The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-10
SOME LIVE DOPE
 FROM SLEEPYVILLE

Montgomery. May 9.-(Special.) )-The hammers of the knockers are temporarily out of commission. The baseball associa- ton has listened to the cry of the fans and proposes radical changes. Pope, who gave promise of developing into won der, has not been delivering the goods this season. and the fans have been cry ing for his head. practically since the opening of the present season. Of the games lost this season several can be placed as being due to the cratic work of Pope. He can cover a world of ground and has a good whip, but a tendency to make a grandstand play of everything which comes his way has queered him with the fans, and in fact he seems to have lost confidence in his ability to snatch the grounders from the earth. His batting Is nearly as bad as that of Man ush, and the last-named has been giving the sorriest exhibition ever seen on Montgomery team.
 This Montgomery team is banning out somewhat different from what was an ticipated. Of the infield at the begin ming of the season it was thought that the only uncertain spot was second Dase, and Rockenheld's job hung in the bal ance for several days. but the former Little Rock star has come into his own again, and his hitting alone has made for him a permanent home. Rocky was always prone to make errors, but the av- craze baseball fan can excuse errors if the player Is a hard worker and goes after everything in sight, and can be re- lied upon to meet the ball when he comes to the bat.
 W hen it was announced that Manush ..T-a .I.t. Athletics it was figured that the CnmDers had secured the prize package of the season, but the former Cotton States sen sation has proved a dismal failure. He played ball throughout the winter in Pan anna, and it is suggested that he is stale and has not as yet come back. In the field he is fast although his errors so far have proved extremely costly. At the bat the fans groan at his approach. He does not seem to have an eye of any kind.
 Whiteman, the former Texas league star. who had to fight before he was given a chance to show, and who has made goou in every way, is an inhelder of abll- itY. and the fans want to see him in ac- tion at the difficult corner Whiteman played the position in an exhibition game before Manush arrived, and his work then looked all to the good
 TEis fellow Kerwin may not be a showy performer, but he has been mak- ing good right along, and as 1t will be impossible to keep either Persons or Daily on the bench, Gremnger will probably solve his outfeld proposition by using Whiteman ongthird
 Osteen is hailed as a fit successor to Neal Ball. who proved to be about the swiftest article developed in the South ern league in 1906. He Is a batter of no mean ability, having clubbed the ball at an average of .3O7 during the three years that he performed for Springfield in the Central league During those three years he always fielded above .900, and was a performer of the first water. He was picked up by the St. Louis Ma tionals
 The pitching staff is now in somewhat better shape. Dr. Thomas should be in for another successful season. and Lively who has been losing game after game, has been pitching good enough ball, but ragged support has proved his undoing. Guese is going along pretty well, and Bliss seems to have struck a good, consis- tent gait
 The team bumped into a fierce propos- tion at Birmingham, the Dubs as they are called here, making the name fit the Clin bers in, every way. The local fans feel that Montgomery was lucky to snatch one game on the slagpile. and after that first defeat the fans showed but little fl teiest ill the two remaining contests.