Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-11-02
8LACkbURNE IS
AF TER bERCERS
JOB At SECOND
Battle Royal Expected Next Sea-
son in Fight for Position at .
Keystone Sack,
Bv James Clarkson.

1N y aIIloS CldEkSOIl.
u HICAGO, I'LL, Nov. IA battle
royal is expected on the White
Sox lnfleld next spring when
.alahan puts his gang through their
.reiminary workouts away out in
raItornia- No, it will not be that
Iaaues Fournier will try to GUST Hal
rMase from the initial corner. for
nat appears impossible. Neither does
E, mean that Buck Weaver will fail
10 show the proper stuff to cinch his
sn0rtstop position, and neither do we
wish to give the impression that Cap
ain Harry Lord will be relieved Of
duty at the far corner.
We have now mentioned first base.
,lortstop and third base, haven't we?
Well that quite naturally leaves sec
ord base as the scene of battle. Dur
.ng the recent baseball season the Sox
used couple of men at the keystone
corner Morris Rath first cavorted
around the center station, but Morris
light hitting soon resulted in his be-
Inc driven back to the minors.
With the canning Of Rath came an.
opportunity for Joe Berger to get mot
The game as a regular. Joe. accord
ng to the carefully preserved records
IN Comiskey's Office, had been a regu-
lar whale out on the Pacific coast
nb Y,A
LIT above the 800 mark. Any man
who can hit around that mark always
ooks good to the White Sox manage
meut. az 800 clouters are generally
lew and far between when you look
over the roster of the South Side ag-
gregatiOn.
5ackburne After Place.
Berger finished the season at sec
md base for the Sox. But Berger was
not near the whale that he was out
on the coast A pretty fielder, yes.
But az q hitter Joe fails to shine,
of course Joe was not alone in that
respect. for there were no 800 hitters
y the SoX camp of 1913.
Who will battle with Berger for
second base next season? That's an
awful easy question to answer. Rus
sell B,aCkburne, the sensational
shortsJop Of the Milwaukee cham
pions during the past season, is the
man VINO will fight it out with Joe
and, furthermore, Russell says the
job is already as good as copied by
MIN. Berger says not.
Blackburne is no stranger to these
parts He has been a Sox before. but
ne never before looked so good in adj
vance as he does this time. In Mil
wau5ee they will tell you that Russ
BlHekburne was the life of the Brewer
team a. team that won the American
Association championship His gin
gerry work on the paths and afield is
said to have done more toward keep
ing the Brewers up top all season
IMAM anything else connected with the
club
How did Russ hit down in Milwau-
Nee' Well he was no sensation as a
Hltter Of the pellet, but at the same
Tine he finished the season hitting
LAX. That's pretty good hitting for
an lnfelder coming from the associa-
lion, where some good smart pitchers
reside during the summer months
Berger Lacks Aggressiveness.
one OF Berger'S chief faults during
me past season was his lack of ag-
EreSSlNeness. AggressiVeness is one of
russell BlaCkburne's stronget points
an You imagine more pep and ginger
around the vicinity of second base
man would be cut loose by Black
'Ifne and Buck Weaver in the event
.aat they play alongside each other
You certainly can not.
or course, Mr.. BlaCkburne will have
.o rlnch in BUSTING Berger from the
N'Ns,one sack He certainly will have
lo snow, and show a lot. as Joes
work during the city series was of
.IE1 caliber. The fielding of Berger
curing that always thrilling clash
ooIdered on the sensa tional He also
'il fairly well against the Cub pitch
aEs
hlackburne passed through the city
"' other morning en- route to his
ONE IN the East. and while here he
81" several of his old friends He
'.a them he was glad that he was
'nlHs back to Chicago and that this
me ne was coming to stay That
oael uslvely proves that he has made
.b ms mind to earn a job on the Sox
'"Ie.o' and If it is to be regular
w" II looks as though Joe Berger is
'' man he must beat out.
ma Sc, OF course, is fixture at first
'S' Tor next season. And Buck
Ver-well, the stuff that Buck
"ed during the last few weeks Of
American League campaign and
ng the city series assures him OF
ArSt crack at the short field po-
...Hu,
NetNer was wonderfully i'm
" 'ru Oall player when the season
co. From the day that Callahan
MIN up in the lead-off position
ne batting order he commenced. TO
.""FoV@, At the close Of the season
vas leading his team in hitting
ms heldng-Well, it is not nee
lIY TO comment on his work as
". He makes errors. OF course.
ne all over that ball yard and
ing looks impossible to him. Tn
PRESENT indications fail he should
whale of a performer next sea-
Lord Sure of His Place.
would take good steady, relia-
t man TO shove Lord away from
base. While not brilliant
Harry is steady. He's one of
pail players who always know
e 20 do and when TO do il. And
n much better hitter than the
ses Of 1913 Indicate So. after
..H8 over the infeld candidates
next season. it looks as though
.s fight. In fact. the only fight
H" Tor the regular position nj