The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-27

punches ana with their quarters ana
halves satisfied tho purses Of the financial
secretaries of losing teams, If not the am
billions of the captains, playing managers
and players In general. Another slice from
the praise pudding must be handed to the
Birmingham papers, for despite the fact
that they have knocked and praised at in
tervals, the sporting writers of Birming
ham have kept the game alive, interested
the people, urged ON the players and GER
tainly have bluffed the fight to finish,
and In addition to the bluff, when hands
were shown, had pretty fair one to
start with.
Where PARSE Is Due.
After boosting fans and papers, the
great bulk of cherry pie goes to Man
ager Vaughn and his players, to Dale
Gear, the captain of the team, and in par
ticular to the pitchers of the team.
There are few managers In this or
any other minor league better than t,iis
same Vaughn. He Is not a rowdy. There
was a time when he was so considered In
the Southern league, but that time hos
passed. This year he has worked his men
from the bench, and he has worked them
mighty well, precious few kicks have been
heard from Vaughn, and mighty little
DeeIllnB MS men nave done. lley nave
been too busy playing ball to waste their
time pumping hot air at the jumps.
Vaughn is one of these determined,
never give-it-up chaps that can be relied
upon to land somewhere. Men with a
face like Vaughn, scared, as 1t is, with
lines of will power, greater than the or
binary, and the ability to manage men,
plainly manifest, are good Fellows to tie
to in the race for flag.
This Vaughn knows his business and
takes little from fans papers. and even
less from his players. His positiveness in
dealing with his men has been shown on
numerous occasions. and In all probability
has something to do with the showing of
his men this season.
Last year when New Orleans had the
lead tied up in a leather bag and the
key lost.\ and the fight was on for sec
ond. the Barons looked l%,e the people.
Then came the breakup. the wide split,
which separated them from the goods
The Barons were dissatisfied. why, has
never been exactly determined. that Is.
to the satisfaction of fans of other cities
The men struck some six of them going
out on the war path for something they
failed to get. In that crowd whose names
were stricken from the salary list on
pay day. were Hafford, third baseman;
Miller. an outfielder; Delehanty, an out
fielder, now playing with New York Amer
leans: Rip Raglan. and some others.
The race was close, the men were need
ed, and fans don't back losing team.
This was the situation confronting
Vaughn and the Birmingham directors.
Never phased that bunch. One and all
the men were suspended. and not a single
player was used that season after the
break
The instance shows just the kind of
man Vaughn Is Far be 1t from him to
x.yfth nj va n tina PIlIh house
and the suspension list, where he can
think it over is his way of dealing with
all characterization.
All Strikers Suspended.
There was a time long ago in that past
to which old-time players love to bark,
when Vaughn was one OF the mghtiest
in the big league timber lands. That time
was really long ago, and now Vaughn
is hardly able to play even In Southern
league company owing to an injury re-
ceived some time last year. Before that
injury of last season. however, In that
year and the one before no player was
dreaded more than this Englishman,
When he came to the bat brandishing
that wooden stick fear and consterna-
ton were plainly written on faces of OPP
posing twirlers. and all the more so II
men were crowdlng the bags. mighty
safe hitter this Vaughn in those halcyon
days of yore.
His discipline has shown In the work
OF the Birmingham players. They have
kept PLAYING the game all the time, as
is evident from their standing In the race
and the men who are on the pay roll. The
men look no better than those on several
other pay rolls In this league but they
have been well managed, encouraged.
chided. and boosted when the occasion
justified and haye shown themselves apt
pupils in the game of slug and catch.
There have been times when the out
look was not so promising for Vaughn.
There was n time, a good long space of
time, when he needed first baseman
and needed him badly. and It was only
a comparatively short while ago that he
landed the man he wanted in First Base
man Meeks.
For several weeks or more he was In
the dumps because of the lack of a short
stop. Oyler played for awhile, brilliantly
and steadily, was then taken Ill. and to
the hospital. Then Alcock went in to fill
up the hole. and he went the same route.
To the hospital for him. Garvin. catch
err. was sent in. and he soon assumed
pale and sickly look It scared Vaughn,
and Garvin took to the tall timbers again.
Wilhelm played one game there but Dad
dy' was afraid to risk his star slabman
in that perilous position, besides he need
ed him in the box, the Baron leader
threw out hooks in the baseball seas for
a shortstop. and tantalized Nashville into
handing over Castro, in exchange for $3.50
and a return ticket at the end of the sea-
son. 1t was surely a tantalizing offer and
moneyless Nashville could hardly afford
to refuse.
Other managers of the league had an
idea that 1t was mighty careless of Nash
Vile to thus violate the league constitu-
ton in loaning man within forbidden
limits of time. but Vaughn played his