The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-06

Benefit Play at Lexington Park
When the Trouble Was ALI Over
the Score Boy ChaIked Up Thirty
Two Points for the Ffremen and
Fifteen for the Policemen.
Nearly 5000 people saw the base ball
game between the teams representing tho
ponce department and the fire depart
nlent at Lexington park yesterday after
noon, when the fire laddies waIloped the
coppers' to the tune Of 80 to Is. The
slaughter strung through nine innings,
was awful, from a base ball standpoint.
but furnished all kinds Of excitment for
the players and no end of amusement
Tor the spectators. Every player knew
the rules, as laid down by Mr.. Spau1d-
ing backwards, and insisted that every
techn1calfty Of the game be observed
out when the most vociferant advocate
OF the rules was called upon to s+o,
not daisy cutter or gather in a f1v
ball, there was a woeful lack of ann1ica.
ton Of the scientific principles Of the
game some one suggested that if the
police had drafted the civ cons" IN
thclr team instead Of the ordinary patroI-
men more sky scrapers would have been
eaten up, but the game was too far gonA
at this time to avail of the "hunch "
The tremen had a safety net under near
ly every ball batted in the air. and
gathered up the grounders and threw
them about as though they were hand
grenades 1t was expected that the
policemen would show up well at the
pat' on account Of the constant club
swinging incident to their business. but
Pitcher Devlin's shoots and curves were
much livelier than the ordinary "vag"
or bench ledger hot footed' out of a
park, and the bluecoats failed to land
with much effect. They did pretty well
running bases, but then the yelling in
the grand stand may have been mistaken
Tor. the sounds Of a riot or some other
disturbance and the bases lie away from
the stand. On the other hand the fire.
men went after the ball like it was a
sphere OF cotton saturated with kero-
sene, and knocked ''blazes'' out of If
every time they came to bat. Even then,
when the ball got to some bluecoat
fielder 1t was still so hot, in many in
stances, that it could not be handled,
and some of the throws the "coppers''
made were as wild as the shots from
their revolvers after a fleeting thief. In
the field the firemen played with the
snap that comes from making Russian
bitches in fifteen seconds, and ran bases
like the lead horse on a tandem, jump
Ing into his place on a Ali alarm, while
every time they got a chance to slide
they went through the dirt as though
coming down a brass pole.
Chief Cook was there to direct the
movements of the f1re-fighters, and oc-
caSiOnally yelled through a trumpet to
lay line Of hose down to second or to
advise the pitcher to hold the nozzle
steady while sending the sphere toward
the plate. Chief Goss tried to inject lit
tie discipline into the disordered ranks Of
the policemen, but the only order they APP
peared to understand was when the UNI
pire shouted about face" after calling
three strikes. Finally Chief sGoss wanted
to form the nine into a squad, with one
man at bat and as soon as the batter hit
the ball to have the whole squad run the
base, thus gathering up a few runs in a
bunch, but the f1remen wouldn't stand for
this style of play. Chief of Detectives
Schweitzer sat in the bleachers, and held
confnedtia1 talks with the "coppers' be-
tween innings, advising them to use
strategy in their play, but every time q
policeman tried to steal a base he was
no arrests made. There was some talk
Of punching" the aggregation Of firemen
toward the latter part Of the game and
declaring the bluecoats the victors by
virtue of forfeited game, but Chief Cook
declared he would get the salvage corps
to ball out his team before the police
men could leave the grounds, so this
nipped the plan in the bud When the
struggle was over the policemen gave
three cheers for the f1remen, and the com
pliment was returned After Chief Goss
got the police team back to the station
he eulogized every member upon how
much they do not know about base ball.
and sentenced each one to the long watch
for three months. The victorious firemen
will be allowed five minutes additional
time off every day for dinner the rest of
the summer.
That the game was a strong drawing
card was evidenced by the large number
of spectators, who almost completely fill
ed the grand stand. Fully half of the
spectators were women. On the whole
both teams put up good game of ball.
when it is considered that neither had
much time in which to practice The fire.
men have better opportunities for getting
into trim than the policemen, but the lat
err showed marked improvement over their
form of year ago. For the f1remen
Jerry Strapp. Mccarthy, Pitcher Devlin
and Mashek played a good game, while
honors for the police contingent wero car
ried off by Lou Calvin, end the bat.
Dog Catcher Saintong Eubank. FIvnn
Forester and Picha. In the two innings
in which he pitched Picha both times re-
tired the firemen. retiring five men on
strike outs, and one by an assist to first
base. The policemen's weakest play was
in fielding. Calvin made some pretty
throws to second.
The game was in the nature of a bene-
fit for the family of former Fireman John
son, who died in the Klondike last March
1t Is estimated that nearly 5000 tickets
were sold, and that the receipts will be
in the neighborhood of 81, 900. The teams
were composed as follows:
Firemen-LachepelIe, CT; MCCARTHY. CT:
W hltmore, 3b; DeVine !. f; Niles, r. f.;
Mashek s. s.; Strapp 3D.. Mitchell, c.:
Llghtner, 1b.; Devlin, p.
POltcemen-Flynn, h.; Forester 3D.
Byrnes, r. f.; Eubank, c. f. and D.
Picha, 2b. and p; Mitchell p. and IS;
Haggerty, If; Calvin, c.
Umpires-Martin and Mccarthy Fol-
lowing is the score by innings:
Pfremen .........-.4 oil 2 *-32
Policemen .........3 l 2 8 / 2-15
The firemen engaged in this contest
desire to express their sincere thanks to
Judges Hines and Orr for a quantity of
fine cigars sent out to the park.