel and throw to second any quicker or more accurately than do Corley and Morris They must have put in hours and hours of practice to have acquired this precision: it was very fine. * * * Hutchens is one grand catcher much the best I have seen in college circles • his year. He throws like a machine, huts left handed, and hits them ker- 1 flunk on the proboscis. He would make ids mark, and a wide one, ir. professional ! ball. * * * i Wootfen. the Tech freshman, grandly justified my judgment in putting him back into the game as a varsity man in Upite of his failure to get a single hit I in the entire first eight college games j in which he played. Who shall say how ; much his home run (the only one of 'the series) the first time he stepped to ! '.he plate didn’t have to do with the twinning of both games by Tech? * * * * Linn is the fastest and most finished base runner i have seen in the colleges in mans’, many years. He gets away with it at any old stage of the game, and 1 no matter how we lay for him. ' On Friday Tech had six men in the I game who were playing their first year I of varsity ball, and on Saturday they ! had seven such in the line up. All but | one of the ten who played are due to : he hack next year, and also every last one of the present scrub players; so that , Tech men think they have little cause ,o worry over next year’s troubles if not even a single new man comes in. * * * To my mind, tlie umpiring of both the officials was splendid work. I am thoroughly convinced that the final out come of neither game was affected, or would have been affected, by the chang ing of anv close decisions that came up. Messrs. Harmon and Holland are two fine umpires, two clever gentlemen, two .bsrlute sportsmen: they typify the i>csi traditions of college life and eol- ‘■•ge athletics. * * * In another Year Amason should size thoroughly fill Holliday's shoes •' first base. This youngster has even more natural reach and stretch than Holliday, and he is fast picking up in ever\ way. Had McWhorter not been playing unusually deep for him, every one of his three terrific drives to cen ter in Friday’s game should have been good for a home run. As he himself puts It. though, all he accomplished was to give Boh a chance to oe a hero. (Never mind. “Amy,'' I am sure Bob appreciates the courtesy.) * * * Bob McWhorter is surely one good base runner, and be is as sure and graceful in bis handling of fly balls as the cleverest professionals. * * * During the past three seasons Fax Montague .has made a success of every position in which he has been placed. Now he is a second baseman, and a good one ‘Fax’’ is also a real cap tain; one of the very best Tech has ever had. • * • You'll have to hand it to both Pitts and Kubanka for pulling themselves up from positions of only mediocre repu tation lo where they have earned the undying gratitude of their college mates With both it was a case of tightening their belts and their courage up to the very last hole, then “up and at 'em.’’ and. finally, of "staying' 1 with the op position till the cows came home. JOHNSON STICKS FINE ON TWO MORE PLAYERS CHICAGO, May 13.—President Johnson, of the American league. Ban has ton Red Sox, and Third Baseman Olson, of Cleveland. $25 each for their fist fight In Cleveland last week. President Johnson said the reports of the fight were greatly exaggerated, and that these two players were the only ones involved in the trouble. He said he obtained a straight story of the trou ble from the two players themselves. SWEDES WILL SEND TEAM TO 1915 MEET NEW YORK. May 13. A letter re ceived here from Sweden to-day staled ihat the Swedes will be represented at th* Panama-Pacific games in 1915. They will send over a strong team MATTY HAS PITCHED 47 INNINGS WITHOUT ALLOWING FREE PASS NEW YORK. May 13. Running along with Walter Johnson in his efforts to pitch a record number of scoreless inning is Christy Mathewson. who is setting a mark for perfect control that may never be equaled. The star twirier of the New York Giants finished his forty-seventh inning yesterday afternoon w ithout a base on balls. Many has given only two passes this year. That was in the first game he pitched against Boston on April 17. Matty has won five games and lost one so far this season. He was beaten by the Phillies on May 3. the score being 3 to 2. two men being out when the winning run was scored. Baseball Summaries. SOUTHERN LEAGUE. Game* Tuesday. Atlanta at Memphis. Chattanooga at New Orleans. Birmingham at Montgomery. Nashville at Mobile Standing of the Clubs. \V L. P C. Mobile. 