The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-03-02
FUCKER BEST OF LEFT.HANDERs
Goes Against Strongest Teams and
Pitchers and Beats Them

ElANHNlo aAtA 6NaAe AHNh
"Ty" Cobb, that most effective De-
troiter comes from Georgia. SO does
Nap" Rucker the Brooklyn clubs
famous south-paw. Georgia is not
long on quantity, so far as sending
topliners into the big leagues is con
cerned, but the quality is certainly
there. There is no better batsman,
run-getter or fy-chaser than Cobb;
no steadier sweeter slab performer
than Rucker. Since George Edward
Waddell was chased out of the big
arena and Dr. Harry White and Far
mer Eddie" Plank have started to
advance upon the passe stage. Rucker
has moved into first place among the
southpaws Rather as "Rube" Mar
guard, three year older, has had but
one big season. and Vean Gregg, that
clever Clevelander, is strictly a one
year man, it is but fair to place Ruck-
er in first position among the left
handlers. Brooklyn has owned a
near-tailender ever since Rucker went
to work for Charley" Ebbets.
Nap" has had a long succession Of
good years His percentage of victor
les each summer has always been far
greater than that gained by his club,
and the records will show that the
majority of Maps" triumphs have
been registered against the strong
clubs of the National League.
Rucker is at his best when the bat
ting is the toughest. He loves to face
one of the good teams. He would
rather be pitted against Mordecai
Brown and the Cubs" or "Christy"
MathewSon and the Giants" than
be sent against Boston or Cincinnati
The star players of the National lea
que particularly the members of the
/ Chicago Cubs" consider Rucker the
toughest pitcher of them all to beat
/ Particularly in Brooklyn is Maps"
stuff hard to solve. There, adjoining
the fence in deep center field, is a big
advertising sign, and when Rucker is
on duty and going his fastest the col
ored background results in having his
fast ball on top of the batter before
the batter is really sure Nap has
let so of the sphere.
Give Rucker one run in Brooklyn,
and he is the best bet in baseball to
be bracketed. Slip him two runs and
it's all over Nap" is also a good
road man, especially in his biggest
combats. but as an at home pitcher
he is considered the best of them all
in the National league, and that even
/ if he is associated with ball team
that is anything but startlingly i'm
pressiye. Ruck is not resourceful
workman, but then he is so very, very
good, naturally he is not called upon
to pull anything on the slab very Of
ten He knows full well that the
team behind him is not of very much
account, save in few positions, and
for that reason he is never able tC
loaf, and just like the rest of the pit
cheers, particularly those of the first
fight, he always wants to boost his
win column
Whenever Rucker gets bumped anC
/, that is seldom, the hammering comes
in a closing inning Few twirlers use
as many curve balls in the course Of
a game as Nap" and when he tires
as he sometimes does in the flag enc
3 of his game on a hot afternoon in miC
, season, his famous hop ball loses ;
lot of its hop and is Strengthened out
8 Rucker though, has probably beer
] retired less han any other star pit
p cher in either major league Whel
b he starts, Il IS a 5O-to-l shot he finish
es. In 1905 the Maps trained a
! Atlanta Rucker had joined the pre-
, vious fall, raw from the country eros
lot team Of which he had been
member He had fair success Will
the Crackers and was told to re