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"KARST'S SUNDAY AMERICAN BASEBALL AND OTHER SiPoRTS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3. 1013.
* D
US ATHLETES
Ralph Craig, Dual Winner of the
Sprint at Stockholm, Is the
First to Quit Sport.
R ETIRING from track and Held
athletics when wearing cham
pionship crowns has become a
custom in this country since the
Olympic championships were decided
at Stockholm last summer.
First, it was Ralph C. Craig, the
hero of the two sprinting events at
the Swedish capital, who vowed that
he was through with the spike shoes.
His example, was followed by many
of the other men who gained victories
in their respective contests, including
Charlie Reidpath and Harry Babcock,
the 400-meter and pole vault cham
pions.
Both of these athletes, as Craig,
had several years more of high-class
competition within their frames.
Reidpath and Craig felt it necessary
to retire because of business engage
ments, while Babcock preferred tak
ing up rowing, at which he has proven
himself to be an expert, being a mem
ber of the New York Athletic Club
eight-oared crew which won two
races en the Harlem River Memorial
Day, and won the senior eight-oared
shell event on the Charles River on
July 4.
Sheridan Too Heavy.
There are only a few of the cham
pions who quit in the heyday of their
glory, Martin J. Sheridan a few years
ago being one of the first of this
country’s- star athletes to retire. His
retirement was due to taking on much
weight, which made him slow 1 at his
specialty of tossing the discus.
It; was thought with Sheridan aban
doning athletics that this country
Would be' without a discus thrower
However, the advancement which had
been made in all departments of ath
letics also marked Sheridan's special
contests.
After Shpridan, Thorpe loomed up.
His confession of having been a pro
fessional \4hen making records not
only c&used his wonderful figures in
all-around competition to be erased
from the record book, but put a blur
on amateur, athletics of this country.
The incident, however, was taken with
good grace all over the world.
Thomson to the Fore.
The coming to the front of Fred C.
Thomson, the Californian, who while
at Princeton a month ago and at Los
Angeles recently, accomplished rec
ords in all-around competition that
were better than those of Sheridan
and Thorpe, has shown to the world
that within the amateur ranks there
is an athlete superior to the Indian.
The giving up of competitions by
John Paul .Tones, the Cornell world’s
record-holder for a mile, caused re
gret, for it is the belief of those close
ly identified with track athletics that
Jones was capable of bettering his
mark of 4 minutes 14 2-5 seconds.
Jones made a wonderful record as a
college athlete. His experience was
confined to his college activity rath
er than to any athletic club. The
Cornell man was a wonder,- able to
run a half-mile in 1 minute 53 4-5,
and step five miles in record-breaking
form.
Taber Going Abroad.
(iorman S. Taber, the Brown Uni
versity man, who won every mile race
he competed in outdoors this year,
with the exception of the intercolle
giate mile, which included the A. A.
U. mile championship, has decided
that he will not do any running until
he reaches England, when he will be
eligible to compete for Oxford as a
Rhodes scholar.
Taber's improvement has been
gradual, and not until the last two
years did he show 7 his best form. It
is believed that he is possessed of
greater speed, and that he will show
the Englishmen a better burst of
speed than that which nearly brought
him home a victor in the Swedish
Olympic 1,500-meter event, which
found Jackson first at the finish.
With the going out of so many
champions. A. L. Gutterson. the Bos
ton Athletic Association man, whose
performance at the Stockholm games
last summer in the running broad
jump was wonderful, also has
thrown aside his shoes.
Silk Stockings May
Be Worn in Baseball
Newspaper Editor Wears ’Silkies’
While Twirling for New
Bedford Nine.
Oh, Yes; Oyster Bay Is on the Old Shell Road
• •
• •
• •
• •
• •
• •
By “Bud” Fisher
WhatTeam Had Greatest Infield?
+•+
Ball Players Discuss Question
By W. J. McBeth.
N SW YORK, Aug. 2.—One of the
great baseball wonders of the
present generation is the infield
of the Athletics. For the past season
or two it has come to be known as
“Connie Mack’s $100,000 quartet.” This
redoubtable inner line has drawn its
mead of praise. Some enthusiasts
have gone so far as to declare it the
greatest collection ever developed by
the game.
There is no denyinr the fact that
the in,ner defense of Connie Mack’s
pennant trust is of sufficient class to
suit the fancy of the most discerning
public. Undoubtedly the great Ath
letic four overtop anything in the
game at present for all round effi
ciency. To say, however, that they
are the greatest the game has ever
known is making a very strong state
ment, and one that, though hard to
refute, is open to widespread argu
ment.
