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

~ h Il N - n . t"O H"eloioi
~ 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.
A 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 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
Barry's head. If the runner found
out that the ball was rolling to the
outheld, which he had not. because
Of his slide. he could scramble to
his feet and make third. So Bar
nv turned calmly to the umpire and
said. unconcernedly "Td 'av' had
him, Bill. If I'd held the ball"
The runner judged from this off
hand utterance that the ball was
right at Barry's 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 ne
had reached third. The next one
flied out. and the game was over
Barry, by saying one thing and
meaning another. had stalled off a
tie.
I'm FOX tried piece Of silent
strategy one day in the red
hottest game that Ponce DeLeon
ball park ever saw 1t was the
year Memphis and Atlanta battled
so brilliantly for a pennant. With
the Crackers one game to the good,
the Turtle team arrived in Atlanta
The locals won the frst game. The
second day it rained Memphis
wanted q doubleheader the third
day, but Bill Smith ruled against
II, despite 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 a stinger to Charley
Babb, which the Memphis manager
1uggled. Under orders from the
coacher at third. Fox rounded that
bag and started for home Babb 9
recovered the ball. snapped it home,
and Fox was trapped He turned
toward third. but Babb was waiting
for him. Owing 10 his uncanny
length, Jim was no agile runner
But he was a quick thinker. He
figured that II 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 bail as 1t was thrown to Babb
and detected 1t 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 ana had the then
Fishermen on his hip. Fisher was
worried, but not quite at his Wits
end He waited until an inning