The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-02
PROSPECTS FINE
 IN MONTGOMERY

Montgomery May 1.-(speeial. )-The Climbers are going well at last. All that is needed by Greminger now to put him up in the race is a pair of pitchers, and Thomas will report next week, one of the main weaknesses of the team will have been dispelled.
 Never in the history of the Southern league did a team start the season with slab corps in the shape of the one which Greminger had. How the team has managed to stay up around the 500 mark with such an aggregation will al ways be wonder to the fans, and of the games lost three were thrown away by errors, showing that these pitchers have been doing their share. When the bell rang for the opening of the season the Montgomery manager had & pitching staff which consisted of the following: Guese, 8 good, reliable man, especially strong in hot weather; Lively. an appar- ently coming star but who mad pitched only a few games in the Southern league after graduating from the Cotton States; DeBalt, an unlnown Bliss, who was rank in-and-outer last season; Willis, who had not shown anything. After the first series in Nashville Greminger picked up a southpaw named George, whose main recommendation was that once upon a time he had been given trial by the Boston team.
 This was the bunch that Greminger be- gan with in pursuit of the Southern league flag. and he has done well. Lively had won his opening game in Nashville, when some frightful throws bobbed up resulting in a defeat. The second game went against Guese and DeBalt copped the third game after Bliss had been driv- en to the stable.
 Thee fact that some games have been put on the right side of the ledger Is a tribute to the fine fielding of the locals As a whole there Is no better fielding team in Dixie than that of the Climbers. The infield is not one which Is capable of pulling off the spectacular plays, but 1t Is steady all the while. One peculiar thing about the Montgomery aggregation is the fact that double plays are very seldom seen here. For some reason or other Pope and Rockenfield do not work well in double plays and the final record of the season will show that the Mont gomery team will have less plays of this kind than anyother team in the league. Montgomery is exceptionally strong be- hind the bat. Shannon's good throwing arm makes the larceny of a base highly improbable and Hart Is also there with an arm of steel. The local bunch of out fielders can cover lot of ground and hit well. Whiteman, the Texas boy, was finally put In the game this week. re- lieving Persons in center, and he demon- strated that he has the goods The fans freely comment on the fact that the team would be htched up stronger with White man in right and Persons In center. Archie has not yet found his batting eye, but one of the best men of the league for the last few seasons is bound to come back and place will have to be made for him.
 Manush has been disappointment. His fielding around the third corner is superb, no other man in the south having any thing on him. but his work with the bat so far has been very sorry. He is be- ginning to find the ball now, however, and may soon show the classy hitting that led him to the front in the Cotton States last season.
 Birmingham may see the renowned pr. l Thomas in action in one of the games | in the Magic City next week, as he has | written to President Chambers that he will join the team Monday. Thomas has been attending college in St. Joe, and will carry to Birmingham with him | his sheepskin. but that is not expected | to interfere with his pitching to any great | extent. Juul will be here June l. and then
 the Climbers will be in good shape for | the campaign of the season and unless l1ocal dope Is misleading there will be
 several teams which will be trailing this aggregation by that time.