The entire Athletic infield is young
and vigorous, and not likely to pass
out for some years. But pass it must
with time, and then whatever infield
that future period when Mclnnis, Col
lins, Barry and Baker are no more
happens to possess the most class of
will undoubtedly be awarded the ped
estal above the sacred memory of the
fallen kings. Sport is, after all, a
law unto itself. Sentiment figures not
the least. The great following lives
in the present, leaving the dead past
to the memories of Its declining vet
erans.
• • •
T O begin with, there is absolutely no
manner in which just comparisons
between past and present may be
made. Baseball has progressed. Its
evolution has entailed many changes
in every phase of the game. The
rules are not what they were. The
ball itself is not constructed exactly
the same. Present day players have
an equipment of artificial aids un
dreamed 1n the days of a number of
the old-timers still with us. It is as
idle to make comparisons between the
past and present of baseball as it
would in any line of sport or life or
work.
It is easy enough to say that John
L. Sulliva,n in his prime would have
knocked the everlasting daylights out
of Jack Johnson as he stood the day
he conquered Jeffries. Whether he
could or not furnishes a fine subject
for debate. But how' prove anything?
Unfortunately Sullivan and Johnson
were of different periods.
The only possible manner in which
the Athletic quartet might gain such
distinction as some admirers would
thrust upon it would be for it to main
tain its dignity on the field of action
against the classy aggregations of the
past. That, of course, is somewhat
impracticable. But for a little argu
ment, we do not have to turn back
history’s page very far to get an in
field that would compare quite favor
ably with that of Philadelphia. How
about that old Cub machine—Chance,
Evers, Tinker and Steinfeldt? Eight
years ago it was heralded as the
greatest defensive machine of all his
tory, just as some other collection will
Hey, boys, what’s the very latest
thing in silk stockings?
Nope, vou’re wrong—it’s baseball.
Yep, baseball players are wearing
silk sox, at least in New Bedford.
Frpm the Whaling City comes an
entertaining yarn of a newspaper ed
itor (New Bedford editor), who
formed^ a baseball team and elected
himself pitcher. He came into the
box wearing a pair of silk stockings
which his wife had bought for her
self and you can bet that Friend Wife
never knew' that Hubby had bor
rowed the “silkies.”
The editor-pitcher hurled airtight
ball, won the game and was the ad
miration of all for his appearance in
both the box and the sox.
The sox were white—when they
were bought. What color they were
when the editor arrived home and
what Mrs. Editor said to him are not
contained in the dispatches.
PAPKE RULES FAVOrTtE
IN SCRAP WITH CLABBY
be hailed eight years hence, maybe.
Personally, I do not think the Cub
infield was greater than that of the
Athletics, but some very wise baseball
men and players disagree with me. If
I cared to argue, 1 should concede
Connie Mack’s the palm on hitting
pow’er. Collectively, the Athletics have
more speed than the renowned Cubs,
are less flashy, perhaps, in the field,
but every bit as strong defensively.
TOHN J. M'GRAW *ls a great ad-
J mirer of the Athletics. He is broad
minded enough to realize that true
comparison is out of the question,
save perhaps with the Cubs. I do not
think Mac’s opinion has changed a
gTeat deal since the world’s series of
1911. I saw him shortly after the final
game, and he was loud in his praises
of his conquerors.
“I do not know whether the Athletic
infield played above its true form in
this series.” said McGraw. “but if not,
it is one of the most wonderful collec
tions I have ever seen. I will go so
far as to say that, in my opinion, Col
lins and Barry form the greatest de
fensive pair I have ever seen around
second. They are so fast you can not
cross them on the hit-and-run play.
Neither starts to cover until the ball
Is hit.”
* ♦ •
A DISCUSSION of infields came up
recently at the Polo Grounds dur
ing an idle afternoon. It befuddled
rather than cleared the atmosphere.
But during the fanning bee a number
of bright infields were uncovered that
w’ould do pretty w’ell against the Ath
letics or any other company.
“We had a pretty good infield over
in Detroit back in the late eighties,”
ventured Dan Brouthers. “I do not
think there was ever a greater bunch
of sluggers than myself on first, Rich
ardson at second. Rowe at short, and
White at third. I do not believe that
anyone w r ho saw us will attempt \o
deny that w r e could outbat the pres
ent Athletic infield by about 50 points
without trying very hard. We may not
have been as fancy in the field, but
we got away with that end of the
game as well as anyone of the time.”
“And I guess.” cut in Wilbert Rob
inson, “that that Baltimore bunch
didn't have to take a back seat from
anything past or present, did it, Mac?
