The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-28
MAY SIGN TAMSETT
O'BRIEN NEGOTIATING FOR SER
 VICES OF THIS PLAYER
Manager of the Pretsels Writes that He VIII Have strong Baseball Observation-Disclosures of
 Other Teams.

A letter from Manager O'Brien says that he stir has good chance Of son. If he does land Tamsett the Pretzel infield will be just about the fastest ching in the South.
 With Muilaney on first. Charlie Schwartz on second, Doc Lowney at short and Tamsett on third. 1t would be almost impossible for visiting bat ter to make a successful sacrifice. O'Brien is working hard in getting
 fast material for the coming season. stronger than it has been for. the past two years He has not given out the name of any of the prospective pitchers as yet, but when he does get ready with signed contracts in his pockets, a lot of people are going to do some hard thinking.
 The fastest team that Montgomery ever had was in 1S96. Dick Germans s famous team, and it is possible that it was one of the fastest minor league organizations ever gotten together. Some "reminiscences of that season will prove interesting to local fans.
 The season that year opened on Thursday April 16. and the playing sea- son was four months long. ending on August Is. Nashville and Memphis were not included in the circuit and ingham on April {. Shreveport was dropped on account of the inaccessible ity of the town. The League bought the franchise and players Of Little treme wings, Shreveport and Little Rock. The circuit, as decided upon, was most compact one, New Orleans, Montgomery. Mobile, Atlanta. Birming- ham and Columbus. Iis. The mileage Ess M~as was: gomery. 1923; Birmingham. 4,732; Att ianta, 4,75s, and Columbus, 4.33o.
 Germans team included Jack Meara in left. Kid Peoples at short, Mike ke. hoe doing the backstop work, Big" Deadly in center. Ed Pabst on first, Pat billiard in right. Dick German on third, Elsie Mangum on second and Lem Bai- ley. Kellum and Drinkwater forming the box staff.
 In the next few months German landed Long Wiley. and his marvel ous slides and swift baserunning will never be forgotten by local fans. Wi, ley alternated with Kehoe behind the bat loaned to Mobile.
 New Orleans also had a swift aggre- gation that year with Billy York. the diminutive piece of hardhitting anat- at short, Dick Knox at second, Bow man on first, Houseman in center, Joe Dowie on third and Johnny Bonding doing the catching. And, he was one of the best that ever came to this League at that.
 Atlanta had Callahan on second Nor ton in right, Jocko Fields doing the catching. Baby Knowles himself-the ray at short. McDade on third and Fur ner in center.
 Con strouthers, who got into trouble with Augusta in the South Atlantic Columbus team of that year, with Ped rss in left. Hess catcher, O'Connell second. Carroll third, McFadden first Wright in right. Hall short. Folk cen ter and good stan of pitchers includ- ing Slow Pete' Daniels. now dead. O'Rourke had charge of Birmingham
 with Walsh in right, Fuller at short.
 Katz in left, Ryan at first, and one
 of the best in the business. Mckenzie gcmery catcher of 1894. and a great favorite here, doing the catching; Go- | dar on third, Gorton In center and a
 stan of pitchers, including Frank l Sparks.
 Mobile had Dobbs in center, Dos" wiseman In left. Fischer playing third and catching, Lohbeck in center. Bush
 at short, Payneter at second. Stewart on first and Bob Giffard in right Atlanta was in financial trouble all | of the time. the team from the Gate | City having to be loaned money by the ! owners of the Montgomery team on | one or two occasions. The money-a
 big part of twas never returned. Birmingham also proved failure as l far as drawing was concerned, and 1t
 was great relief to the League when that town and Atlanta threw up the | sponge in July.
 One of the most exciting races ever | seen in this section was 'the one be- | tween Montgomery and New Orleans. | Henry Powers was President of the | League that year and was interested in | the Pelicans. and lots of talk was in- | dulged in about the way he influenced umpires. All that gossip, however,
 was merely supposition, and even If 1t
 had been true there was no way to prove it.
 | When the season closed on August | 16 there was only two points difference | between Montgomery and New Orleans, 1 the final standing being:
 New Orleans, .636; Montgomery, .634; | Mobile, .404; Columbus, .36S.