Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-06
TARcH COMEDY


able-bodied young men who should have known
better. Nine of them wore the uniforms Of the
| National base Ball Club ard the other aiEe
| were of foreign extraction, hailirS from the
\ city OF Baltimore. The nineteenth man was,
| perhaps. the mos: remarkable one i'll the lot,
and lie cccupied.tho position OF stage manager
| or prompter or something of the sort. Some
oae called hiir al umpire" at orc stage in tie
proceedings
OF all exhibitions Of the national gsrne that
| OF yesterday tho worst. 1t was a good
specimen of playing US far as it went in legiri-
mate limos, but it ended with Il fiasco that WAS
| disgusting. Strange to say, the fault was all
Bslumoresu, and the fact that the game WAS
ultimately given 20 Washington. to u was lit
| tie of saivo.
Umpire Kerins showed his sense in forcing
the Baltimore players to make show of the NJ
selves. so as to bring into ridicu,e the silly
| rules and methods that those rules make ro=,I-
bic. 1t was merely o. playing for dark
ness carried to an extreme.
WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN.
Tic game had gone on smoothly enough I'M
| til the beginning OF the seventh inning, when,
with Baltimore three runs in the lead, tho
Nationals went to bat. In 4 few minutes the
score WAS tied, and then tho visitors began 10
| play for dark. It Was growing trife dusk,
but there was plenty Of time for playing and
lots VI light had the game been properly played.
| But the king clown OF the aggregation, Perry
| Werden, who Rad earned some hearty applause
early in the game by his fine work, started tic
pretend that he could net see the ball. Then
ensued q series of ridiculous plays or lack OF
plays rather, and it seemed as ii the Washing
| ton team would never be put out. The inning
| las ted fully hall an hour, and twenty runs were
| scored 1wenty-three men faced the pitcher
and when the last IMAM was put out II WAS quite
dark, AID the gloom had spread so that 1t was
impossible tor the few spectators who had &c
/ malned 10 see the end of the farce to distlu-
| guIsh tie players on tine field.
Had the play progressed legIiimately the
! first halt of the inning would have Cuued with
Washington one, or possibly two, runs ahead,
but 1t was finally only through the exercise of
| MS powers 10 declare a man out Tor not run
ming on strikes that kerins was able to pat
end TO the half inning.
| 1t would seem as If he had determined to
! make the team from Baltimore play decent
| ball or suffer the consequences. They refused
| To play TO put men out, and he made up his
mind that they should be forced to carry out
| the business to its conclusion.
| At last he declared Griffin out after he had
been at the bat three times i'll the seventh in
| ming. anu he called the men in from the field
| and yelled out: Batter up. The dwindled
| crowd applauded him and there was a row be-
| tween the Baltimore players and the Statesmen.
! each arguing that the game could not go on.
| OF course II was absurd TO suppose that the
game could by any possibility be played az all,
but herins was very much Ill earnest in his ELL
deayor to carry the thing out to its bitter end,
| and after a reasonable wait Tor the baltimore
| batter to take his place, the Nationals having
gone to their positions III the meantime, he
| turned to the grand stand and announced that
/ lie gave she game to Washington, y to q, be-
| cause OF the refusal Of Baltimore to play.
Inc game itself good one. but WASH
| ington lost it on errors The batteries were
| Foreman and Mcclure and Healy and Town
send. Foreman himself Was responsible for the
| lead Of the Orioles-
| THE SCORES.
Il -
Murphy hit over second for a base and Dowd
sacrificed. Donovan tried to do the same, but
/ Glib, made an error and then q passed ball
| let Murphy IN with the first run. Donovan,
| having gone TO third on the passed ball, tried
/ to score when Mcclure hit to WEIGH, but he
/ was called out on close play. For Baltimore,
| after WEIGH had struck out Van Haltreu hit tor
| IA base into lett and took second Murphys
| error, but Mcclure made pretty catch OF
/ Werdens high foul and Dowu took In john
| sons grounder. Washington went out in
/ order III the second, Werden making a great
| catch OF foul from Foremans bat and roiiIng
| over and over In his effort. In the latter haif
Hatfield distlng pushed himself, taking two tiies
| ana assisting ON the third man.
/ In the third. after the Statesmen had gone
| out IN order, Walsh struck out and Heaiy
| given first on balls. WEIGH Int to Dowd and
| forced Walsh, but Van Haltren hit over the
head of Sutcliife. who playing very un-
certain short, ana the ball went TO the score
| board, while Van made three bases. tie could
have made home run on the nit, but the
| coacher held him as he scuttled for the plate.
| In The fourth Donovan and Mcclure each nit
snIartly, but the balls went to feeders and ne
men were out flies. Sutclifie lined a safe
one over second and McCauley was given four
| bad ones, but Hatfield could not reach lie
sphere and he gave WEIGH easy chance.
| In the latter half the Orioles made three hits
| but no one scored. johnson caromed one on
Foreman S hand and was safe, but he was caught
| mapping q minute later and was put out. Gil
bert struck out Then McGraW hut over Sec
Ona Tor u base and Townsend put one into l,ft
| Walsh lifted nigh one that almos; poAed q
| mole in the dripping clouds, but Sulclin- WAS
under it when 1t tell, and the side Was 6ut.
| iLS visitors scored three unearned runs in
the sixth and took the lead johnson went
down on balls, and after Gilbert had struck GU,
| passed ball put him on second. McGraw was
hit hard IN the elbow and there was some do
lay in getting him OH his base. Townsend put
Douuder in front Of the plate and Foreman
reached Il nicely. In the meantime johnson
had gone TO third on o failure or Dowds 10
hold throw by Mcclure. and he was ready 10
| come III AT the least opportunity. But Fore
man threatened him nicely and held him
There was plenty OF tipo ~ g2t the batsman
| running to first, but he soec.el 10 lose his head
for he turned aud deliberately throw tie bal!
badly 20 second, where the runner was almost
safe already. The ball went out into the held
| and three runs wers scoIed before il WAS re-
covered. Then the next man went on. on a
ny TO Griffin and Healy gave Sutcliffe an easy
| chance. Had Foreman but kept his wits about
| hIm he mis- mt have Ia own tine ball to first and
thus I.:ade two out, that Griihn's catch
| would have retired the side without run.
THE SEVENTH.
| Then that horrible seventh, that nigh .mare
If innings, was started. Su.ciine lined The ball
savagely down the left limo for base. A wild
pitch put him on third and McCauiey went
down on balls. II WAS getting dim, but there
was plenty OF light Hatfield hit to Walsh, who
| threw NcCauiey cut ut second. Foreman placed
II safe one over second, on which Sutciiffe
scored. and Griffin was Lit by tue ball illlng
the bases. Murphy put AZ Aealy, wlo got
tangled UP on the bail and threw badly, let
ling in two runs. Dowds hit to right scored
G-irin and Murphy, and thea the fun began
Walsh evidently tried to make proper stop OF
Donoyans ball, but ho made an error and
, Dowd went TO third Mcclure managed TO get
. cut at first by ;hs aid Of Walsh, and Do Nd
scored After tina: point it 10 futile 10 try to
follow the score. and hits and errors wero
made at frightful rate. The bali would he
pitched and the catcher would 20 after 1t at u
walk, finally throwing i; to the pitcher, who
would argue for . while with the umpire and
then deliver the ball like q shot and il would
: carom OF tie stand and the farce would be re-
tenacted When the lat.rnan h, hsu n.