The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-25
AUBURN CLAIMS
 THE CHAMPIONSHIP

N. J. Donohue, coach of Auburn, claims the baseball championship in an article bearing his signature in Mondays Mont gomery Advertiser
 A remarkable feature of his argument is that he overlooks Alabama's claims. which have practically been conceded throughout the south.
 Donihue's address is as follows:
 When professional teams play for a championship title each team plays the same teams equal number of games both at home and on the road and even then they claim that luck is a decid- ing factor to the extent of about 40 per cent. With college teams it is manifestly impossible to do this only in very limited way, so that college baseball championships is pretty much of a 'will-o'-the- -wisp." Once in a good while one team will stand out head and shoulders above the rest. such a team was that of the Univer- slty of Georgia, 1908, but this does not happen very often. One team may play mostly inferior teams, win every series and then claim the championship while another by playing a much harder sched- ule may lose a series or two and still be better team than others who have not had such schedule. Again profes- sionals who are more inured to travel than college men, claim that a team win ming half of it's games on the road Is sure of the championship. This is not taken into consideration at all by col lege enthusiasts and team that wins on it's home grounds by any margin at all is immediately hailed as being a superb team.
 Mississippi A and NJ. for instance with the same team that they have this year. made trip in 1908 through Georgia and Alabama and lost almost every game they played. This year they stay at home and play inferior teams and claim the championship. As there are so many claimants to the championship and as the only dope available, Auburns is as good as Tennessee's and better than any others. Her argument is thus set forth:
 ''As Georgia. Tech, Mercer, University of Georgia and Auburn played on practice ally an even footing by playing an equal number of games on their respective cam- puses and as Auburn's record is the best of these it may be considered that Au- burn is the best of this lot Now in so far as the other s. .. A. A. teams are concerned the only comparison available is by comparative scores against the same teams. In the games on her campus against Howard, Georgia and Cumber- Ia An ina da- feats than any other college these teams played against. Scores do not mean much. but aS Auburn won by from to l3 more runs than any other team, it would seem that if any claims are to be made hers is decidedly the more likely one. This includes every one except Tennessee. Au- burn and Tennessee each played three games in Athens and two in Macon, In Athens, Tennessee did one better than Auburn by winning two out of three, but against Mercer, Auburn did one bet ter by winning two straights, so there you have it. Tennessee could claim that as she won two out of three from Sewanes that her claim Is better than Auburn's. Tennessee, however, played Sewanee In Knoxville and then lost one game in de cisve fashion while Auburn after dou- ble header against Georgia took a long night trip and played Sewanee on the hill two days later. Even then Auburn won one game decsively and lost the deciding game after 13-inning fight by a to 1 score. Isn't it mess.''