A Discussion about George Gray
A.—George Gray is the greatest billiard player in the world.
B.—Steady there. He has really perfected one scoring stroke, and that the simplest, safest, and easiest on the board.
A.—Yet that stroke requires, for its successful multiplication by hundreds and by thousands, all the qualifications of the finished billiardist.
B.—A man may be a finished billiardist in a section of the game without being master of all its variations and ramifications.
A.—What stroke is there that George Gray, either in obtaining or maintaining position, does not employ?
B.—He makes no sequences of close cannons—so difficult to manipulate and so delightful to watch; he only pots to obtain a cross in-off; and he excludes gathering strokes as useless for his purpose.
A-—He can do all these things with the best and has made a hundred and more at the top of the table alone.
B.—That may be true, but it has yet to be publicly demonstrated to be generally accepted.
A.—If the red ball middle pocket losers are so simple why do not more players do them?
B.—It has not been argued that this stroke is intrinsically simple, but that it is simple in comparison with the intricacies and pitfalls of the all-round game.
A.—What section of the game calls for more accurate judgment of angles, contacts, and aims, or for greater variety of these than what is known as the Gray stroke?
B.—The obvious reply to this question would seem to be: "The Peall stroke."
A.—In what way did the spot stroke demand more accurate judgment of angles, contacts, and aims or a greater variety of these than the middle pocket stroke?
B.—In the prime respect that the margin for error was practically nil. There was no D latitude, no enlargement of the pockets by means of side, and there were only two pockets available instead of four.
A.—They who take this view can hardly be aware that the middle pocket losers—amongst which the corner pocket hazards are merely occasional interludes—require nine distinct contacts and that each of these nine contacts requires a different strength.
B.—Perhaps nine contacts and five strengths would be nearer the mark, and the same contacts by eighths with a full-ball contact added are required in the spot stroke, which necessitates, in addition, the two-cushion run-through with side, the cushion stab, and the seven-eighths stun for retention of position, as against one single stroke with side in the middle pocket game.
A.—Is not all this beside the mark. Gray is playing under existing rules and under those rules the spot stroke is a thing of the past. Besides this it is doubtful whether Peall to-day would not be beaten at his game by Gray at his.
B.—Gray is playing under B.C.C. rules and these rules permit the exploitation of the spot stroke if the players are agreed. The real point is: Which will future generations rank the higher—Gray's 2,196 off the red or Peall's 3,304 on the red?
A.—Unless the continuous losing hazard should be barred or the spot stroke again legalized, or both restricted to a given number, future generations will judge the game as it is to-day and will thus be forced to the recognition of Gray as the champion billiard player of the world.
B. —By which may be understood at present the champion billiard scorer. There we are agreed, and the future may prove him to be equally master of the game in all its many and fascinating phases.
Not Quite a Single Stroke Game
In the course of his match with Inman at the National Sporting Club last month, George Gray twice exceeded the 1,000 and played through two entire sessions. Between each session the cloth of the table is, of course, brushed and ironed and any nap disturbance that takes place when one player monopolizes the table is due to the hand or cue movements of such player and of him alone. Thinking that a diagram of the placing surface left under these conditions might be interesting to many, The Billiard Monthly obtained permission to take a photograph after the afternoon session of June 15, and the engraving on the front cover of this issue is the result.
It will be observed that, in obtaining his afternoon's points, Gray had to place his bridge hand at close intervals extending from one side of the table to the other, and in so doing he would place the cue ball in practically every square inch of the D.
Another interesting deduction to be drawn from the picture is that Gray must have made a more sustained attack upon the left-hand middle pocket than upon the tight, the nap on the right side of the table being more deeply marked where the bridge hand is placed than that on the left.
It would also seem that the visits to the top left pocket, judging by the more advanced marks of the cue hand, must have been more numerous than those to the right top pocket, or it may be that these are also middle pocket placings which fail to show up right across.
The general effect of the photograph would seem to be that middle pocket play is more than a "one-stroke" game and that, in its execution, there are rarely two successive strokes that are exactly alike.
It must furthermore be remembered that differing contacts require differing strengths to ensure return to the desired area.