The morning call., 1892-05-01
SWEENEY SAVED THE GAME.
The Little Fielder Headed Off the
= Winning Run. +
a Sensational Finish tO;an Exciting Contest
-" The Dukes win-Hank and Tom Will: D.:
:, Coach To-Day ::

.Dminutiye Dan: Sweeney, aided and.
abetted by his short. fat legs. made himself
quite popular at a late stage in the proceed
ings yesterday afternoon. Baseball affairs
had reached condition where one bali was
of vast Importance 1t meant Victory for
Colonel: Tom. or. defeat for Hank: and
Daniel Webster Sweeney was the deciding
factor. He sprinted through the pale gray
mist in deep left center at "a frfghtful rate
of speed and plqcked tile; ball out OF tile
gloamng, thereby saving the game for. his
employer. Score 8 to 2. g: s 90
thus: did the hapless- Oaklands lose an:
other Thought battle by one run.
sSweeney,s. great catch ended the contest.
2wlIich9 would have resulted in favorsof the
! tailenders by asscOre of. 47to 3 had the little
man missed the balE58 1t was by far the
bestgsme of the season. asathe interest was:
preserved until the last manwas, ,out2a rare
occurrence where Oakland is concerned.
The gave. was. play ed III a cold, 7drizzing.
rain, that occasionally ceased with the shift
Ing OF the wind, but the young men strug-
gled on, unmindful Of the storm. while
Hank and Colonel Tom sat on the bench and
dripped.. g =. !:
9 O. - o. EASY BACK AGAIN. o, o.. s %
: Easy 0Neil, sometimes called 'Me and
me Drop, "reappeared after an absence Of
many days with his mouth full of gum and
the usual assortment of. DROPS shoots,
curves and other decaits in his repert0ry.
Early in the week Easy attempted to leyant,
but Colonel II. Pinkerton Robinson. went
after his attache and yanked him back into
the fold. With: him came the hoodoo that
hovers over the Colonels when: Easy is near.
He pitched: as. fine a game of ball as the,most
exacting. manager would WISH. bat il Is :eyi-
IDENTITY ordained that Easy shall never. never
win; He has pitched winning ball in about
40"games, and in: one only has success
crowned his efforts. :: Still Easy is not dis
cOuraged. - =. -. :. 7:'
1t was through no glarlng fault Of his ac
Complies that. Easy again played the short
end. They Behaved admirably in every
way except hitting the ball at the right
time. On. several occasions openings were
Offered whereby they could: have Increased
-:their lead, but they always smashed the
ball at the wrong time until it was too late.
Frisco got but four measly singles off Easy,
buthe gave five bases on balls, two of which
scored on subsequent hits. 0'Brien's high
: throw to the rlate scored the third run, after
Easy had helped the man along couple Oh
pegs with base on balls and a wild pitch.
Even with these drawbacks Oakland would
have won" out had not d. w. Sweeney
lOomed up to crush them.
AN EXCITING FINISH.
The small man did his little act In the
ninth. Oakland scored its first run in the
previous inning when Mannasau got away
on Sharp's tumble and scored on Cousin
Parks welcome =. two-bag gger. Osbourne
opened the last with hit to short, which
Peoples blocked but could not recover.
Bushman flew to Pete Sweeney and Hutch
insOn hit safe. Whitehead followed with
single, scoring OsbOurne, Hutch reaching
third on the play. Easy flew to center ard
Whitehead stole second. Here was where
the people grew excited, as hit meant vic
tory for the Colonels, and it devolyed on
Mannasau to produce that hit. Little
Sweeney was playing in right center for the
left-handed batsman. but Mannasau fooled
him and whacked the ball on the nose,
sending it into far left center.
AS the ball shot away with the small man
in hot pursuit the crowd rose upin body
and howled. All hands thought the colonel
had won, but IL vas mistake. The men
on the bases had reached the plate before
Sweeney overlook the ball after a gallant
squirt and wrapped his hands around it with
death clutch. 1t was circus play OF the
three-ring order, but it made the colonel
tired.
To-day Harris and Robinson will exercise
their privilege and appear on the coaching