Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-05-09
By Percy H. Whiting.

y
a RIcA's two national
~ games baseball and draw
poker, are a lot alike in lot
Of ways. as might be expected.
There is much blufing and much
saying one thing and meaning an
other in both Of them.
smart player is likely to pull
anything at any time, and much
of this fine stuff is wasted on the
fans.
A remark may change the whole
trend of the game.
Jack Barry pulled such re-
mark for the Athletics last year.
1t was the ninth inning of an i'm
portant game. and the score was ?
to 1 in favor OF the Mackmen. A
fast runner reached first, and as
the case was desperate, he lit out
for second The throw to Barry
was wretched and as the runner
slid into second the ball sped over
Barrys head. If the runner found
out that the ball was rolling to the
outfield, which he had not. because
of his slide. he could scramble to
his feet and make third. So Bar
ry turned calmly to the umpire and
said, unconcernedly, I'D 'av had
him, Bill. if I'd held the ball"
The runner judged from this Off
hand utterance that the ball was
right at Barrys feet. Before the
coachers could wake him up to the
real situation. the ball had been re-
gained by the center fielder. The
next batter hit long fly. on which
the runner could have scored If he
had reached third. The next one
flied out. and the game was over.
Barry, by saying one thing and
meaning another. had stalled off
tie.
TIM FOX tried a piece of silent
j strategy one day in the red
hottest game that Ponce DeLeon
ball park ever saw. 1t was the
year Memphis and Atlanta battled
the Crackers one game to the good,
the Turtle team arrived in Atlanta.
The locals won the first game. The
second day it rained. Memphis
wanted a doubleheader the third
day, but Bill Smith ruled against
it, despite a lot of talk about pro-
tests and such. George Suggs and
Tom Hughes were the opposing
pitchers, and nothing happened un
til the eighth. Then Jim Fox man
aged to get to second. The next
man up hit singer to Charley
Babb, which the Memphis manager
juggled. Under orders from the
coacher at third. Fox rounded that
bag and started for home Babb
recovered the ball. snapped it home
and Fox was trapped He turned
toward third. but Babb was waiting
for him. Owing to his uncanny
length, Jim was no agile runner
But he was a quick thinker. He
figured that If he could interfere
with the ball the umpire, Dan
Pfenninger. wouldn't dare to face
that crowd of ten thousand yell
ing Atlantans and call him out for
Interference.
So Jim stuck his arm in front of
the ball as it was thrown to Babb
and detected it so greatly that he
was able to score unmolested.
Only a few OF the ten thousand
fans knew what had happened
Dan Pfenninger. after summing up
his whole career, admitted that It
was the toughest decision he ever
made. He called Fox out, and the
quick thinking was wasted. The
game went into an extra inning tie,
and you know the rest But Fox
had been there with the snappy
brain work.
a MOTHER historic case is that
"A Of Newt Fisher and Pitcher
Nickens. Nickens was an awful
gump. but invincible when he was
going right He was working
against Nashville and had the then
Fishermen on his hip Fisher was
worried but not quite at his wits
end. He waited until an inning