The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-16
ART RIGGS THINKS THAT HUNTSVILLE IS A STRONG TEAM
BARONS WEAK AS THE GIANTS;
 NO STRONGER THAN THE CUBS
BUT LITTLE CONSOLATION IS FOUND IN THOSE FACTS SOMETHING OF BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY CLUBS

The New York Giants, the Pittsburg Pirates, the Chicago Cubs and the Bir- mingham Barons, on the one hand. and the St. Louis Cardinals, the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, the Boston Doves and Montgomery Billikens on the otherl
 The world is upside down.
 l. has been said by Bobo or some other man of exceeding wisdom that misery loves company. We do not dispute the accuracy of the ancient assertion. But. however, that may be, we are willing to go on record as being opposed to misery and the company it keeps.
 The start of the Barons has ben disas- trous The condition is traceable to poor pitching and light hitting We believe that when the Barons strike their stride their hitting will improve. Ne believe that with the present pitching staff the Barons cannot win consistently.
 Of course, the present pitching staff will not be held intact. We would make bold to declare that the sooner additional strength is added the better. The game won in April counts for as much as that won in September.
 One thing has been demonstrated, and that is that the eatchers will be all right. We would have no quarrel with Manager Molesworth were he to retain Lemon and Yantz, or Lemon and Diger
 There is no doubt but that McGilvray Tlllam and Carroll will prove available. McGilvray and Elam look better than they have ever looked. Carroll has al ways been promising. His value depends on whether or not he will learn quick enough It seems that he will
 At the present time, Berghammer mas failed to deliver. He appears exception- ally weak at the bat, and only an ordi- nary fielder. He may come round, all right. We hope he will.
 Messenger and Johnston are delivering the goods according to expectations 1t IS questionable, in our opinion, as to the rel ative ability of Mcbride and Mowrey If Mcbride can hit .2S0 he will be more valuable than Mowrey, it is probable, But it seems to be very doubtful that ms clouting record will improve on .2SO. Mowrey at the present time is limpinS He will be given another opportunity to show It may happen that searcn through the big league will be necessary before the left field argument IS settleo for good.
 We have never seen HardgroVe work' of those pitchers we have seen, however, up to the present time only Foxen ana Boyd measure up to the standard re- quired.
 We have string on Pitcher Prougn' It is stated that something definite Tn rel erence to "wee Willieiis will be known 1... AHo,, XNa bava hitherto suggested that "feeler' be sent along in the direction of Maury Kent. He Is in Brook lyn and has not been Harmed 'as yet.
 Montgomery seems to have q well bal anced team Grbbens Is an acceptable catcher. though he Is no star, of course. NlcAnister probably needs another year in training.
 Danzig at first is very good at fielding and hitting. He looks to be one or the best men brought south in some years Elvert and McElveen are good ball play CTS in every department of the game. Wares holds promise at short stengie is the best man in the Mont gomery outheld. Williams does not ap- pear formidable and Manning will prop- ably be sent to the farm 'Happy Smith is serviceable in spite Of the tact that he has seen his best day. Bills, as uitity man. is without a peer in the south. He fields we'll hits well, throws well, pitches well and is exceedingly fast on his feet. Montgomery's pitchers are unknown quantities. Atchison is a good man. Her beIr looked good in Birmingham Biiis is all right We doubt the ability of Leli- welt to win more than half of his games Manager Dobbs is all right. Bill Stick nv is all right. Charlie Jones is all right And this season, strange to relate, Montgomery fans appear all right It is very early, however Tomorrow the sun may shine and the Barons win. Tomorrow, too, the Billikens might look like selling platers.c Many things may happen tomorrow. II. W. k.