The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-17
POINTERS ID RANDOM
BY HUGH W. ROBERTS.


 In announcing the approach of the | Barons a Mobile scribe. heartily rejoicing, declared In rugged type:
 The Gulls will take four straights." | As matter of fact Fishers met got one of four games, and got that one by the | skin of their teeth l But local fans should not rdieule the Mobile scribe, for all predictions, espsci- ally very extravagant ones often 50 l wrong.
 l And it often happens that d sure thing | turns out not to be a certainty by any
 means. Such was the case in the recent Mobile Birmingham contests The Sea
 Gulis played magnifeently under handi-
 caps throughout the series. They man.
 aged to tie the first game in the ninth 1 inning. They won the second on account | of the excellent twirlins of Fisher in spite
 of their inability to get but TWO hits off l McNeal. In the third the Barons batted 1 Hickman out of the box, and established ! such lead that the Gulls could not 1 overcome 1t. ln the fourth game the Gulls | made an effort in the ninth to overcome | the Barens lead and failed, the Barons | having won on account of the steadness of Fieharty in the pnches and the mag
 nifieent support that he received.
 That which pleases the fans in Birmins- ham is the fact that Birmingham has won it's first road series and it's second series of the season. Yesterdays victory was the second sue
 cessive, the first time the Barons have
 been able to repeat this season. In the two last games the Barons man.
 aged to staye off ninth inning rally, by means of which opposing teams have snatched so many battles this season. All of the above holds out great pros- poets for the future. In the Mobile series
 local twirlers worked finely and their support save in two of the games was l good. The time is coming when the pitch- | CTS will pace calmly to the end. and an error as should be the case, will be a rarity.
 l Then the Barons will hit winning streak and manage to finish creditably. l If they do well on this western trip they | should win enough games after returning
 home to be at the .500 mark when they
 afe called upon to take the paths. | If you take time to think 1t out the 1 Barons cannot help from winning. l Birminghams team is admittedly the 1 hardest hitting aggregation in the league. l Birminghams team has more fast men | enrolled than any other team in the Southern or any other league. You cannot point out any team having | faster set of players than Manning,
 Henline, Downey, Demont, Raub and
 Molesworth.
 Meek and Douglass are the heavy men 1 of the team, and Walters has never been
 reckoned as speed merchant. | If the infield, therefore, manages to
 support the pitchers the Barons will win
 even if the twirlers do yield hits. | But the pitchers give promise of being
 able to hold their own. | The speed of the Barons was exempl- | fled in the game yesterday. | DoWneV heat OIlt an iufield hit
 Manning beat out an infield hit. | Benson fumbed Henlin's infied hit for
 second, and the runner was safe. | Henline, with ease, scored from first on
 Walters double. and Downey, from first,
 went to third on Demont's single. | Speed is great factor in winning base
 ball games, and while Reagan and Houtz are fast, Manager Vaughn made a 10- strike when he substituted Manning and
 Henline for those players. | After defeating Mobile on it's home | grounds the Barons, moving to New | Orleans, must feel elated with the re- 1 turn of confidence. | Montgomery has managed to trim New Orleans in two of three games, and the | Parons should do as well as break even | in four.
 Ginger" Clark will open this after | noon for the Barons and as Ginger
 has failed to get off this season he will | expend his every ounce of energy in an effort to win this afternoon. | He will be pitted against Billy Bartley | and Billy, a great pitcher indeed. has l lost no game this season But the 3arons may turn the trick. l We believe that the result of the Bir- | mingham-New Orleans series depends on | just how steady the infield remains. | The Age-Herald has never failed to con- | demn a player for assaulting an umpire during the progress of a game when | ladies are necessarily unwilling specta- | tors
 Therefore, it matters not how justifiable | Moose" Baxter might have been in at- l taclxing Umpire O'Brien he cannot es- 1 cape the censure of all lovers of clean | sL orts.
 When he knocked O'Brien down and l struck him several times in the face, he
 los. prestige and popularity. He should 1 be suspended for long period and doubt | less will be. A blacklist would not be punishment too severe.
 When a case of ruffianism is handled | with kid gloves then ruf?ianism will con l tinue a blur on the league. | We advocate giving Baxter the limit. | A better first baseman than he was fired l from the local team for striking an um- | pire
 l Again the east must be congratulated. | Birmingham defeats Mobile. l Nashville defeats Memphis. ! Montgomery defeats New Orleans Atlanta, as was the case Friday, was ! the only member of the eastern half to 1 lose to the ,vesterners. Montgomery had l a narrow escape, but gallantly snatched | victory from defeat in the ninth inning. | In the first series, a any rate, the | prediction that the strength of the league | is in the west has failed to materalize l Of the 12 games played between the east l and west last week eight of the dozen | fell to eastern arms. | Had Memphis not been handicapped by | inj tries and illness, however, the per- l formance might not have been quite so | lopsded.