The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-07
DOWNEY LEAD LEAGUE
 IN PURLOINING BASES
Breitenstein Easily Leagues Leading Twirler--Choosing an AlI-Star South ern League Team-Bunch of
 Brilliant Outfielders.

compiled from the reports or the seN- eral official scorers by Clark Miller, secretary to President W. M. Kavan- augh are published and are given here with
 There are very few surprises con- tained in the figures. The all-round star was Triss Speaker of Little Rock, as everyone knew in advance. Every one knew, too, that Lord, Becker of Little Rock, Molesworth, Henline were in the 300 class.
 Speakers hitting average was $50 in 127 games. It it to be noted that this is the highest average hung up since the introduction of the spit ball. in the south. However, when it is re- Inembered that Speaker is an exceed ingly fast man with ability to beat out hits to the infield, his 1850 does not look so large as the $40 of Henry Meek last season, who, as everyone knows, cannot get to first in any other way than smashing them to safe ter ritory.
 Briscoe Lord of New Orleans fol- lowed Speaker with .S14. Becker of Little Rock follows with .S04. Helm, pitcher, and Tareton, who played in very few games, have averages of 1903. Molesworth and Henline have averages of .302.
 Henry Meek, who led the league last season with 84O, got no higher this year than .2S6, but this hitting Is above the average.
 Speaker Run Getter.
 Speaker, too. was the best run get ter of the league, crossing the pan S1 times Wiseman of Nashville finished second with IT. and Diamond" Joe Rickert flashed third with even TO.
 Speaker also led in the number of inn Han line followed with 16S. McElveen of Nashville was third with 146.
 The trio which went above the 200 mark in total number of bases were Lord Speaker and Henline; Lord, 220 out of 145 hits; Speaker PIP out of 165, and Henline 200 out of 153.
 Rohe led the sacrifice hitters with 37; Downey was second with 34 and Dun don third with 32.
 In the matter of stolen bases, Dow ney led the league with AZ. Rickert was second with Al, and Baerwald third with 35.
 So much for the hitters.
 In fielding. Scoops" Carey led the first basemen with Fox and Greminger right behind him. Fox, on account of playing in more games, really deserves the honor of first rank
 Dundon of New Orleans Jordan of Atlanta and Walters of Birmingham are the leading second basemen. The three are punched. Walters made fewer errors than either of his competitors and might have won first place but for \ the fact that he was played on third for a certain number of games l McElveen of Nashville led the third ebasemen, followed by Hess of Little Rock, Rohe of New Orleans and Babb of Memphis. Though Buffers average Is a trihe better, the best fielding short stop is really Paul sentell of Mobile, who fguered in a greter number of games than the first named Castro and Demontreville follow the leaders.
 Siegel, Collins, Daley and Lord were the best fielding outfelders.
 Raub, Garvin and Woods are the three leading catchers, although when the number of games played are con sidered, owens of Memphis must be ranked with the leaders.
 The best fielding pitchers in the league were Breitenstein, Thomas, Gar rity McNeal and Ford of Atlanta.
 In winning games Grand Old Man" Breitenstein of New Orleans was head and shoulders above all the rest. Thomas followed, and half dozen oth- CTS are well punched for the other honors.
 Out of 24 games, Breitenstein last season won IT, lost and tied one. Considering the age of the veteran his record Is the most phenomenal of many seasons.
 Locally, Mack Robinson was the star, winning II and losing nine games.
 Fleharty who won five and lost five, Is the only other pitcher with a re- spectacle record who wore the local uniform last season.
 The points scored by Birmingham were comparatively speaking few The Barons had two hitters in 300 society, Molesworth and Henline. Downey led the league in stealing bases, and was the second best sacrifice hitter. Raub was the ranking catcher of the league Henline was one of the three men of the league whose total number of bases was 200 or better, and he got the sec ond to the largest number of hits made during the season.
 An AII-star Team
 From the averages, one would judge tha at in spite of the fact the teams were more evenly matched and finished closer than in many years the league, as a whole, was not as fast as in pre- vious seasons.
 In the league were many star pitch ers star outflelders, one star third ba aseman, and one fairly good short stop But there were no star catchers, no star second basemen and no star first basemen. Meek could easily rank as the catcher or first ba seman on an AIl-Southern team, but his weight and SlOWneSS would dlSQudllIy nlHl, even though his fielding were better. Raub considering fielding and hitting, would probably receive first place, with Mat thews owens and Massing scrapping for the other position. Tarleton, though figuring in but 14 games, hit 1903. His fielding was slightly off color, but his speed in circling the bases and his activity make him the best first base man in the league
 Either Dundon, Jordan Walters could either hit, would be entitled to the position of star second baseman But PIT POT and 198 is hitting too light for an all-star aggregation Dow ney is the man for the position. He hits .2S0. He is the best base stealer in the league, and second best sacri- flee hitter. While his fielding was off color, 1t must be borne in mind that throughout the season he was played in three different positions. It Is be- lieved he was the most promising young player in the league, and if Birming- ham can get him again from Chicago, Birmingham is to be congratulated. At third. McElveen, in every department ta head and shoulders above all others