Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-06
BY w. j. McBeth.


Y and out is one of the principal
rules of baseball But the last
strike is tar more important than
either of the two preceding ones or
both together any way you take them.
Some first ball hitters are as good as
nailed up the minute a pitcher gets two
strikes on thenE Other free htters
ike Ty Cobb, Hans Wagner or Larry
Lajoie do not begin to get a pitchers
goat till he has them i'm the hole.
For it is then that such demon is
liable to step up on one and clout 1t
into the next country.
Which little preamble has no refer
ence whatever to any Cobb. or Wagner
or Lajoie, but to one who deserves more
sympathy-a poor, oppressed baseball
manager, to wit, Big Chief" George
Stallngs, of the Boston National tall
enders For George is UP in the pinch
with two strikes called by Umpire Hard
Luck. the bases choked, two down and
q home run needed. Organized base
ball win await breathlessly the out
come of the 1913 campaign to see
whether or not the Big CHIEF fans,
a humiliation he has never yet SUI
fered in his twenty years of baseball.
Some pretty wise baseball men viii
be nightly surprised if Chief Stallings
makes failure of it as skipper of the
Hub trailers. 1t is true that he is up
against a rather blue outlook for the
immediate future, but he could be
situated worse and not have to travel
out of his own circuit. His lot should
be easier than that of any one of three
new rival agers-Johnny Evers
Joe Tinker and Miller Higgins
Can't Lead Worse Team.
Tinker and Evers have something to
work with at the start. for they take
the helm of first division clubs Mil
Ter Huggins, who succeeds Bresnahan,
has a club that ranked sixth in a flight
OF eight. But Staliugs takes hold Of
an absolute ruck runner. He can not
o>sibly do worse than his predeces-
sors. and any Improvement i'm the final
standing Of his club with rebound to his
credit
would like to ay a little pct on
Stalmgs. He's Just the kind of fell
low who rises to emergencies As o
baseball leader | do not hesitate TO
class him With John j. McGraW and
Connie Mack. Neither Of these shJeWd
wizards knows move inside baseball
than the Georgian. neither is a better
judge of young talent Stalliugs has
NOT perhaps the general magnetism of
McGraw SO far as the general baseball
following is concerned. He has never
played to The stands" lie has always
kept away from the noisy acclaim of
the populace, conteuting himself with
Wol king in secret with his players; Of
sueaking unobserved onto the bench
just before playing time He is a bench
manages of the Connie Mack stamp.
not so reserved as the Athletics boss
by long way, but stiu a man who
commands every respect from his dis
ciples Players who have worked un-
der him have told me that Stallings is
nothing short Of mailman during
the most exciting periods of a ha d
fought game. He fights out within
himself every move. And In his zeal
ne sometimes forgets himself and ap-
plies hard names. But these are for
gotten the moment the last man has
been retired and his followers, once
! they understand him. are willing to
forgive any little offenses i'm the light
of such exceptional zeal For the one
| doctrine of Stallings is to win, win, Win
at amy cost
I'm his long experience StaUinss u.N,r
yet has been al the head of any joke