24 8 .750 N'villfc. 16 13 .551: Atlanta 16 14 .533 M'phfs 1S 14 .617 W. L. Mont... 13 16 Chair.. 12 17 B'ham. 10 16 N. or. 10 18 PC. .148 .414 ■ 357 Monday's Results. Memphis 8. Atlanta 5. Montgomery 5, Birmingham 1 Chattanooga 4. New Orleans 2 Nashville 6. Mobile 4 NATIONAL LEAGUE. Games Tuesday. Si. l*ouis at Boston Cincinnati at Brooklyn. Chicago at New York Pittsburg at Philadelphia Willard Is Hard Man to Handle -!•••!- +»4 +•+ -!••* +•+ ->•+ Nervousness May Wreck Chances By Kd \V. Smith. C HICAGO. 111., May 1 111 less Jess Willard curbs Ids inclination to extreme nervousness as tlie day of an Important ring battle draws nigh, he Is apt to wreck all of the good chances he has of gelling lo the top of the heap of white hopes that are struggling for recognition at (lie present time. This is the straight opinion of Charley Culler. Wil lard's old friend, and the man who is chiefly responsible for getting the elongated Kansas lighting proposition a good start on the pugilistic sea. Cutler knows the tall Westerner better than anybody else in the world, and while he is still friendly with Willard and eager to see him win, which would justify all of the nice things Cutler has said alsmt him. he fears his one weakness will be his undoing. » * * a T OM JONES has the Willard affairs in hand right now. and Is training him in |ierson for the affair with Gunboat Smith in Jim Coffroth's arena a week from Tuesday. Coast critics are saying some nice things about Jess and the form he is showing out there in his preparation, and that is what moved Cutler to speak at this time. "Knowing Willard as well as I do, I can speak freely of him,” the big wrestler-fighter told me the other day. "There is one weakness that he will have to overcome. That is his extreme nervousness the day before a buttle and on tlie day of the event. 1 wouldn’t call it fear exactly, because I. have seen some of the gamest men iu the world quake as if they Imd the ague just before stripping to go into the ring. It is merely a high-strung condition, and unless be gets over it his chances of becoming a real star will go glim mering. * * • <<TT Is tny honest opinion that Willard is as game, if not gamer, than * any of them among the big fellows right now. At heart he knows he can defeat all the Gunboat Smiths they can lead to him. but the faet re mains that Willard is a terrible fretter. He gets morbid and morose as the fight draws near, and this is followed by a state of acute nervous ness that is apt to completely unfit him for u hard battle. Once he is in the ring and the real work begins. Willard is all right. <<T TNI.ESS Smith gets him quick and gets him In the right spot. I be vJ lteve Willard will whip him nicely. Further, it is my opinion that if he does this, he is apt to enter (lie ring with Luther McCarty at a later date and lie made an equal favorite with the big man from Nebraska. I wouldn't venture an opinion on that fight right now. preferring to see how Willard comes out with Smith. If he can whtp the Gunboat he will have a lot of confidence, and then he will be a mighty hard man to heal.” EVEN—J. AGLEH By Joe* Agler. DMPH1S, TENN., May '13.