The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-02
SEASON AT ANNISTON
 WAS GLORIOUS ONE

AnniSton, SeptemDer l.-(Special.)- .)-W1th the final defeat of Selma Wednesday afternoon. giving the Free Lances three straight games, the Anniston baseball team disbanded with the fans wildly re- joicing, for by outclassing the Selmians. this city came into the undisputed cham pionship of the state in independent ball
 The Free Lance organization was per- fected by Hamp Draper, Jr., of Oxford the team representing Anniston and the sister town for the earlier part of the season. Later, however, the team was taken over by the Anniston association and with judicial winnowing it closed the season as the fastest aggregation outside the Southern and South Atlantic leagues, according to old heads who have seen all the teams play. and in class with the best in the latter organization.
 Manager Drapers team was a winner from the start its season being opened by taking series from the Gadsden Southeastern bunch. It soon outclassed all teams in the Anniston district and as the season advanced it began to widen it's territory, defeating the fastest inde- pendent teams of Georgia and Tennessee. It was soon after Anniston took charge of the team, however, that 1t reached it's highest point of efficiency, the lineup at that time being:
 Crews, first base; Wilson, second base; Zielminski, shortstop McDuff, third base; w. Allen, leftfeld; Bullard, centerfield; Klein, rightfeld; Frank Allen, Nelson and Scheussler, pitchers, with Klein, Wilson and will Allen working occasionally; Larry Brown, Blakemore and Faulkner doing the backstop work. In the final games of the season this lineup was still further strengthened by working Herre Meek behind the bat, and later by the importation of Weems and Schultz, pitch CTS; Eubanks, a catcher, and Wagner, an outfielder, from the Macon Sally team. Two other men who did excellent work for the Free Lances during the season were Turk and Shropshire Rowe having also pitched one or two good games, as did Wear. who was with the Free Lances a short time.
 With this lineup intact during the greater part of the season, Anniston end- ed with ITO record, having played 70 games, won 49 and lost 21. Selma was the only team which was really in a class with the Free Lances and the final series shows that out of 21 games played the Free Lances have won 13 and lost 8. Of these games 15 were played in Selma. Anniston losing of the games played there, while Selma lost all of the games played in Anniston.
 Of the Anniston pitchers, Sam Nelson has the best record, having won 15 out of 20 games. He also did excellent field ing and was one of the heaviest hitters on the team. He will likely go to the South Atlantic next season, having de- clined offers this year.
 Tap Klein won games out of 12, and possibly broke up more games than any other man on the team as a pinch hitter. His fielding was also dangerously near 1000.
 Frank Allen won seven straight games for Anniston before he went to Selma. He is now with the Southern at Mobile. Larry Brown caught beautiful game throughout the season and his headwork was factor in nearly all the games won. He will be with the Cotton States next year.
 Crews was a veritable find at first, a diamond in the rough. He played over twenty games without an error accepting all kinds of chances and .clouting in q way that reminded the fans of the days when Ty Cobb swung the stick in Annls- ton.
 Zielminski, the boy shortstop, promises marked development. Manager Bullard, Pratt, Karl Wilson, Shropshire and Me- Duff have also, each in his turn, come in for a need of glory that has made them unforgettable in the minds of the Anniston fans.
 Annston beyond doubt witnessed better ball this year than it has ever witnessed before and the fans are in a notiun to get in one of the minor leagues next year and make still better show