The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-16

HE is little fellow, but the ball is always rs
big rs Il barn to him.]
gates the official averages. which may not
bn for several weeks. Until that time no
certainty can be arrived at, because Mr..
Young has the only complete set of official
scores of the major league in existence
But the unofficial figures put Jesse Burll-
EFT of Cleveland SO far ahead of all Compel
itors that lie is almost certain to be tho
honorcd one.
Burllett is no taller and not so heavy as
Duffy, but he is II giant in speed, nerves
ana solidity of muscle. This man is ono
III the good things which tho Now York
club once possessed and let go. He and
kCclcr make ~ couple of east offs which
cause tho New York management much
painful regret i'll these days when they
have thousands of dollars To ray for the
release Of Il couple Of good batsmcn and
can find mono for sale.
III 1890 when the Brotherhood wagcd
its war on tho National league the at
tack w;ls concentrated against New York
The Brotherhood leaders argued with
much logic that could they rOut the New
York enemy tho battle would be over. But
the National league leaders anticipated
these tactics and sprung Il surprise by
transferring tho best players of tho Indi-
annapolis club of 1889 to the metropolis
Among them were RuSio, Buckley, Den
ny, Bassett and GlasScocli. Still they were
shy, and Glasscock recommended Jesse
Burkctt, IL sort of protcgc of his from his
native place, Wheeling, who was playing
nj that time with the Worcester club of
Massachusetts. Manager Mutric called the
boy To New York rs n pitcher. In that
capacity he was ''pc" for the otlicr teams
and the club tried him in the outficld on
account of his batting; for no could hit
tho ball artistically even then. .Icsso had
no trouble distinguishing Il fly ball when
he saw one coming his way, but it was not
SO easy to catch it. His fielding was heart
breaking. l saw him lose fly ball near
tho right field foul flag one day ut the Polo
grounds-now Manhattan flcld-nnd there
he stood turning around IN one spot like
skirt dancer. Somebody yelled, Fright
at the foul flag Jesse" The effect was
magical. Jesse dropped on his knees,
pulled mp the foul flag and hrgan TO dig in
the sandy soil with his hands like IL terrier
after gopher. He had completely lost his
presence of mind. 1t was HE funniest
sight ever saw on Il bail field.
Tho New York club ut the end of the
season cast him adrift and he went To the
Lincoln club of The Western league Man
ager Tcbcau had his eye on Jesse, how
ever, and took him to Cleveland. The
country knows the rest. He learned to
field ana didn't need learn To bat, Now
the New York club would pay So 900 for
the release of this jewel which il throw
away in 1870.
Burkctt is ono OF the large number of
players who have failed ut pitching and
made their mark in another position.
Ticrnan and Van IIaltrcn of the New
Works, smith of the rittsburgs, Gleason
of the BaltimOros and O'Ncil of the old st.
Louis Browns are other examples of mis-
taken beginnings i'll tho lives of baseball
players Few good pitchers over cxcelcd
rs batsmcn. Devlin, Stivctts, Ferguson
of Philadelphia, Foutz, CaruthcrS, Ken
ncdy and Taylor are exceptions. Yet two
of them have led the batting of the coin-
try-namcly, Maui, in 1887, and Luby, in
1890 Maui is still Il pitcher in active en-
ploymcnt.
Baseball has suffered severe loss in tho
death of Harry Wright. This notable man
was tho pioneer of tho game l believe he
was the first professional baseball player
III America. Tho Cincinnati club about
500 engaged him under salary to manage
and play with its unsalaricd nine. If there
was any regularly salaricd baseball player
previous to shat am not aware of it.
Harry Wright was about CO years old
He was born i'll England in 1885 of Eng
lish parents, and though he was brought
to America when only IA year old and lived
here ever aftcrward he could not conceal
his English lineage even to his love for
roast beef. His father was notable cricket
player and his boys grew up with II love
for the same sporS. Harry and George, us
we'll as Wright PEREZ were skilled cricket
crs. About the first considerable money
ever earned by Harry was his salary rs
manager of the st. George Cricket club of
New York, just before the war of the re-
bcllion. The club finally fitted up grounds
In llobokcn. Nearby were the grounds of
tho old .knickcrbockcr Baseball club.
There llarr? learned to play baseball so
well that hc partially abandoned cricket
for the game which aftcrward became ma