The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-15
THE NAPOLEON
 OF ALPHARETTA

><A1pharetta is very small dot on Ithe may of Georgia, about twenty seven miles up-along from Atlanta, fbut it is a place of great historic as soeiations. It was there, any citi zen of AIpharetta can tell you, that George Napoleon Rucker first saw the light of day back in 1885, and 1t. was on the AIpharetta lots that the future great southpaw of the Dodgers first won applause as a twir1er. Little did they think, those A1pharetta citizens who cheered the red-haired, bare footed, freckled kid he pitched the village nine to victory, that they would some day be smoking cigars and
 shaving plug tobacco named in his honor.
 Napoleon Fucker begins today his
 tenth season in the Brooklyn uniform, for it was on the fifteenth of April, 1907, that he made his National League debut. Pat Donovan, then the leader of the tribe of Ebbets, sent his
 the Boston club, Nap was visibly fsskeered" when he went out there be-, fore all those cheering fans, and in the second inning he made two wild throws, a couple of wild pitches, pass ed a man and allowed a Boston run
 r1er to steal home while he held the
 pellet in his hands. After that little furry Nap steadied down/an pitched naster1y ball, and although he lost
 his first big league game, the score was only to 2.
 In his younger days Rucker used to%put a lot of speed on 6the ball, but now he is famous as the possessor of the best slow ball in captivity. The Georgian's arm began to go back on
 him about three years ago, but he res
 tained his gray matter intact, and de veloped a slow curve that has been
 1- 44-N,--r is a more difficult matter to connect withA Maps slow teasers, say those. in a position to know, than to connect with the merchandise of the speed boys. 5NapoIeon's cranica1 appendage is a filing cabinet in which he has stored the learning and lore he has been accumulatiug for years, and he
 knows the weak point of every Ma tional League batter by it's first name Last season Fucker used his slow ball
 exclusively, and his arm grew stronger. in consequence.
 Rucker played semi-pro ball in
 Marietta, Ga, in 1904. and was given a chance with the Atlanta Southern League club, But he didn't make good.
 Rucker showed up we'll in practice, but when Jordan sent him in to pitch.
 his first game for the Crackers he.
 scared like a balloon. The big iAIpharetta boy had a bad case of
 stage fright, and his first ball missed the plate by several feet. He walked the first man up, and the second also | got a pass. Jordan yanked him out of the pastime, and Nap was never given another chance to play in an Atlanta. uniform. He was farmed out to Augusta, in the South Atlantic circuit, where he won thirteen games land lost eleven in 1905. The next
 yeaFzhe won twenty-seven games and lost nine, and was drafted by Col.
 Ebbets. Whereat there was weeping and wailing of the Atlanta fans, who
 had lost a good thing because the pilot
 didn't know stage fright when he saw
 it.
 l When Napoleon received his first
 check from Gen. Ebbets he found that | it was for m6re than the specified
 sum. Thinking there had been mis-
 take, he returned it, but Major Ebbets assured him that the amount was O..
 K The young Georgian was deeply
 afected by this generous spirit
 t'But I haven't made good" he
 walled. 'I haven't won a single game
 for you"
 s.But you will said the great Field
 Marshal of Brooklyn. and he was a itrue prophet. Up to date Fucker has
 won 132 games for the Dodgers, and
 the prospect are good for the addition
 of many more to his string of vic itories.