The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-03

strengthened slightly, are not expected to do much better in the way of posi- up tip' the talent in the National League teams, a majority of experts place New
 York first again, with Chicago. Boston. ST. Louis and Brooklyn finishing in the order named. In other words, the old league Is topheavy with three first class teams and five Inferior ones. q condition that does not guarantee pub lie interest in the race in q majority shortstop and Second Base.
 Eighty per cent of the hits on ball l field pass through or near the territory
 of the shortstop and second baseman, according to an old ball player.
 l These positions have been occupied By some of the greatest stars that nave 6.a \,
 says. The fate of many game has been decided by the quick thinking of | one or the other of the men on short or
 to do with the ball In the crisis ef | game. must come first or mechanical i skill will go for naught.
 | The first two men to demonstrate | the possibilities of the positions of shortstop and second base were George | Wright and Charles swasey of the old l Cincinnati Reds Wright was the
 pioneer Of all :heady plays in the in 1 field, and he. was the leader in that de,
 pertinent until he retired from the ball i field. Wrfght's next partner at second A John Burdock of the old champion Bos- 1 tons. Charlie Snyder, who was the catcher of the Boston club at that time; was in the scheme of every play pulled 1 of by Burdock.. That combination of l Wright, Burdook and Snyder kept the most daring base runners In ferment
 many a time have I seen those daring base runners of the old Chicago cup I get nipped at second while leading or by arush' from right short by Burdock T of Gn Uh
 1 other stars have come and gone from that position, namely. Glasscock and Dunlap of the old Clevelands, John Ward and Richardson of the old New York Giants, Fred Pfeffer, Tom Burns | and Ed Williamson of the famous Chi
 tagos. Bilr Gleason and Tank Robinson of the old St. Louis Browns, Herman Long and Bobby Lowe of Boston. John McPhee and Tom Corcoran of Cinein- nati. These were all men of the high est skill. Each couple had It's style 1 and waylof playing their positions. but
 in their way all were stars of the 1rst magnitude.
 that old champion Baltimore club that I have not mentioned, namely. Wilbert Robinson, catcher; Hugh Jennings
 shortstep, and Reitz. second base; All in those years. I will have to separate the great work of Jennings and Robin son and call it a examination in itself. the the great years of the Orioles that have never since been duplicated At nearly all stages of the game when a man
 Robinson's hand was sent on its jour-
 ney with rif1e-shot speed to second
 base, only to be met by the meteoric
 dash of the fleet footed Jennings. who had left his position at short when he
 saw the base runner start to steal sec
 ond. There never was a shortstop that
 had the faculty of putting ball on a
 base runner as quickly and neatly as | HiIRb' Jennings. II sNToday we have some great stars oc- cupying that central position Of the
 cago Whites is a good, heady man,
 and he and Billy Sullivan, the catcher of the Whites, have pulled off some very good plays in the crisis of game. l cans are good men, so are Evers and Tinker of the Chicago Nationals. Tom
 Corcoran and Huggin,s of Gincinnati nat
 Huggins will be still grfater as years roll on. O'Leary and Shaffer of De- troit are to be stars of stars If they lington I consider the coming star of
 ali the shortstops in America. Had he a brafny side partner. at second with mechanical skill nearly equal to his
 own, who could lead him into plays that
 are only slumbering. at present under
 his baseball cap and only require the
 touch of the wand of a baseball magi-
 oian to let him know that they are there, Cassidy would be the star of all. , Tt is up to the second baseman or
 sG break Tn v on the batting to do in the crisis of game No team is in a run-getting position until it times when f it it is better to allow a } man to score and get the man at eith- } CT second or first to clear the bases i than to try to make some hairbreadth to any man must come when he first dons the baseball uniform. He can
 not be coached in those things any
 more than a base runner can be told when to steal. as one must get away as the gate is swinging, out on it's ing, as he would be caught between the gate and the post" EIIiOtt's wisconsin Home.
 , This is the story told in every detail by William F. Kirk, the New York American war. correspondent with the
 New York Giants, of how Pitcher
 pine woods of Northern Wisconsin and
 started. for his spring training at
 Memphis; The New York fans who
 down the bench last season did not realize that he hailed from the peace ful and lilac-scented burg called Par "PardeeviIie." writes Kirk. bears a marked resemblance to the unincor- porattd town dubbed by O.. Goldsmith Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain There are no elevated trains . to interrupt with their rumble and roar the profound thoughts of the old } est inhabitant. There is no subway 2 to whisk the denizens to their flats and there are no flats,
 } "Pardeeville is bounded on the north
 by woods, on the south by scrub oak on the west by a thick forest On , the main street we have a postofice l 1 and hard by looms a general store Seeing as how Claude is native son all Pardeeville. went to the depot on 3 the eve of his departure. The post i Claudes boyhood and dwelt at length , on the lads early struggle for su- , "T point with pride he declared to that there game Claudie pitched ! for Portage agin Chippewa Falls An i famed out three times.
 , Several other citizens made speeches before the train pulled out, after which Elliott crawled into an upper bertt
 and fell asleep to dream of the past
 trials and future triumphs.
 Manager McGraw has several other
 recruits for his pitching staff. With . will be going through his paces, which , will give the fans chance to get ( E line on him and determine how much of Christy's class he possesses Other ambitious twirlers will be given 2 5 chance to serve up a few round -houst [ Full details of their performances vii . be ladled out from day to day in this 2 department.
 KILLED BY TRAIN. ! | Fannie Bishop, a Negro Woman, is Run
 Over at Brent,