The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-09-18
"JIN" AND "BROIER JOE"

lint the "back-numbf some peoplu
,marin. he became WIN the sun Of st,
patrick day Of ~ set 4 "a halo OF sorrow
and defeat FOR the big californian. Cor
bsu soon recovered pm the pangs OF
mental anguish that Hlowed the knock
out blow he received rom Fltzsimmons
ord /. to-day a batIr man physically
and manlier man amen are judged By
their fellows The dse Of adversely ad-
m,,,s,arsd at Carso City was really
g,,d things. for he hs "braced up" and,
IN countless ways, MS that nlchein pub
10 opInion. describe by the cognomens
"cen,Ieman Jim" Ind 1.-THE gentleman
~ the prige ring" ~ which he became
popularly known eFly In his pugillstlo
career. h
This summer, whe not engaged In fu'
tile efforts To brig on another battle
with "Fltz" Corbtt has been figuring
on the diamond, AMI his essay at the ma
ttonal game Is a billIant success finan-
cIally and by no heans failure from
the viewpoint OF lie game Itself, In the
aid hank clerk dRs on the coast, Jim
was an enthusiastic base balllsi, who
showed marked ffldlng abilities for so
large man and ctild always be counted
on to swat the lJAther" for keeps. HIS
income from base ball this season ts said
10 be greater thar anything In which he
has figured befort Recently he played
one afternoon stinds In the cities OF the
Interstate leagle and his ante" ever
aged several hundred dollars a day
Everywhere his reception has been iiat|
tering in the extreme and It Is doubtful
n he could hare chosen shorter cut to
a restoration 1f the popularity II Is as
sumed he loa last March.
That he is Yet popular idol cannot be
denied Everywhere the eX-champlon IL
the cynosure Of the eyes of the sporting
inclined. This was sirlkIngly eXempli-
fed the Other day In the big Union rail-
road station at Columbus, Ohio, The
writer was listening TO an entertaining
account OF the difficulties that attended
the efforts Of Corbett to start Brother
Joe" in the vocation OF professional base
balllst, when the conversation was in
terruptgl by the passing OF hundreds OF
boys In blue, who were marching aboard
q Big Four train that was to carry them
from the Columbus barracks 10 Fort
Thomas. Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati,
for work before the target range. II was
the Seventeenth United States Infantry
one OF Uncle Sans crack regiments,
but It was amusing to observe the way
the soldier boys turned their heads to
look at Corbeli. for the word had passed
along the line In the mysterious way
news Is flashed through crowd that the
eX-champion was sitting nearby. Tho
officers were kept busy holding the line
In anything approaching alignment.
However. when the regiment bOardedtha
train and restraint had ended, the enthu-
sIasm Of the boys was Embossed in a rous-
ing cheer that awoke echo after echo
through the great vaulted train shed.
And Il was Sunday, too. The racket was
kept up until Corbett stepped to the rail-
Ing and repeatedly acknowledged tho
compliment. The latter was evidently
pleased with the reception accorded him
so Unexpectedly, and remarked:
Those fellows must come from the
coast"
In connection with this incident there
was. an amusing bit of unconscious COM
edy on the part Of gentleman OF mature
years, whose attire from ceWhlda boetl
TO SLOUGH hat, heralded him In no unmlJ.
taxable manner as resident OF the rural
community sometimes called Hayseedi
VILE The old fellow was standing next
10 COrbett and In some way became i'm
bued with the idea that the boys on the
train below were giving their vigorous
exhibition OF the glad hand" for his par
ticular benefit. Someone kindly enlight.
ened him. and then 1t was even more
amusing 10 observe the look of ave with
which he took In the great man beside
him, The old fellow brought the chap
ter to end by volunteering n hearty
hand-shake which Corbett accepted with
the affabillty that has replaced the for.
mer arrogance that allenated some Of his
admirers.
Yes" said Corbett, after the train had
pulled out, Il had quite an experience
getting Joe into the big league two years
ago. When we were at Asbury Park
and | was training for the fight with
FIJI that was to occur at Hot Springs,
Joe Joined US at the training quarters.
and frequently boxed with nue.. / liked
TO 20 up against him because he was so
quick and hard to hit. While not asslst-
ing In my training he frequently played
ball on the grounds nearby and very
soon got wonderful reports Of his pitch
ing abilities, but didn't pay much atten-
ton 20 them. Joe f. great fellow to
string one and one day he made me
laugh by declaring he could pitch n bail
with such a tremendous curve that 1
couldn't catch It. The result was we
went out to see what he could do, but
didn't dream he could dowhat he claimed.
But, sure enough, he put EN- over with
whlskers TO burn, and the curve was so
great that was actually unable to get
IN front OF the sphere, Immediately saw
that the boy was wonder and told the
boys at my quarters that would land
him In the National league at the first
whlrl-no minor league training was
necessary for the man who could do what
he had shown me.
First struck the Boston people, but
they gave me the tirn-d0wn and I coufd
see they thought Jlm's dafty.' II was
the same story at New York and Phlla-
dclphla, and finally we struck Washing
ton, went TO Wagner, told him about
Joe, and suggested that, as the Senators
were at the tall-end anyway and an
other game lost wouldn't matter. h. give
inc boy trial The Washington mnn-
agcmcnt saw the force of my argument
ana consented. The opposing team wag
the orioles. go joo's was baptism OF
ire But say he made monkeys OF Han
IONS men from start TO finish, and the
mex day when ! asked Hanlon to sign
zoe .,,, ne was glad OF the opportunity to get
"A a HFau