I would stack up Doyle at first. Reitz
at second, Jennings at short, and Mc
Graw at third against anything that
ever w’ore spikes in every depart
ment of the game.”
“Pittsburg wasn’t so slow,” piped
George Moreland, the famous statisti
cian. who always has to put in a good
word for Smoketown. "Some dandy
little infield I should say—Bransfleld
at first, Ritchey at second. Wagner at
short, and Leach at third.”
“As for that,” said Tom Lynch, who
was hailed for an opinion, “you are all
entitled to your opinions. And I hope
I am not walking on anybody’s corns
when I mention the old Boston ar
ray—Fred Tenney at first. Bobby
Lowe at second, Herman Long at
short, and Jimmy Collins at third.
Think of someone to beat that bunch
if you can.”
There was no attempt at rebuttal
Indian Lad Proves
Marvel at Pitching
Crow Skin, Only Seventeen, Unbeat
en, Fans Twenty-five Men
in One Game.
DENVER, Aug’. 2.—Jimmy dabby,
the Milwaukee middleweight, and
Billy Papke, of Kewanee, Ill., have
been matched for a 10-round go at
the Denver Athletic Club on August
11.
Experts consider this as even a
match as could possibly be pulled off.
Papke, however, is a favorite by a
shade.
GUNBOAT SMITH MAY BOX
PELKY ON TURKEY DAY
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2.—Indi
cations are that Arthur Pellty, Tom
my Burns’ heavyweight battler, and
Gunboat Smith will do battle in this
city on Thanksgiving Day. Burns to-
ray announced that he would have his
man ready on Turkey Day and that
Smith would b“ the foe. the match
going to the highest bidder.
MILES CITY, MONT., Aug. 2.—
There Is a young Crow Indian in the
Standing Rock reservation by the
name of "Crow Skin,” and the far
Western tans are watching him every
day. ,
Crow Skin is onlv 17 years old and
has never been away from the reserve
to profit by watching other hurlers
shoot them over, and all that he has
Is everything but a weak heart.
In a recent game against a South
Dakota town he struck out 25 men.
and while they were not big league
players, most of them have been
playing on pretty fast bush teams.
Crow Skin has never been beaten thus
far, and unless he lets up on his smoke
the' chances are he never will be, until
he gets into company that sees em
coming over.
111=1 catcher is the reservation phi -
frician, a big man and an ex-college
player, who declares that the >oung
brave has the fastest ball that he has
ever seen, and that means Johnson,
Smoky Joe Wood and all the rest.
Crow Skin will not be allowed hy
Uncle Sum to leave the reservation
until he is 21.
REGATTA ON HUDSON AUG. 9.
NEW YORK. Aug. 2.—The Hudson
River Yacht Club will hold its an
nual regatta on Saturday, August 9.
The craft will assemble at the club
house at North River and Ninety-sec
ond street at 2 p. m. Prominent Nen
Yorkers who are members of the club
will be on hand to watch their fa
vorite yachts.
Untrained Catchers
Ruin Young Hurlers
Inefficient Work of Backstops Has
Cut Short Promising Careers
of Many Pitchers.
Brown Is Latest Foreign Invader
+•*!• +•+ •{••r +•+ »i*t+
Pal Plans Match With Mehegan
Youngster Was Once Sold to
Hartford for One Dollar—Is
Product of Chicago Lots.
Several promising young spitball
pitchers are believed to have had
their careers in the majors ruined by
the inefficient work of catchers.
There have been cases where back
stops have discouraged recruit twirl-
ers of s*pitball ability because they
either were afraid of the fast break
ing, puzzling shoots or were too lazy
to exert themselves overly much.
There are several means whereby
such catchers can injure the budding
pitchers. The favorite method is to
keep on signaling for curve balls. By
continually throwing hooks a young
ster’s arm is hurt and. before long, he
is liable to lose control of his spitter
entirely.
Another method used is for the
catcher to make a complaint to the
manager, saying the pitcher can’t
control his spitter, and he is com
pelled to keep on calling for curves
or fast ones. Then he can signal for
spitters at the wrong time and make
the kid look bad.
There i.« too much of this going on
at present, and it is unfair to some of
the new men Just breaking in. In
competent catchers can do a lot of
harm, and it’s difficult to detect them
The recruit twirlers seldom have
i the nerve to tell their troubles to the
manager for they fear the catcher’s
I word will be taken before their own.
