The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-11
SPORTS
FOOD FOR RANDOM
By FRED BoDEKER

The triple defeat at the hands of the Lookouts early last week woke up the echoes around Crackertown and charges have flown thick and fast Some of the discord was in evidence during the last trip of the Crackers to Chattanooga, but there was none of the supposed opposition to Frank to be found. We ques- toned several personal friends on the Atlanta roster as to the feeling toward the manager and all united in saying that he was a prince to work for.
 That there is dissension among players on the team, however, is well known. Ed Lafitte was accused here of lodging his turn with the Lookouts in abject fear of defeat and other personal charges flew thick and fast. The Crackers, aside from their pitchers, are the best team in the league, but they can't win.
 The Cracker scribeS are now jump ing on the team and Manager Charley Frank good and proper They point to the fact that the fans have loyal ly waited for winner, but the past eight defeats has brought the entire| faLdom to have a dislike for the en- tire aggregation. Dissension is in full force among the Crackers and ap- parently all of the towns around thel circuit are aware of the fact with the exception of the Georgia city. Not one, but every scribe in Atlanta Is now calling upon the foxy Dutch man to send out an s o s to the majors, but no action has come as] yet.
 Fuzzy Woodruff in the Georgianl cites several instances of the poor5 showing of the team and calls upon] Frank as follows:
 So if there is dissension, 1t is up to] Manager Frank to act and act prompt ly. Implicit obedience and loyalty to the manager is as essential to theV success of a ball club as hittingI strength and pitching powers. If Frank cares for the future of base ball in Atlanta-and he has consider able money invested in that thing-he1 will weed out the malcontents at once, no matter where the ax falls. If the1 entire ball club is soreheaded, heI might as well fire the whole kit and DOOQl6 d1lQ put III IClooitiOii iVA Harry Matthews Newman team, which at least, shows ability to fight
 It is hardly less than a crime that this sort of spirit should wreck the| Cracker chances.
 Frank has spared no expense to1 get the best club obtainable for At lanta. There is little doubt that the1 Crackers are by far the most ex- pensive aggregation in the Southern circuit.
 That may be the trouble. Prob ably there is too much ambition to1 star and too little desire to hustle for the club.
 But such is life in the national pastime.
 Dick Jemison of the Constitution goes even deeper. He goes over the: entire roster, cites each player s1 faults, his strong points and finallyH winds up by giving the followina suggestions:
 After giving the team nearly thred1 months looking over without a squawk we have reached the followina decision as to what it really needs:
 | A wise old head for first strina catcher, with Perkins as second strin3 man after long rest.
 2. Five pitchers instead of four anq1 said pitchers yanked when they shoVa1 signs of wavering and not kept 1rl the box and hammered every day. {,
 g. A third baseman who can cove11 ground and who is wide-awake. l|
 4. A field leader who can keep hia| head up and direct the team play orr| the defensive. g. More noise on the field, on thF| bench and on the coaching lines. s1 6. More team and less individua2 play.
 '. More spirit in the entire play like the men really enjoyed it rathef] than like an afternoons work tha 9 they were glad to get over with ana: the only enjoyment they really havdl is the money they were getting out1 of it. 4
 The situation is really spealling an61 Frank had better take notice and exerra some efforts to place the team bacH| on a deceht footing. If he fails tda make any changes or fails to whip thf1 team back into the form that it was 2 month ago, threatening the leaders, hSa had just as well sell his stock in thd| team and beat it for some other dd3 tination. Frank has a chance to make or kill baseball for number of years in Atlanta. Which will he do? a