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Show IP 1CKEH STAR I AIUIOIilG SOUTHPAWS Makes Remarkable Record, ! J Despite Connection With i I , a Weak Team. It goes without saying that wcr ' Rucker a member of anv first division ' 2' team his work would be consistently :,v., phenomenal. During the short time that Bill Dahleu hold the team of 1VVA 1. up near tho front tho .great left-hander f 4 was at his best. This showed that with tho right team back of him a defeat , could seldom bo laid ht his door- His ' ' great work and frequent appearances upon the slab in the effort to keep tho Dodgers up there resulted in a serious injury to his pitching arm and was mainly responsible for the fact that ho failed to lead the National Lcaguu twirlera for tho season. Even critics ' inclined to give Plauk or someone elao the preference over Rucker grudgingly admit that with a first-class team to . ' support him Nap would bo almost un- 1 ( beatable. H. Rucker Is Modest. ' Kucker is a star pitcher as the result ' of an applied accident. Other men havo , accidents happen to them and cuss tboir '..J. luck, but Ch N. Ituckor stumbled upoti a salary of $6000 or $3000 a yeaT by trying to And out what hit nim, or H rather, what tho other follow did not ; . t. hit.. He bogan his baseball career on a ; ' semi pro toum in Alpharotta, And he would probably have remained thero t l or thcreaboutB had it not been for tbo v accident, which carno to pass when ha was with. Augusta, Ga., in the South ' , Atlantic I-eaguo in 1905, his first wltolo season among regular baseball folks.' ' f He always had been possessed of ex- s ccptional speed and control, the latter beinj; entirely out of tho ordinary for ": . a south-paw, but he waa not a world- beator, and his friends did not expect him to become ono. 'j : Things wero thus until ono day be cut a ball loose in a manner different 't!dl",i from what ho intended. He thought bo Jpj j had mado a wild pitch and was the ' most surprised man on the grounds t ! when, aftor rising about ten feet, tbo t ball suddenly shot to the earth, and was 1 ! baroly caugnt by the catcher, tho bat- J ' ter swinging somo threo feet or more above it. :" Having assured himself that he waa s-jt mastor of the trick he bogan to use it Vi right along, and to this day it is, per ?4,i fectod by his major league experience, the most remarkaplo and deceptive do- ?! : livery in baseball when it brc3ka ricbt. irj" r Eucker'a other attributes as a pitcher f4 would givo him a standing as a major 'A loaguor, but it is that drop, which ho does not hesitate to use when the count - J is two and three and men are on bases, ; J ft that has caused tho fans to rank him 'g among tbo greatest left-handerB base- , 'A '. ball has ovor known. sl Is Wilting Worker. 'Mt In addition to his othor merits, 6. J,i f N. Jlucker is one of tho hardest and ' stf '. most willing baseball workers and talk- - 5; era extant. Ho livos and droaai base- b:.j 'A ball, is always willing to hear some . 'J ' 4 new tbinj; or tell somo new story. His i'-'- , willingness was well illustrated last .j .2 year wheu he took part in forty-one J -'1 gnnies for a -total of 260 innings. His loft thumb was knocked out of placo ly a wallop from Miko Mowtcv of St. Louis in Brooklyn, on May 10, and ,; ; General Nap did not rcsuino operations ri until he unexpectedly went to tho mound in Cincinnati on June ! and let f.f ix tho Reds down with two hits, Brooklyn , -j winning by 4 to 0. 'i Rucker 'a record last year was four f teen games won and fiftoon lost, for a jl . percentage of .-1S2 with a team that had -'3 a winning ixrcont.me of .-131). J |