S T. LOUIS, MO., Aug. 2.—His
name is reminiscent of the
French; he looks like an Irish
man and his father and mother, na
tives of Germany, emigrated to
America and settled in Chicago when
that place was almost a village.
He’s Walter Leverenz, the south*
paw, and one of the classy bunch of
young twirlers who will make of the
St. Louis Americans a great team
in a few years.
Leverenz joined- the Browns at
Waco last spring, coming from Los
Angeles, of the Pacific. Coast Leag le.
It was up in Chicago that he
learned to play ball—on the lots—
and he’s strong for the lots as a
training place for ball players.
“You’ve got to get out and hustle;
you pick up what you can; you mix
with every kind of players, good, bad
and worse, and that’s where you get
the experience, also,” declares Wal
ter. “Of course, there are good play
ers who come from the colleges, but
they are not self-taught like % the lot
boys. The college boy has some one
to teach him to play ball, some one
to look after him, some one to show
him how. and when to play. And
then he plays against the same sort
of men, taught by others. It’s differ
ent on thfe lots. There it’s a ques
tion of the survival of the fittest, and
that’s a rule that goes and goes hard.
The lot player doesn’t get any cod
dling. Those that survive usually
know how to play ball.
* * *
’YE been playing ball as far back
A as I can remember. When I
was a kid at school I helped my
father in his blacksmith shop in Chi
cago, and you can bet I put in some
hard licks of work there. It gave
me lots of strength, too, and I don’t
regret my work there. I learned the.
blacksmith trade, but I found time
to play ball. Who doesn’t if he real
ly wants to play?”
W T alter organized the first regular
lot team he played on and he was the
manager, captain, pitcher and lead-
off batter, which was some job.
Leverenz broke into organized
baseball up in Hartford, Conn., and in
1909 helped the Hartford team win
the only pennant the town had ever
landed. Hartford for 30 years had
had teams in the big leagues, and
every other class of league, but be-
forer 1909 it had never broken Into the
flag-winnfhg rank.
* • •
<<TN 1908 Worcester loaned me to
1 Hartford,” said Walter. “There
was some sort of deal arranged be
tween the two clubs and a dollar was
•passed to make the trade binding.
Some of the fellows told me I was
entitled to one-third of the money 1
brought, and I, not knowing the price,
put up an indignant kick to Jesse i
Burkett, who was running the Worces
ter team, for my share of the coin.
“ ‘Say, you sorter forgot me, didn’t
you?’ I demanded of him.
“‘Forgot you, how?” he came back.
“ ‘I think I get some of the money
In that Hartford deal,’ I said, in a
businesslike way. ‘Just come across-
with 33 1-3 per cent of the money I
brought.’
“He eyed me a while without a
smile and then, reaching in his pocket,
drew out three times and** nickel.
“ ‘Here you are, kid,’ he said. ‘If
you insist on it you can have it.
That’s a third of what you brought.
Now, go out and give ypur frjepds a
champagne supper, buy yourself a
house and lot and settle down.’”
• • •
T OLD that he looked like an Irish
man in spite of his German an
cestry, Leverenz laughed.
“My father and mother speak Ger
man at home and they write to me in
German. They live among the IrL c h
in Chicago, and my father has so
many Irish pals he speaks English
with an Irish accent,” he said.
Leverenz i* fond of the Pacific
Coast, and he’s going out there to
spend the winter.
“The crowds out there, especially at
Los Angelo 8 , are composed mostly of
tourists. Of course, there is always a
delegation on hand of the dyed-in-
the-wool rooters.” he said. “But the
major portion of the crowd at Los
Angeles is composed of tourists, and
they arc just as likely to root for the
visiting team as tjie home team.”
By Ed W. Smith.
C HICAGO, Aug. 2.—Pal Brown is
going to Australia to see If he
can not attain an international
reputation and incidentally add much
to the Brown exchequer. There is
little doubt that he will get plenty of
reputation over there, for they will
like him. But whether he will do very
much in a money sense is quite an
other matter. Returning fighters in
the last year or so haven’t spoken
highly of the game in Australia,
though there is little doubt that real
big matches draw exceptionally well.
But the affairs of moderate strength
do not draw any better than such
matches would right here, and many
of them not nearly as well.
* * a
'T'HEY will like Pal in the Antipo-
* des, because they have still many
ideas of the virtue of the English
style of milling. Pal is a clever chap.
There isn’t a man in the country that
can box more stylishly or go at a
greater speed than this selfsame lad
from Minnesota. Whether he can be
classified as anything of a hitter or
not is something else again, but w r e
opine that Pal can get along well
enough over there to get bj r what
ever they have. Their greatest star
just now is Hughey Mehegan, who
holds the title of Australia. The class
limit there for lightweights is 140 *
pounds, and they usually expect a
man of that poundage to dig right up
into the middleweights.
