The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-25
Rx HENRY VANCE


 Tn pounding their way to their ninth consecutive victory, Moley's pennant-mad Barons slashed out Is safe blows In impetuous fashions for an even dozen runs, and grabbed off the opening struggle from the Mem phis Chicks at Rickwood, Wednesday afternoon. by the count of 12-7. In- cidentally, 1t was Bill Statham's second straight win.
 Mixed in with the bIood-curdling . massacre and the half dozen errors hncorked. were some thrilling bits of defensive play, which spiced up what would have otherwise been a dull afternoon. Johnny Neun was the stellar artist in the sensational stuff, convincing new converts that he is the best fielding first baseman ever seen in this league. Johnny's prize winning play was the prettiest ever seen in any league. It came in the second inning, when Camp hit one by first that looked good for two bags. Neun had no license whatever q to flag the terrific grounder, but he 2 Hove after the ball with his ungloved . hand and knocked it down. Then, 2 while lying prone on the ground, he stossed 1t to Bill Statham, who had covered first with lightning-!ike rapidity.
 Hnrpcr's Great Catch.
 Harry Harper was another who furnished a crate of thrills. Tn the fifth Harry came In on Crtiz Texas leaguer over first and pulled won derful one-hand, shoe-strinE catch of the drive. The other scintillating smother was staged by Burke, the Chicks wing -hoofed middle gardener. Burke converted Stump Clarkes swould-be home-run into a putout In the eighth. when he wheeled with the crack of the bat and went towards 2 center fiel dfence. He finally located ethe ball. while still running fence -,ward, and made pretty running acatch of 1t. with his back to the  ~ At the start of the latter part of : the fourth inning both clubs as- sembed in front of the home plate in semi-circle fashion and with bowed and barred heads they stood silently for a minute, paying tribute to the late Charlie Frank, former Cracker manager, who died in Mem phis Tuesday night.
 In the terrific attack, which netted sixteen safe blows for the Barons off the combined deliveries of lily Fc wilkes and Webb, Stump Clark and T Claude Robertson amassed six-three : each--and led the attack. Every man < on the Birmingham roster gained at least one blow, while Stewart. Har- per and Burkett got two each. h. cidentally 1t might be mentioned that Harry Harper, who has at last ditch- ed the jinx and found the range, hrA foA Ha tve f,tv over the 1900 mark Wednesday. Harry got a single and double out of three times up. and was walked on the two other occasions he came up.
 Fly Fowlkes, the elongated slabs ter on the Memphis payroll, started for the Chicks, but lily started some I thing he couldn't finish. Stewart, Neun, Clarke and Taylor. the first !, four men to face lily singled :, through the pitchers box. and with :, ball and a strike on Harper. Spencer :, Abbott applied the hook and sent s pitcher Webb to the slaughter. The Barons had scored a csuple of taliies on the four singles and an error by Burke in center field. who chunged the ball wildly in an effort to catch Noun at the plate.
 Silva Hits In Pinch
 !, Webb walked Harper, filling the p bases and Silva uncorked a single i. which brought two more runs across Burkett forced Silva at second, but Robertson crashed a safety into left .4 and another counted for five runs :. in the first. Statham closed out the :. frame with a grounder to second, :. and all hands had batted around. p The Barons rested in the second fro in Nrdn fA f1h xxrtt their breathing. but Stewart and Clarke got their second singles of the game in this frame. In the third Burkett started off the inning with an infield out, but before the agony i was over all hands had batted <. around again. With one down U Robertson singled through the pitch CTS box and Statham drew a pass- Stewart also waited and walked. and the bases were filled. Neun forced Stewart at second, but Robertson { scored on the infield out. Clarke got | his third safe hit in as many innings and Statham came home with the s second run of the inning. Clarke and Neun then pulled double steal of second and third, and Taylor drew a pass. the third walk of the inning by Webb. With three on, Harper, who had been walked purposely on his two other trips to the plate, couldn't walk this time, for the pitcher had no place to put him. As a consequence Webb was forced to ,. pitch to him, and Harry chalked his : cue for rip-snorting double into right field and three men came home. Silva closed out one inning by Stril-
 ing out, but it was the second time si during the game that every man in :. the Baron lineup had been to bat in
 an inning. and 1t was also the second time during the game the five scores
 had been tallied in one frame. This
 gave Statham a ten run lead.
 Stntham Starts We'll
 For five innings Statham pitched as pretty game as one would care to witness, allowing but one hit and no score for the first five frames. In tEe sixth, however, with 10-run lead to his advantage, he let down a bit This let-down. aided by costly er- !. TOT on the part of Silva. enabled the |. Chicks to shove across couple of ' runs. Warwick, McMillan and Huber singled and Silva dropped McLarrys short fly.
 The Barons got these two runs back in their half of the sixth and ran their total to an even dozen. calling it day after that. With two down In the sixth Burkett and Robertson went safe on singles and Statham brought em home with a double in the vicinity of the score