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Show IS STATE LEAGUE I f Old Warhorse Looking j Says He Will Make Smokei Rise in Confines of I Michigan. .'; Talks of, ProspectB, History and1 Baoeball Topics of tho I Day. 1 1 BAY CITY, Mich.. March 3. From a' $10,000 beauty to the presidency of a , Fourth of July league at about JUQ, j . that Is the latest stunt of the once -j mighty John G. Clarkson. A State league Is being formed and John G, Is one of tho logical candidates for its chief. "It wouldn't bo so bad at that," said 1 1 the pitching wonder of fifteen years ago, when visited in his cigar store, here, J "Every little helps, you know, i may j not cause Ban Johnson any pangs of Jealousy, and mny not" emulate Patsy j Powers In telling the major leaguea to beware of my smoke, but It wjll help ' my businoss and hclp.thc town." His Brother "Walter. "My brother, -"Walter? Now. youVh talking," and John's face lit up. "Wa'iij , ter was here on his way back fromu' ; Griffith's ranch, where he took on about ' twenty pounds, and he Is now at "West j Point, teaching the endcts the mysteries ; of the game I would like to ha'e "Wal- 1 ter for a month. I would make the 1 greatest of the Clarksons out of him, It's In the boy, only they have never shown him how to get it out. If Griffith goes at it right this year, he will have 1 Just as much of" a star in Walter as he j has in Chesbro Walter has that crazy ; college notion in his head that the only 1 good' pitcher Is the one who strikes out all the batters. That isn't in the game; it's a wrong and costly myth, 1 "Do I think pitching has Improved? i Well, I don't know. We did our best: they are not doing any more. Once I 1 pitched for thirty-flvo mlnutos before 1 struck out A.rlle Latham. He fouled ' j off a hundred straight ones like a bll- . j Hard player making a carom shot. Nothing to prevent it then. Finally, I after I had kept sticking thc straight I ones in tho same spot every time I I shook my head at Kelly. Then he I signaled for a wide curve and Latham 3 took a crack at that. . It was thrw . strikes for him, and we won thc game." ; "Do you think Anson could hit the i spit' ball?" "Hard to tell, but, like Fred Pfeffer ' says, if he can't hit it. it Is about the only variety he never did hit The o-d man was a great batter. I struck him -out In a pinch once, aftor Kelly and 1 myself had gone to Boston, He had me in the hole, so I wound one around his neck and the old man missed It a foot. "I never think about Winnie Mercer without feeling bad. What a pitcher he was. Did you know that he was a protege of mine? I took hold of him In , Washington and showed him a few i things one fall. Ho perfected It ,and it started in as a star next spring. If '1 Mercer had not killed himself I would : probably have been manager of the De- if troit team. It was about settled amonjr fc. us all that I was to take the manage- gj ment and Mercer to be the field mar- St shal. We would have had them guess- 1 1 Ing what wo were going to do neit, fl Tricky baseball would work now Just - f as It did when I was In tho game. There are lots of things they never knew or lt have forgotten in these days of modern t baseball " .!( |