• * *
pAL is going to take Jack Dotigh-
1 erty, the old Milwaukee welter
weight, with him as companion and
adviser. We don’t know who advised
Pal to do this, but we’ll say right now'
that Pal couldn’t have a wiser old
skull along with him than this same
cockney. I hark back to the days
when Frank Mulkern had Jack under
his wing, and Jack certainly looked
every inch a champion. Golly, how
that fellow could fight in those daya!
But he went wrong in some way and
dropped out of the game. But Just
the same Jack absorbed a whole sack
ful,of knowledge about the game while
he was bruiting around, and, further,
he can Impart this knowledge to oth
ers. So Pal’s friends need not worry
about hi.s handling while abroad, Of
course. Jack Isn’t going to do any of
the fighting—the fighter himself must
stand all alone after the bell rings—
but a cunning, crafty, quick-thinking
second is about as invaluable a thing
as a man can tote around with him.
More power to the pair of them dur
ing their coming trip!
• • •
r>ROW r N should worry, however,
about one thing. He is liable to
come back to this country a big wel
terweight or a small middleweight
Naturally this wouldn’t matter much,
but it may In the case of Brown.
There's money among the light
weights, but there is nothing at all
doing with the welters, and only a
trifle now and then ia thrown to the
middleweights. It is difficult to say
w'hat makes the change, but the av
erage American fighter who makes
the round trip to Australia usually
returns with from ten to twenty-five
additional pounds that he can not
ahakeo ff. That has been the rule
with a great majority. The most star-
tllng case was that of Johnny Thomp
son, the Sycamore fighter, who left a
lightweight and returned a light-
heavy weight.
GEORGE STOVALL OUT FOR
BALANCE OF BALL SEASON
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 2.—George Stovall
may have to serve as bench manager,
head coacher and director from the
Mde lines for the remainder of the
1913 season. With both hands badly
injured, the boss of the Browns may
not play another game this year.
For several weeks Stovall has been
on first base occasionally, because he
has been forced to get into the game
to strengthen weaknesses in other de
partments. Now he lias to bMd flu-
advice of physicians and remain out
of the game.
Stovall’s paws are maimed. The
palm of the right mitt is swollen, sev
eral bone bruises making it almost
impossible for him to close the hand.
In the center of the palm I«» a bruise
that resembles a pebble sticking on
the inside of the skin, w'hile the ten
dons are badly swollen
DETROIT SECOND-SACKER OUT.
DETROIT, MICH., Aug. 2.—Oscar
Vitt, second baseman of th® Detroit
American League baseball club, ia
seriously ill with lagrippe here. His
physician said his condition has not
reached the critical stage and recov
ery expected, but Vitt probably w ill
be out of the game until fall.
CATARRH
or THE
BLADDER'
Ralland la
24 Hours
K»ch On> /" \
■tfe bewrsth*
namo JfcT* V J
Bmtxvr* of counterfeits
KLEM ON WORLD BALL TOUR.
It is reported that Bill Klein will be
the National League umpire with the
New York Nationals and Chicago
Americans in their tour of the world
1 next winter.
COMSTOCK IS ANOTHER
ED WALSH, SAYS CANTILL0N
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 2.—Thxt
Ralph Comstock, Toledo boy, w'ho is
the star pitcher of the Minneapolis
American Association baseball team.
Is as good a spitball pitcher as Ed
Walsh ever was is the belief of Man
ager Joe Cantlllon of the Minneapolis
club. Cantlllon made this statement
last night. Comstock's s’irk showed
so poorly at the opening of the sea
son that he was released to the
Minneapolis team of the Northern
T.eague. He then resolved to pitch
himself back into the bigger league,
and he did.
GRIFFITH TO RECALL AYER8.
Washington, Aug. 2.—Griffith is
thinking of yanking the string he has
on ’Doc” Ayers, the big right-handed
twirler. who has so far won 17 out of
20 games for Richmond, in the Vir
ginia State League. One more win
ning twirler and Griffith figures he
can cop the pennant.
OUR best play on the “19th.’
Tee off with a bite to eat, and follow through fj|
with that incomparable after-golf refreshment-
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M’ALEER REAL MANAGER.
President Jim McAleer is said to
attend more of his team’s games on
the road than any other club owner
Another thing that is said is that he
is the real manager of tiie team, and
not Carrigan.
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-BEWARE OF IMITATIONS