The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-12

That must be very powerful brand of ing on the threshold of the 1904 Southern League season.
 Just how the Memphis people got hold of the idea that the venerable Perry Wer- den had been signed by Montgomery and would play first base here this summer is a mystery entirely too deep to be fath- omed. The telegram from Memphis was a mistake. Werden has not been signed by Montgomery and will not be. If Pres ident Kavanaugh stated this 1t passes all comprehension.
 Ed Pabst will play first base for Mont gomery this summer, his contract signed and sealed being in the hands of Manager Stickney.
 An Atlanta paper a few days ago had a story about Newt Fisher being on a hot chase after Pabst for his Nashville team. This statement was so absurd that no att tention was paid to it. Pabst will not only play first base for Montgomery this summer but he will be field captain and manager of the team while on the field. Pabst had signed his Montgomery cos tract before the Pacific coast outlaws had signed the peace pact so that there cannot be any question of the legality of Mont- gomery's hold on him. The outlaws not having any protection. of course. a ball player was at liberty to legally leave them at any time that suited him and the outlaws would not have the slightest re- dress. If Pabst had not signed with Mont gomery until after the outlaws had signed the peace pact then it would have been a different matter. The outlaws would then have been a member of organized ball and if they had any claim at all on Pabst they could enforce it. The peace pact was not signed, however until last Tues day and Pabst signed with Montgomery long before that. There is not the slight est question as to the validity of Manager Stickneys hold on what will be the fast est all round first baseman in the South ern League this summer.
 On the reserve list of the Memphis team fin the Southern League appears the name of Perry Werden Now Lew Whistler himself is going to play first base for Memphis and Uncle Perrys presence on l the team would be somewhat de roy. Did Whistler himself with his fine Itai- ian hand instigate the canard about Wer- den? Is the foxy Lew trying to shelve the venerable Perry on Montgomery? With a fast hard.hitting third baseman, who has already been. signed, the Mont gomery infield Is complete as follows: Ed. Pabst, first base; Fred Moore, sec ond base; third base not filled; Kid Busch, short; Harry Manners and Wilkie Clark, catchers; George Stuitz, Louis Polchow. with probably Brandt and two other good ones in the box staff
 There is no question that if Ike Durett plays professional ball this summer he will have to play in Montgomery or not at all, and 1t can be stated officially that | The Farmer will be in the rlght lot for Montgomery team. ..-. l With Durett, Molesworth, Link Stick ney and Burnett it will easily be the nard- est hitting outfield in the league. | Every fan in Montgomery is conscious of the fact that Durett is the most ter | rife hitter that ever played ball in the South. He Is not what would be termed a home run hitter but he is a hitter that can be relied on to smash out two-baggers and long singles whenever they are need ed And hitter of that kind is as much superior to your hOme-run slugger as cleo tric lights are to a sputtering tallow can dle.
 Then there is Carleton Molesworth who led the league in safe-hitting and run-get- ting last year, hitting way above the .35 300
 Toward the close of the season Link Stickney's Improvement with the bat was wonderful, and he was hitting dangerous | ly close to 300. while 1t is a very debat- able question if his throwing can be equalled by any ball player in the South ern League.
 Burnett also fields his position we'll and is more than an average hitter while as baserunner he has few equals.
 Tn the infeld there will be a third base man who will be 300 hitter. Pabst on | first hitting nearly the same Fred Moore on second cannot hit much. His fielding, however will make up for this, and be- sides, by letting a swift pitcher shove them over for couple of hours for 'sev- eral weeks. he should develop into fair hitter by the time that the season opens. Kid Busch is another one whose hitting capacity will be overcome by his earnes st work and fast fielding. Manners and Clark are both heavy hitters, Clark hit ting at .2SS clip and having the reputa- tion of being the best pinch hitter on
 the local team if not in the league last summer.
 Manners is equally as hard a hitter as Clark while the throwing to bases and
 general back stop work of the two catch
 CTS Is a long ways above the ordinary
 Of the box staff Polchow hit ,2S5 last summer while he had 72 assists and five lputouts with only three errors in B games,
 Tn l1 games Stultz had one putout and
 o2 assists without an error 1t was his
 wonderful control, however that made
 stultz such a marvellous favorite in Mont
 gomery. In 17 games he gave exactlV I7
 bases on balls. one a game.
 The other three pitchers are as vet un.
 known qualities, but 1t is known that a,
 least one of the newcomers hits over 9sn With four men hitting over 800 and n. other ten hitting above or dangerousI, ? close to .2s0 if doesn't look like the Mont somery team for the 1914 season viii he . bunch of such "verY weak hitters ate, all. and some of the baseball scribe
 around the circuit will have to do a iittI padding of their dope sheets
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 nDnnTTNIn AacA~T