Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-07-21

PITCHER AMOS RUsIE OF NEW YORK. thcrc would bc no baseball in Brooklyn IL he did not crawl out of tho Ohio woods and assist Captain Foutz with his wizard touch, has lately b,Cn wallowing with the common herd The western hir,,d men have become unduly familiar with Mir kcnnCdy's oncc dCrptivc curves and shoots, and the head which n month a2cu woro No. < split straw now ruttl,> around in a No like a sC,Sl pCI in a vel low pod.
 Killcn, of whose famC-pa>t and pro spcctivc-I told you last spring. has suffer cd the proud mans cuHtumrly and borne fardcls until the temptation of blrc bod kin must sOr.ly try his far of dr,ams which may come in that buurnc from which no baseball pitcher ever rvturnS, and all that sort of thing. Even the once in vulnerable Achilles Nichols has b,rn shot in tho heel with painful frcqucnCy of late and has walked to the bench in tho midst of game just like n common minor league pitcher. Then thcrc is the rustic son of Cleveland. Farmer Young. bcgOsh whose reputation has received innumcra- ble bOmbardmcnts from tho Catapult hats of tho eastern knights of labor two hours per dicm).
 Head and shoulder above them all in prowess now stands Rusic-I.ittlc Annie, as he Is endcarlngly called in New York Other heroes of the curves may go down, but he has stood the uncunqucrsIblc Ma polcon of the ballfcld. To his gr,at work is duo much of tho Giants pCcnt success. Annie may hc swept away yet by the cri demic of heavy batting. but I think hu will last better than any of them It has been n pcculiarity of his work that like a watermelon, he never is at his best till harvest is past. From that time till the frost is on the pumpkin and the nCgIcgcr shirt is in hook he rcmains king uf the pitchers.
 At present Colonel Rusic may k, SCCn in his majestic might. phV~iU.llv he lacks in naught. His right nle Q i- as lnrIc as n mules thigh and k productive uf equally as much execution. Across the back he resembles the gable end 0f an clr- phant, and in strength the historic Sam son may have had few points the better T don [ believe Amos would cur le out ii t best" in q choking match with Eunitlian lion, but he can unhinCU moi ril,- with a single pitched ball than any lying man It is the undying affection which hatsmvn in general have for the wclfarr, of their ills which prevents them from humililIiu- Rusic bcf"rc his friends and admirers.
 Somewhere back in the eighties John Tibcrius Brush of Indianapolis discovered Rusie, and when discovcrcrs arc r,mcm- bered with monuments Brush should not be forgotten. Columbus discovered Amer lea, 1t is true, and without America We should be somewhat cmharrasscd, but what would America h. without Rusic?
 Explorer Brush found Rusic in n mat trcss factory in Indianapolis. Hc heard thero was a big boy in that factory who pitched good ball for amateur clubs, and as the Indianapolis team at that time was suffering from a famine of pitchers Brush penetrated tho mattrcss factory whcrc he found Amos stufiing hair mattreSs,.s with excelsior. The young Hoosicr was dragged away to the diamond and to fame Op- portunity made him grcat From Indian apolis he went tO New York in baseball slavery, and from New York thcrc Is no place else to go when one Is chasing glory.
 Now that hayo recalled the discovery of Rusie 1t may Do expected that the va- rious mattress factories of tho country will be overrun by searching committees from the various League clubs, which would give moro for n good pitcher than Richard offered for a pcdigrcclcSs horse when hC wanted to take q cantcr from Bosworth field.
 Every baseball crank in New York will join me in the sentiment, God bless mat tress factories! But the wild western waste which has recently had a sort of cyclonit experience with Rusic will probably invoke a different kind of blessing upon those use full institutions.
 How many great men arc even now stufiing mattresses, If We only knew.
 O. F. CAYLoR