The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-23
PAID $3.50 FOR A PITCHER
BUT DIscovEED HE HAD Ac-
CURED A GOLD BRICK.
Thought He Had Found the Greatest
Ball-tossar That Ever Happened
But the Tail-enders of the League
Made Runs so Fast They Couldn't
Be Counted.
Chicago Inter-ocean.l

the National Baseball league horse
racing may need a few splints here. and
there, but the national pastime as 1t
was run in the days of yore was a
thing to keep a man looking cross
eyed all the time if he didn't want to
| figure heavily in the error column. In
those days il was the great game for
the league teams to fill UP their days
| when they didn't have a. regular date,
playing with the small state league
nlness by way of picking up an honest
/ dollar or two for the manager, and
may be a good player from the local
| nine. M
One of the most cold hearted swipes
| ever made was from team down in
Kentucky when / was manager of the
i 'ysilows. He was an out-fieIder and
a soaring bird, and when 1 passed a
| 500 bill under his nose fora persJader
! he quit an engagement with the Bede-
Willie Mountain Eagles that wasn't
week old and played great ball for me
for the rest of the year Sill Carlin.
VINO was running the Bedeyilles. was
naturally little sore over the trick.
but the friendly relations which had
T heretofore existed between us were
still maintained, as the statesmen say
when two countries are just loading up
for scrap. Next year Cariin wrote
to me as usual offering a respectable
guarantee for the Yellows to come
down on an off date and play.
SO | telegraphed back that we'd be
there and the boys were satisfied all
right, for they knew there was fun in
it for them. In those days training
wasn't as strict as it is now, and on a
trip like that 1 let the boys loose a lit
tie, just to timber up their spirits
Didn't
stamps across their faces, you under
stand
Relied Upon the Pitcher.
"Of course the fellows, who were
pretty we'll up in the league then. could
have eaten up the Mountain Eagles,
but that wasn't what we came there
to do. Our game was just to beat 'em
out respectfully, so the papers at home
couldn't roast US for being done UP
by hayseeds, but not to pile up any
big score on 'em, and we depended
mostly on the pitcher to do it. He was
the only man on the team that was
compelled to stick to the pledge. and
he had to work for his living. In the
Bedeville game we had in Soldier King, |
and very sore he was over it. for he was
our crack pitcher and didn't like To be !
used in q one-horse game. 1t happened !
that we We're pretty shy of material in !
the box just then. two of my twirlers !
being on the stiff list. and that's how
happened to put King in.
Well, it was a grand day for Bede- !
Vile when we came: principal event of |
the season, and all the jayhawkers from |
fifty miles of mountain district had /
come in for the big game The local /
players We're prancing around town in /
their uniforms, being admired by their /
friends, and telling everybody how |
good they felt. and .intimating that /
Bedeville would show the Fellows that /
all the baseball talent in the country |
wasn't to be found in the National !
league. When we got to the hotel, Bill !
Carlin came UP very friendly, and he
and I took all my boys down to the
bar and cast couple of drinks into
them. All except King. 1 ordered
for him. He cussed some,
but he drank it. Somebody passed me
over local paper with a paragraph in
it kind of limiting that the Mountain
to surprise us. 1 asked Carlin about
it. and he said it was just CUFF, but
the way he said it stirred me up where
my suspicious live, and as soon as we
got to the grounds / looked over the
Mountain Eagles pretty closely.
Finds a Suspicious Player.
81. didn't care to run up against any
league battery with their whiskers
shaved off to disguise 'em. That hap
pered to me once, and the things that
the baseball reporters at home wrote
about ii makes UP a warm page in my
scrap book. But the Mountain Eagles
were all right as far as l could see
They looked like the regulation article
Of the kind, all but one fellow, who had
on uniform three sizes too small for
him. He was about six foot four and /
every time he moved his bones broke in
two where you wouldn't have expected
it and made him l0p over like a. wiited
collar. But he had a hand like a soup
tureen, and a steady sort of an eye.
I won't up and asked him what position
he played.
''AIe?' he says. Z play substah, mis-
tah.'
!" 'subster.' says I. Lobster. I guess.
What do you do: pitch, catch, carry
the bats, or what?
I reckon 1 pitch, mistah.' says he.
] jus nachaIly lay aroun' till tn othah
tellah gets tiahed, an then I pitch
What, with my having done up Bill
IN the old deal and his having a repu
-ation for being a pretty fly one, any
way. I ought to have smelled rat,
put I guess l must have had cold in
my head. All the suspicion / had was
hat Bill had picked up a good one
somewhere and that the Mountain
Eagles might give us a run for our
money before we got their tail feathers.
lust to be safe T told Killing that it was
/ case of do his best. and the game
began. For the first three innings 1t
vent just as 1 expected The yellows
lidn't exert themselves too much, but
hey punched six runs out Of the LEGAL
pitchers meal ticket. and good old Sol
lier held the Mountain Eagles down TO
/. couple of scratch hits that didn't
count for anything. When we came in
or the fourth. two little niggers tod
He'd into our shelter stand. carrying a
;ort of q tin barrel full of a pale, pleas
mt looking mixture with ice and mint
Ind stuff floating in II. There was a
ipfcy odor from it that smelled like !
DOL woods. and waterfalls and things
IN a hot day, and it caught the boys {
light where they lived. but before I let !
hem tackle it I tried it out and decided !
t wasn't anything dangerous.
~ A Change of Pitchers.
TT was a hot day and we were all
retty thirsty, so we hit it up quite q I
little. AS we got three more runs in 6
ur half of the fourth, it looked Ike a !
ure thing, even if our fielding did show J
races of being frayed around the edges I
Then We went ort. enabling the foe to J
lex up two scores. Nine to two looked
rerty good. and Bill Carlin remarked
hat we were having it easy when ne /
rendered over to find out how We liked
ur drink that he'd sent us-rnountaiu
ider punch he called 1T.
q 1T amt a. temperance drink exact :,
r. he said. but there amt enough
arm in II to damage camp meeting r
Then he went over and called CUT /
is lop- boned squirrel -ziller to- do the