— "King” Brady will be the se lection to twirl the second game for the Crackers, with Graham receiving. Bernhard will probably use Kissinger and Seabaugh. The Crackers lost the opener here. The Turtles come from rear and over came five runs obtained by us. Chappelle made his debut in a Cracker uniform and was knocked off of the rubber. Furchner. who suc ceeded him, was treated very roughly by the Turtles. The Crackers hit the ball hard, but it seems lately that the luck breaks with the other team. The Crackers scored all the runs in one inning and was not able to score again. The nec essary wallop could not be produced. Chappelle had everything at first, but weakened, and the Turtles romped | on him, which will win many hall games for them. "King'’ Brady should win his game to-day with his steadiness and con trol. He is the kind of a pitcher that will win from this club. The Turtles are drawing well. They have big crowds and are supporting a good team. We should at least break even here, and that would give us an even chance to. keep above the .5ftfi mark on this road trip. Standing of ths Clubs. W. L. P C. Phil*. .. 13 6 .674 B’klyn. 15 8 652 Ch'go.. 16 11 .677 St. L... 13 11 .542 W. L. PC. N. York.11 11 Boston. 9 12 P’burg. 10 15 C’nati... 6 18 .500 .429 .400 250 Monday’s Results. New York 5, Chicago 1. Boston 6, St. Louis 4. Philadelphia 6, Pittsburg 5. Brooklyn 4, Cincinnati 3 SOUTH ATLANTIC LEAGUE. Games Tuesday. Macon at Albany. Columbus at Jacksonville Charleston ai Savannah. Standing of the Clubs. W. L. P C. S'v’nah 18 5 .762 J’ville. 13 8 .619 CTbus. 10 11 .476 W. Ch'ston. 9 12 Macon. Albany 8 12 6 14 .429 . 400 300 Monday's Results. Savannah 5, Charleston 0 Jacksonville 2. Columbus 1 Macon-Albany; rain. AMERICAN LEAGUE. Games Tuesday. Philadelphia at Chicago. Washington at St. Louis. New York at Cleveland. Boston at Detroit. Standing of the Ctuos. OTHER RESULTS MONDAY. International League Toronto 3. Jersey City 0. Buffalo IT, Baltimore 1 (first game). Buffalo 3, Baltimore 2 (second game). Providence 1, Rochester 0 Montreal-Newark; off-day. American Association. Todedo 2. Columbus 1. St. Paul 9. Milwaukee 3 Minneapolis 5. Kansas City 3. Louisville-Indianapolis; off-day. Federal League. Pittsburg 2. Cleveland 0 Chicago 5. Indianapolis 4 St. Louis-Covington; rain. Virginia League. Newport News 2. Norfolk 0 Portsmouth 12, Roanoke 0. Petersburg 13, Richmond game). Petersburg 13, Richmond 0 game). Carolina League. Chariottp 8. Greensboro 5. Raleigh 7, Durham 0 Winston-Salem 6. Asheville 1. Appalachian League. Knoxville 14. Middlesboro 3. Bristol 1, Johnson City 0. Cotton States League. Pensacola 5. Jackson 1. Meridian 6, Selma 3. I < first (second Help for the Crippled Children Club FeeL Diseases of the Spine and Hin Joints, Paralysis and other afflictions succeesf ully treated. Established 38 years. Write today for illustaated cat alog. National Surgical Institute, 72 S. Pryor St. Atlanta, Ga. W. L. P C Phila.. 17 5 .773 CTland 17 8 .680 W rton !.4 7 .667 Ch’go.. 16 12 .571 W L. St. L.. .11 16 Boston.. 9 15 Detroit. 8 18 N. York 6 17 PC 407 376 .308 261 Monday's Results. Detroit 8. Boston 7. Philadelphia 3. Chicago 0 Washington 2. Rt. Louis 0. New York 4, Cleveland 3 EMPIRE STATE LEAGUE. Games Tuesday. Valdosta at Cordele. Amencus at Waycross Brunswick at Thomasville. Standing of the Clubs. W. L. P.C. I W i. W cross 7 3 .700 I Cdele 5 Th’vllle. 6 4 .600 | B wlck. 5 f V’dosta. 5 6 .600 Am'cus. 2 8 Monday’s Results. Brunswick 2. Thomasville 1 Cordele 7, Valdosta 0 Waycross 6, Americus 0. .500 .500 .200 GEORGIA-ALABAMA LEAGUE. Games Tuesday. i^aGrange at Anniston. Talladega at. Gadsden Opelika at Newnan. Standing of the Clubs. W L. P.C. G'dsden 6 2 .7'4 T'dega 5 2 .714 Newnan 4 3 .571 W Opelika 3 LaGr'ge 2 An'ston 2 P.C .429 I .286 ' 286 Monday's Results. Anniston 18. LaGrange 5. Opelika 8. Newnan 3 Talladega 5, Gads don 4. Linen, Canvas-or Buck Lovers of Cool, Summerish Footwear say that our assortment of White and Gray Canvas —White Buckskin and Ecru Linen is the most attractive yet shown— We sh ow these in two or three distinct models, including the much sought English Last— $2.50 b uys a splendid grade of Canvas in ^^hite and Gray—Lace only— $3.50 b uys a still better grade of Canvas in White and Gray--- Button or Lace— $3.50 buys a beautiful quality of Linen—Ecru shade---Lace only--- $5.00 buys a genuine Buckskin in ^A^hite-—Lace only. $5.00 buys our new Golf Shoe in Tan, Russia Calf---hob nails in sole and heel— Golf Shirts, half sleeve---$ 1.50. Long sleeves— $1.00 to $2.50. Norfolk Golf Suits---$20 to $30. Golf Caps $1.00 and $1.50. Parks - Chambers - Hardwick 37-39 Peachtree COMPANY Atlanta, Georgia