The Republican journal., 1897-08-19
Base Ball at Searsport.
The Mechanics" and "MerChants" Play Close
ly Contested Game. All Previous Records for
Waldo County Broken.

haps 1t was because the clerk of the weather
had forsworn allegiance to "St. Swithn, -
and favored the town with sample of his
best September weather; or may be the
hundreds of pretty girls and women who
thronged the streets gave to the place an ap-
pearance of exceeding beauty; OF possibly
the eager and eXpectant faces OF the inhab bi-
tants of the staid little town who formed a
part of the steadily increasing procession in
the direction of the base ball grounds, made
the atmosphere and surroundings particu-
larly attractive. At all events the town did
look pretty. This can be proven by any one
of the many who at > o'clock found them
selves on the grounds of the Searsport Base
Ball Club, which are delightfully."- situated
at Mosman Park on the bluff, in the lower
part OF the town. OF course the whole viii
lage was there. In addition to James G..
Pendleton, President of the Searsport
National Bank, DR.. Elisha Hopkins, Capt.
Isaac Parks, Theophilus Merrill, Amos Car
Yer, Capt. Cyrus Nichols and others whose
names are familiar, a large sprinkling of out
slders was noticeable. Among these We're,
Messrs. Walter Trundy, +. p Patterson and
H. S. Staples of the Red Seal Base Ball Club
OF Stockton Springs Amos F. Treat, the
famous umpire; Charles E. Sanford, Walter
7. Higgins, Miss McGee, Miss Louise Hig-
gins and George Webster from Fort Point
Mr. l.. J. Morse who IS entertaining party
on hls steam yacht, arrived IN the harbor
from Bar Harbor, He came ashore with the
party, who were entertained royalty at the
Searsport House by Mr.. Grinnell, the genial
proprietor of that popular establishment.
al
yertised game between the merchants"
and Mechanics; - two clubs of which Sears
port is Justly proud, both mines consisting of
men who are old "lall tossers,' and who
are selected by the town without any refer
ence to occupation, politics. religion, or pre-
vlous condition of serVltude. Fully three
hundred people We're present on the grounds
ready to applaud and encourage the con-
testants; and all We're amply repaid for their
Journey as they saw the most wonderful
game of ball ever played since the time
when as we are informed in Biblical his
tory, David played before the King. Ii
the scriptural quotation has any reference
to the National game, and if David played
as these men played, the King must have
felt very tired and must undoubtedly have
stopped the game at the end Of the first in
.nlng and after the manner of Oriental
rulers, ordered the players of both mines be-
headed, and their estates conhscated by the
Empire But possibly "Spaulding's Hand
Book on Base Bali hadn't as large cir
culation in the time of King Saul as at the
present time; and perhaps, We're David
alive to-day, and We're he to play ball under
the League Rules, the players of Searsport
could give him cards, spades and the deal,
men played great ball on Friday, and when,
shortly after O'clock the game was called,
the mines lined up as follows;
Merchants Mechanics.
e., A. y ba4tI 55r. i.t II l. = F&an4y FogeGS " }st
j. A. Clement. "a bW. y. West. .,.....2d
Il Whitcomb.. .... Sd b Newell Nhite.......5d b
c. O. SAWYER -. 80. :. \. l.. MOsman
F. L. Nhi5comb..... W. b. sawyer...,..-.r f.
l.. VI Sargent t........I f. E. j. Wentworth. II.
b O. Sargent. c. fW. Lorrimer .-.:;..c- f.
Umpire, a. NJ. Kane, Referee, j. W Black.
With the merchants in the field the game
opened with Perkins at the bat. Perkins,
from the nature of his business is known to
have plenty of "tin, at once convinced the
spectators that there is no "soft solder"
about him, and at the first crack out Of the
box hill TO right field and took his base. The
next up was Rogers. Levi knows the value
of advertising and as behtted his occupation,
appeared III d lew set of shoes of a color
winch was IL once the delight and envy of
the Young Sports of the town. Levi awaited
his opportunity. and when Baker had for
gotten to give the sphere the requisite num-
beT Of preliminary twists and sent it square
ly over the plate, hit it hard and it sailed
over NiXou's coal barn at the end OF the
field. Levi also sailed for first base He IS
not an aesthetic runner, but he gets there
With a gait somewhere between that of a
lame ostrich and a canvas back duck, he
sprinted around the diamond, waking up
Perkins, who had fallen asleep on Sd base,
and reached home with no further discom-
fort than that occasioned by the loss of one
of his shoes, and his eye glasses. Trundy,
who next stood up, had figured it all out
that if he had a bat wide enough the ball
couldn't get by him. He accordingly had
made one after his own model, and it re-
sembled one of the arms of a good sized
wind mill. With this he so vigorously fam
ned the air that the tielders instinctively
turned their backs to the plate as soon as
the ball left the pitchers hands, and the
catcher was so bewildered by the pln-wheel
like movements of the batter that when
three strikes We're called, Trundy had no
trou bic in tumbling and falling to lst base,
and West took the bat. West could have
made a hit easily enough had the ball not
insisted upon getting under and over the
bat, and as they only allowed him three
strikes, in spite of his persistent appeals for
more, he went out. Baker here attempted
to assist the constable in forcing the people
beyond the line and his wild and efficient
delivery resulted in White, the next batter,
taking his base on balls.
Mosman, who followed him, is the owner
of the ark in which the grounds are stua-
ted and he proceeded to demonstrate his
right to do as he pleased with his own by
swinging the bat viclously and kicking up
so much dust in the neighborhood of the
home plate that he obscured the grounds for
a distance of ten feet or more, and when the
dust had cleared away and he was found at
first base, no one could disprove his asser-
ton that he had hit the ball, and he was al
lowed to remain there. Sawyer next took
the bat. Striking the ball squarely, he sent
it IN straight line toward the big tree at
the right, where it struck an old man who
was trying to root" Trundy home. In the
excitement attending the old gentlemans
repeated assertion that he had been struck
by meteor, Trundy scored and Sawyer ran
twice around the bases, but was only allow
ed, under the umpires decision, to score one
run, while Clement, second baseman, in a
fit Of momentary absent mindedness, touch
ed White with the ball, thus putting him
out. DR.. E. H. Durgin and DR.. Flint bound
the old gentleman's eye up with horse lini-
ment. and he was allowed to sit in a safe
position in front of the pitcher. Wentworth
then knocked 1.-TWO bagger," slipped by
third on an error by the telders and came
home, his face radiant with the smile of con-
tentment and satiated ambition. Lorrimer
was equally fortunate IN finding the ball,
and struck to left field, but Clement on sec
ond base, who had been busily engaged in so
adjusting his whiskers as to offer the least
possible resistance to the wind paused in
making his toilet long enough to stOp the