The Washington times., 1907-08-18
Crippled, But They
Take Lead in Many
Branches of Sport
Many Record-HoIding Athletes in All Departments
Have an Uphill Fight Against
Obstacles

A bnliardist with both arms gone. a
boxer with a dislocsted elbow. a record
breaking swimmer who is a cripple: a
pitcher who Is shy two fingers. and a
Cricketer with only one leg.
Yet the names Of these remarkable
athletes. who have achieved prominence
despite serious disquali1cations. dis
poses OF the old idea that 20 be sue
cessfuI an athlete must have the per
feet body.
The armless billiardist is Albert Sut-
ton. He has appeared all over the
country; he has played the best OF the
two-armed champions on even terms.
and has had TO yield to men only IN
the very front rank.
AS an exponent OF fancy shots the
kind OF exhibition that causes the aver
age lover Of the cue game to hold up
his hands in amazement that such things
can be done. Sutton is second TO no
one. Sutton has been playing for many
years. and yet he has only two stumps
both arms being of above the elbow
1t is worthy Of note that he gets better
all the time.
Cubs Great Pitcher.
championship last year a large part Of
the credit was given 70 Pitcher Brown.
He was far and away the teams win
ming pitcher, and with him on the slab
there seemed no way the Cubs could
lose Yet Brown Is a mutilated athlete
He has only three fingers. or. rather.
two fingers and thumb on his pitching
hand The first and second fingers he
lost in an accident.
Another ball player who is known all
over the country, Bill COughlin. the
hard-wOrking third baseman Of the Dc
troit Americans. Is minus one finger on
his throwing hand, but no one would
ever know It from the way he plays
the bag RiI. who comes from the
coal regions Of Pennsylvania, Wilkes
barre being his home. was a breaker
boy before he discovered that baseball
was his right calling. and he lost his
finger III a mine accident. which are all
too frequent in that hard life.
cne-Armed Wonder.
But even more remarkable in a base
ball way is Sam Griffith, the one-arni-
ed pitcher Of Philadelphia Sam lost
HIS left arm many years ago, Yet with
earn an excellent living. He pitches
with a motion somewhat similar TO
that used by Sam Lever, the noted
Pittsburg twirler. who does very little
with his left arm when winding UP TO
let the ball go.
Griffith can get considerable speed,
and has played on a number Of strong
semi-professional teams in the vicinity
OF his home. Connie Mack, manager
Of the Philadelphia Americans, cham
plons OF 1906 thought enough OF Griffith
tc give him a trial. but the one-armed
wonder was not quite fast enough for
big league company.
The successes OF Battling Nelson in
the ring have been more important than
the work of any other boxer Of recent
years. FROM an unknown resident OF
an almost Unknown town. Hegewisch,
Ill, Nelson fought his way beating man
after man, not put out of the running
for the championship till he lost to
Jimmy Britt.
"Bat" Nelson a Cripple
sportsmen have backed Nelson and
won big money on the outcome of his
fights Perhaps they would have been
less willing to take chances had they
known that the BattIer Is a virtual
cripple. His left arm was injured at