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Show SOME OF MOST FAMOUS BASEBALL STARS BEGAN CAREERS IN STATE OF GEORGIA L i' . . f & s 4 J " r Tfff fmr.,&r , , 'H . : vl J I -- - -t. a " HOB? Tynis linymonri Com) and JNajioieon Rdckor are not tlie only famous players play-ers who can hark back to the start of their baseball clays in the balmy climate of Georgia. Some of the famous men of the diamond, dia-mond, exclusive of the sensational Tiger Ti-ger and once brilliant southpaw of the Dodgers, began careers in Georgia that vaulted them to the pinnacle of their' profession. An old man who has spent his years keeping tabs on ball players and peach crops was sitting in. the park where the Tigers were training at Macon, whittling on a piece of wood with a robust blade the size of a young scythe. Fan Never Misses Game. He is an ardent fan, misses a game only when he can't get out of bed because be-cause of rheumatism, and knows every ball player that ever fingered a ball in the South Atlantic league circuit. He remembers how Ty Cobb, more than fourteen years ago, then a boy just barely turned seventeen, packed the fans in the Macon ball yard just as ne attracts them to tlie Dig stadiums stadi-ums of the North. lie recalled, too, how the Macon fans quit on the management man-agement when in midseason, it sold "Rube" Benton to the Cincinnati Reds. Phil Douglas, now a star with the Cubs, and Jim Vaughn, who led the National Na-tional league pitchers last season, received re-ceived their first check for playing ball from the local management.' Boycott Because of Benton. Veteran fan has distinct recollection of Benton and the riot his sale caused. "You couldn't get standing room in the park," explained the old man, "before "be-fore Benton left here, but after that nobody would come to the games." Strangely enough, every man of whom the oldster related played with a pennant winner. Cobb w;as on three, in 1907, 100S and 190!) ; Rucker was a member of the Brooklyn team that won the National league flag in 1916, and last year ,both Douglas and Vaughn shared In the spoils of the world's series games with Boston. |