The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-07-04
THE NATIONAL GAME.

SlFFEr., the new Athletic catcher, is the
smallest man behind the bat in the profession.
FROM the Official record it appears that the
Athletic club still retains pre-eminence as
heavy hitting team.
WHITNEY, the Boston league pitcher, one
day recently was fined SO by Manager Nor
rill for refusing to go after hit.
EVANS, of Cleveland, was recently fined
SIS by Umpire Van Court for "back-talk,"
and Bushong was similarly treated.
IT is quite coincidence that the Boston
and Philadelphia teams each have Manning
and Crowley in their ranks and they are i'll
no way related.
THE Detroits have secured a new catcher
named David Beatle. He is a New Yorker,
Is six feet high AMI weighs nearly 200 pounds.
His practice has been confined to amateur
clubs.
THE once almost invincble Chicagos, al
though made up at present of the same ma
terial of which the club was composed in ITS
palmy days. is no longer looked upon with
awe and fear by the other contestants in the
race, "a they seem to have lost their vitality
and are nothing more than an average league
team.
THE Louisville Courier-Journdi says: The
story how Holbert the catcher of the Metro
politans, first entered the professional ranks is
thus told by Mr.. Charles E. Chase who was one
of the directors of the famous Louisville nine
of 1877: Il went East with the club on their
first trip in 1877, and one day, while we were
in Philadelphia, we ran out into one of the
mining towns in Pennsylvania to play a
game with a club there We had nobody
! with us to umpire the game, and told the man
/ ager of the other club to select one. He said
/ he knew man who was somewhat OF ball
player and he would get him to act. He ac-
cordingly called man out of the crowd and
told us he would do The man was one of the
most remarEa Die specimens | ever saw. his
clothes were ragged and dirty, his face COW
/ cred with coal dust and his shaggy, brown
hair stuck out through the holes in his hat in
several pa :es. Everything went all right I'M
til the fourth inning, when Snyder, our
catcher, slipped and sprained his ankle we
had no one to take his place, and turned to
Jack Chapman, who managed the nine, and
said to him: Jack, you had better go in and
catch the rest of the game He replied that he
could not atch and told him it didn't make
any difference, just so lie stopped til. balls, as the
game was of no consequence. While we
we're discussing the matter the umpire
sided up to, us and said: Let ma
catch the rest of the game looked at
him again, and commenced to laugh,
out Chapman remarked, Let him try,
them it doesn't make any difference and
told him to go ahead. He borrowed SEy-
aers shoes, and Devln commenced to pitch
him few balls for practice. He let them go
Easy for a while, and then sent them like a
slme was commenced again, and | was never
more surprised in my life. He finished the
'emaining five innings without an error or a
,assed ball and not a single man stole second
~ him. When the game was finished asked
lin his NAME and he said it was Holbert.
wanted to know how much he made, and he
ep,ied 81. 80 day. 1 found on further ques-
ioning that he would like to play for a living
md engaged him on the spot. l gave him
money enough to pay his expenses to Phila-
ielphia, and he joined us there next day. He
laid he wanted to get a suit of clothes, and
gave him So He went out, and when he re
,urned he had on the queerest looking suit |
EVER saw. The color was very gaudy, and the
.oat had stripes on it about as wide as my
hand, while the pants were cut like a song and
lance mans and he had tall plug hat. He
Was "guyed" numerically, but he took it
Eood-humoredly, and caught for us against
he Athletics the next day, and had not a
Jingle error, and but one passed ball. That
was his first championship game
The ninth week of the League champion
ship contest closed with the Providence
nine in the van, the record of the different
clubs being as follows: