Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-04-05

ed nine called ball and five strikes,
and the game whose score did not
run into two figures was regarded
by the average fan as disappoint-
ing proposition.
Players Used No Gloves,
The man who played ball with a
glove, was jeered at by the grand
stand as weakling, and such a pro-
lection as a mask or a chest pad
would have been greeted with deri-
sion. Double as many catchers were
required as pitchers, owing to the
frequency of MANNED hands. When
Silver" Flint retired from behind the
bat every finger of both hands had
been broken at least once, and some
of them twice.
In the summer of 1883 Arthur IT.
win, then playing as shortstop with
Providence, had the third and fourth
fingers Of his left hand broken by a
fast ball The condition of the team
was such that his retirement would
have been a disaster, and Irwin con-
suited with doctor, with whose help
buckskin driving glove was roughly
padded as a protection for his hand,
The fact of his injury silenced the
gibes of the bleaehers and shortly
afterward John Montgomery Ward, Of
the New York team, boldly dared
convention by following mis- example.
yN1g : hfeyt
sheepishly adopted the innovation,
until in the following season spe-
cial fielding glove was introduced by
an enterprising sporting goods firm.
With the gradual elimination of the
prejudice against safeguards, caused
by the fielding gloves, the sporting
goods houses launched first mask
and then a chest protector. As | look
back now I can realize that these in
noyations played a very definite part
in the uplift of baseball, Prior to
this time the physical risks incident
to the game had served as a barrier
to hundreds of men who felt that, as
a business proposition, the chances of
being crippled were much too serious
The introduction of the safety de-
vices eliminated also many of the
rougher more brutal features of the
game. with a corresponding decrease
In the type of old time staggering
ball player, who regarded the fact
that he played baseball as an evil
dence of his ''toughness' and who
conducted himself accordingly. Base
ball became less an aggregation Of
''roughnecks" and more a profession
of gentlemen.
Billy Sunday Brings Tears.
Pop Arson was the most stub
born, most human, most complex man
who ever played baseball Also he
was the sQuarest. There are few men
who know the real Pop" Arson of
the old White SoX days when Chica-
so represented very nearly the SUI
preme pinnacle on the diamond. 1t
was at the funeral of Frank Flint,
nOld Silver" the veteran catcher of
Chicago, that q good many of us saw
for the first time the depths of An
sons nature.
Billy Sunday. the baseball eYangel-
list. was preaching the sermon. Billy
got away from the beaten track of
sermons, | guess. From conventional
standards it must have been a most
unusual discourse for such time
STOPPING over the coffin, he finished
something like this
The last time ] visited Frank he
said to me. I'm lasting a good While
Bill. but it amounts to nothing. These
are Just fouls I'm hitting. Pretty foon
the umpire will call the game onl ac-
count of darkness.
There was a sort Of choking gasp
and then a sob from the corner Of the
room. 1t was Pop Arson crying
like baby If vote haG heen taken
Of the one man in that room less
likely to tears the choice would have
been Pop
Pop Arson was without doubt the
gruffest, shaTpest manager who ever
guided 3 team to worlds champion
shin. Even toward those with whom
he was most familiar the mask was
seldom lifted. The stranger who saw
him in action would never have
guessed the inner nature of the man.
Arson Champion Kicker.
In the old days no one ever ques-
toned Anson's title of the Champion
Kicker. His encounters with the UNI
pire were proverbial An adverse de-
cision of His Umps' had much the
effect on Pop as red flag on a bull
| have in mind his first meeting with
the veteran umpire, Tim Hurst !,
was in Philadelphia Hardly player
knew Hurst, VINO had joined the staff
of the National League only q short
time before. Arson was at the bat
for the first time in the game Al
though the second ball thrown him
SKINNED fairly over the plate Anson
gazed at it without an effort TO make
connections.
strike" called Hurst
Pop dropped his hat, turned and
with an EXPIRE ssion Of supreme dis
gust. surveyed Hurst critically from
head to toes
who are YOU looking at2' snapped
Hurst
YOU" saeered Arson
Let me tell you. Young man n VIII
cost YOU $40 to look "a met dung
back Hurst ~ would ADVISE YOU in
future to keep your eyes ON tho pitch
/ err
Young man. 90 Pop Ausou Vic
turned bac5 n sort ol dazp, raised
his bat-and struck out. The shock
was too much.