I'll assume the bolded text is directed toward my post. The weak BS that people been propagating for years about Artie, 'Only' playing on 1 table/pet is pure Bullshit! You weren't around I was! Red got to break to, 'both' pockets! A road player, 'Always' takes a little bit the worst of the game from jump street, 'Homecourt!' Artie's game was unassuming to the normal player, like Mosconi's straight pool game, make easy shots. Artie forced his opponents to shoot, 'Long straight in's' with no position!
Well, you are correct, I wasn't there.
However, I was around other pool rooms on the West Coast like The Palace and Cochran's, and no one ever saw or had heard of him. I also don't recall reading about him in the published accounts of time, like the great series of articles SI did on the Johnston City events. And I do know from past experience that the Windy City crowd thinks a lot of their hometown and its characters, to the point of canonizing themselves and basically ignoring the rest of the country, choosing to speak as if Chicago was the epicenter of everything.
Even here, I don't recall folks discussing his exploits anywhere other than at his home room.
I did have the opportunity to watch him play JH at the DCC ten years ago. Here's my account:
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And I also watched the first, and last, couple of hours of the Artie -- John Henderson match. I think the tape Chicago Mike was making of the whole match will speak for itself, but my opinion is that the “perfect, no mistake, smartest 1pocket of all time” that Artie rants about all the time is a figment of his imagination. In real life, all that would appear to mostly consist of is: every time it's your shot you stare at the table for five to 10 minutes while chalking your cue; then you bunt a ball up-table to your side; and then, you do not shoot, *at anything.* Ever. IOW, with this “strategy” you’re basically relying on your opponent dropping dead out of pure exhaustion, boredom, or both.
At one point in the final game, Artie had managed to bunt all the balls near his side pocket and I whispered to Mike, “This is it! We're about to see the perfect, no-mistake 1pocket Artie has been talking about -- he’s been working on this position for the last 42 shots and now, finally, at last, he’s going to gently pull the trigger and shoot a ball and the cluster along the side rail is going to open up like some beautiful tropical flower and the balls are going to stay on his side and he’s going to run out-- it’s going to be like some ancient Kung-fu martial arts Mortal Kombat Kill Bill thing where he’s just going to gently touch his opponent with the palm of his hand and his heart is going to just stop beating and it'll be like he just dropped dead in his tracks.”
But, alas, there was none of that.
And Artie kept bunting, and John kept shooting and won. Personally, I think John deserves a big tip of the hat for hanging in there for 14 hours of Artie’s stall.
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Having said all that, I have no doubt AB was a great player in his time and a true terror up in your neck of the woods. But the issue I was originally speaking to was about the player who did not travel. And from what I know, he fit the bill on that count.
Lou Figueroa