Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-05-09

III was Nellle hartman! TOT n mo
ment could only stare at her and open
my mouth in amazement. Dressed in a
plain little skirt and waist of red and
black, our clubs colors, with Franks
own cap on her head, she walked quiet
| ~ by me, with a nod aud smile, and
straight up to the captain.
I'm Franks substitute" she said.
Well, L don't believe Ed Brown has
gotten over his surprise to this day.
With his eyes about as big as saucers,
he looked down at her and then at the
rest of us TO see if he was dreaming.
Then lac stammered:
"What?"
81 am Franks substitute" she said
f, again; "am | late?"
"A little" managed to answer, 'but
do you mean it, Nellie? Are you going
to play in Franks placer
/ Eyes" she answered, laughing at my
establishment, suppose. "Why, didn't
you know l could play ball? Frank
practices with me all the time, and
know all his signals and his curves. lie
told me to tell you--all of QUITO play
just as if he We're pitching, and to for
get that l am bis sister. For to-day
am Frank himself"
a more surprised set of boys would
/ have been hard to find anywhere. The
very idea of this little 12-year-old girl
! playing real baseball, and knowing
| Franks wonderful curves, the pride
| of the lnvincibles, was almost beyond
! belief: yet we knew she must be telling
| The truth. Before we could say much
more the umpire called time, and the
game began.
/ "Remember," said Nellie, as she
walked out and took her place in the
! pitchers box, for to-day am Frank"
And she was! Talk about girl not
| knowing how to throw a ball. l wish
| YOU might have seen that one do il, sir!
If ever you saw more beautiful curves
| than she shot over the home-plate
| straight into Smiths hands l would
! like to know it. She stood up there and
pitched the first inning withouta break
| or a mistake, striking out two of the
astonished Red Stockings as if they
| weren't the best batters in the city, and
watching the bases as if she had eyes
| in the back of her head. Smith batted
| for her when we were lin and she
Ian-like a deer, too. The way she put
| out Dawson on second, in the third in
ming. has gone down in the history of
amateur ball-playing in this city for ali
time.
Well, we were glad we almost lost
cur heads. As for the Reds, they seemed
TO get more and more dazed as the
game went on, for il was against ali
tLeir boy ideas that n girl could throw
ball as She threw that day. The
folks who watched the game soon
caught on to the fact that there was
surprise in it--for both sides, too--and
they cheered themselves hoarse over
aur little pitcher whenever she made an
especially fine play.
But it was in the last inning that size
made herself famous. HaNel, the Reds
pitcher, had put q ball straight over
tue platc-he was somewhat excited, l
guess, over the way things were going,
though we had not gotten ahead OF
them yet--and Smith, whowas striking
Tor Nellie Hartman, made n three-bag-
GER, Just out of shortstop's reach. l.
was very plainly only three-baggeI.
and not boy on our nine would have
tried to do anything more than make
his third on it, but do you think Nellie
stopped there? Not bit of it. She
Just skinned around the diamond like
regular little racer, and instead OF
checking up on third kept right on. Ell
yelled to her to go back, but she didn'i
hear him. or wouldn'l and we a.!
groaned aloud as we saw the fielder
gather up the ball and slam it home.
Nothing but miracle would save her,
and She seemed to realize that fact, too:
but she didn't hesitate as most of us
would have done. She just caught her
breath, ducked her head, and ran.
Then, when she was within Is feet
of home, what did she do, but throw
herself on her alde and slide! Yes, sir;
believe it or net, as you like, but thai
girl, seeing that she had risked the
game, slid home to save it. AS her flu
gers touched the plate, the catcher's
hand with the ball in it swept over her
not two inches away, and the umpire
yelled: "Safe!"
Did they cheer? They simply howled.
It's wonder TO me TO this day that the
seats held chat shouting, yelling mass
of boys and girls; you positively
couldn't hear yourself think. As
for the Inyincibles, they went
crazy--that's the only word, sir.
We danced and howled like II
lot of dcrvishes. We picked her
up and carried her off the diamond 90
| our shoulders, with her curls full OF
dust, and her face as red os her dress
| with excitement and happiness. The
Red Stockings crowded around, too,
and shook HANDS with her as heartily
as, the rest; and if you ever see the'o
now, they always inquire about the
girl who made the home-run on the
| three-base hit"
That was the first and the last game
of baseball Nellie Hartman played; bur
t will never be forgotten by those who