Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-08
RECORDS PROVE
LEAGUE IS SHY
On CLASS
BY Percy II. Whiting.

tn HE more a man studies me
batting and fielding averages
which have just been issued
by the Southern league the more IT
sweeps over you what really me-
diocre league II was last year-and
what HORRIBLE club Atlanta
must have had 10 finish last i6
points behind Chattanooga and So
behind Montgomery
The league lacked class-and me
records SHOW II. Take the first
basemen: Sykes. Agler, McGit-
vlay and Doc Johnston We're the
best; and Doc" while he went
up" was not among the star bat
tiers, and was this worst felder Of
the entire lot.
Wares. Marcan. Alpermau and
Jordan were the real second base
uen-and the stars We're Alpcr-
man and Jordan, though the rec
ords do not show It,
Elberfeld. ELAN. BalcntI. cram
dal and HARRISON We're useful
shortstops, though ELAN batted
most feebly.
The third basemeH had nothing
on the. rest. Almcida batted mar
velously well for while. and had
a good record for the year. But his
fielding was off.
There were three or four good
outfielders, but they won their
fame by good batting rather thar
good fielding
Certainly there viii be few med
ais given 20 the Southern of last
season for Its pitchers. Aitchison
of Montgomery. really did great
work with poor club So dad
Demaree-but hardly a Southern
Lacquer believes he IS good enough
to stick in the National league.
Wagner had good year. but he
isn't any Walter Johnson or Ed
Walsh. FoXen is % tine old has
been-with good team behind
him. Boyd. of Birmingham. was -
per cent pitcher and - per cent
support. Cavet and Smith were a
couple of skinny Youngsters who
may Ill out some day and amount
to something. but who haven't ar
rived yet.
A S usual, there are lot Of fea-
a lures Of interest about the fig
ures
For instance. Bill Bernhard got
through the season with a batting
average OF 1000. OF course. he
didn't get to bat so very often.
Then there was the amazing per-
Torrance of Natural stun" Wal
dorf The big German worked in
II games and lost II of them.
Another notable pitching effort
was that Of Bair. In 1871 he won
90 games and lost Il. In 1872 he
won games and lost o.
1t is also worth recalling that At
lanta had one pitcher whose aver
age for the season was 100. This
man was Price. He started in only
four games and won three of them.
The best average of any regular At
lanta pitchers--if you could call
any OF 'em "regular'-were those
OF Sitton and Becker Sitton won
10 and lost 10. Becker won : and
lost Z. Both. accordingly, had
pitching average of 500 for team
that finished with an average of
.Se4.
Il Is also worth noting that The
only first baseman who was sent up
60 the big leagues FOR anything but
a cover-up was DOC" Johnston,
and his fielding was the worst OF
any Southern league first baseman.
Several players who were canned
for one reason OF another through
out the season made good show
lngs Al O'Dell. who wasn't good
enough for Atlanta, led the league
third basemen in fielding, and hit
well. Earl Sykes. who was also let
out by Atlanta. was second among
the first basemen in fielding. Sea-
bough, who was canned by Nash
vile. proved according 90 the rec
ords. the second best catcher i'm the
league.
An interesting happening was
that Atlanta let out two pitchers to
Neutrality-suspicious. and Paige.
Each man won IA games and lost
10 for the season. The only differ
ence was that Paige worked in one
more game-and got tic.