The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-26
PICKED FROM THE
OFFICIAL AVERAGES
Sid Smiths Batting Average
Surprised Everyone
THE REAL STAR PLAYERS
Averages Show That Brmingham's
Pitchers Are Accountable for Pen
nant-Honors Equally Divided.
Nashville out In the Cold.

The official batting and fielding aver
ages of the Southern league. as pub
lished yesterday morning in The Age
Herald, contained several surprises, the
most startling of which was that Sid
Smith of Atlanta, and not Douglas of
Little Rock, led the league with the
stick. In spite of this fact Douglas is
really the better hitter, for his number
of singles outcounted those of the val
liable all-round man in the Atlanta uni
form.
The league had but three men who went
above the 800 mark, Smith, Douglass and
Abstein. Meek and Babb alone ranged
between 300 and 300.
The averages show that the honors
were nearly evenly divided except as
affecting Nashville. Birmingham had one
of the .290 hitters the leading catcher
and shortstop, and the best fielding pitch
er. Atlanta had the leading hitter, the
leading pitcher the leading second base
man, and one of three leading outfielders.
Little Rock had a 300 hitter. Shreveport
had a 300 hitter and the best run getter.
Montgomery had a leading first baseman,
and the leading third baseman. Mem
phis had one of the three leading fielders
and .29O hitter. New Orleans had the
best sacrifice hitter and one of.the three
leading felders Nashville alone failed
to draw a first honor.
The Pennant Winners.
1t is interesting to note the standing
of the various members of the team
making up the pennant winners. In hit
ting, Birmingham was considerably down
the list, Meek alone starring. In the
department, Garvin led all. Wal
ters was about third in rank of second
basemen. Oyler was the leading short
stop, while Montgomery ranked about
fourth among the third basement Moles-
worth, Gear and Smith, while really being
leaders among the outfielders have a
rank thoroughly inconsistent with, their
intrinsic value
But in the pitching department. taken as
whole Birmingham shone brilliantly. OF
the eleven leading pitchers of the entire
league, four wore Birmingham colors.
This is the secret of the fact that Bir-
mingham won the pennant. Her pitchers
were supreme.
The Real Stars.
The following, picked from the entire
list of averages, is based chiefly on the
number of games played throughout the
season, and not on the figured averages,
merely. For instance, Knoll below is
given first rank among outfelders, while
the following who had an occasional ex-
perience in the outfield, have bigger per-
centages: Evers, Archer, Thornton, Gar
vim, Miller, Carney, Kanzler. Raley,
Suggs, Manush and Pleiss. None of these
men, however served long enough to
warrant their high rank. The following
is the real meat of the averages:
Heaviest hitter-Smith of Atlanta.
300 hiters-Smith of Atlanta Douglas of
Little Rock, Absten of Shreveport.
100000 hitters-Meek of Birmingham,
Babb of Memphis.
Best run getter-Daly of Shreveport.
Best single base hitter-Douglas of Lit
tie Rock.
Leading total base hitter-Abstein of
Shreveport.
Best Sacrifice hitter-Cargo of New Or
leans.
Best base stealer-Byrne of Shreveport
Leading pitcher-IIushes of Atlanta.
Best catcher-Garyin of Birmingham.
Best fielding pitcher-Wilhelm of Br-
mingham.
Best first baseman-Csrey of Memphis;
Mulaney of Montgomery.
Best second baseman-Jordan of At
Ianta.
Best shol tstop-Oyler of Birmingham.
Best third baseman-Perry of Montgom-
cry.
Three best felders-Knoll of New Or
leans. Nadean of Memphis and Crozier of
Atlanta.