The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-01
A BASEBALL GOLD BRICK.
MOUNTAIN CIDER WARPED a LEAGUE
M1NAGER'S JUDGMENT

Paid $3.50 for the Bedeyiiio Pitcher, who
Struck Out His Star Batsmen After They
| Had Dallied with the Cider-Buncoed
by Rival Manager with Grievance.
Talking about tricks Of the sporting trade,
observed the ex- magnate OF the National Baseball
League, horse racing may need a few splints
| here and there, but the national pastime as IL
was run in tho days Of yorc, was thing TO keep
a man looking cross eyed all the time II he didn't
want TO figure heavily In the error column. In
those days II was the great game for the League
teams TO Hll UP their days when they didn't have
regular date. playing with the small State League
mines by way Of picking up an honest dollar or
two for the manager. and maybe a good player
| from the local nine
| "One Of tho most cold hearted swpes | ever
made was from team down in Kentucky when
| was manager Of the 'Yelows. He was an out
| fielder and a soaring bird. and when l passed
hundred dollar bill under his nose for persuader
he quit an engagement with the Bedeville Noun
| tain Eagles that wasn't week old and played
| great ball for me for tho rest Of the year Bill
Carlin. who was running the Bedeviles was
naturally little over the trick but he didn't
| go cunning for me In the courts or anywhere
| else. and the friendly relations which had here
tofore existed between us were still maintained
| as the statemen say when two countries are Just
loading up for scrap. Next year Carln wrote 10 me
| me as usual offering a respectable guarantee for
| the Fellows to come down an of date and play
| "No malice borne there. said when I read
| the telegram.
"It'l do the boys good 10 get little outing and
| there's three days empty next week
$50 telegra phed 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 train
ing wasn't strict it is now. and on a trip like
that let the boys loose little Just TO timber UP
their spirits Didn't paste any prohibitive excise
| stamps across their faces, you understand OF
course the fellows, who pretty well 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
on en- and we depended mostly on the pitcher
| to do il. He the only man on the team that
was compelled TO stick TO the pledge, and he had
| to work for hisliving Once in while that scheme
| went wrong and we'd drop game to some Po-
| dunk Birds Of Freedom, but generally the local
nine would be held down 10 a couple Of runs and
! my men would knock out a half dozen tallies
| and then take things easy. In the Bedcville
game we had in Soldier King, and very sore he
was over It, for he crack pitcher and didn't
like to be used in one-horse game. 1t happened
that we were pretty shy Of material in the box
|
and that's how happened to put Killing in.
We'll. IT was a grand day for Bedeville when
We came; principal event Of the season. and all the
| jayhawkers from fifty miles OF mountain district
had como In for the big game. The local players
were prancing around town in their uniforms, be.
Bedv H would the Fellows H that al ,he
L .es When to tho
hotel Bin Ce5lin came up very friendly. and he
a couple of drinks into them. All except Killing
| ordered sarsapara for him. He cussed some,
local paper With paragraph in p Kind Of hitting HTei
That the Mountain Eagles had something up their
he said il was lust CUFF but The way he said it
stirred me UP where my suspicious live and az
soon as we got to the grounds looked over the
| Mountain Eagles pretty closely.
terry with their whiskers shaved off to disguise
that the Baseball reporters at home wroe e abon
make up warm page in my scrapb9ok But the
see. They looked like the regulation article OF
.he kind, all but one fellow, who bad on a uniform
broke IN two where you wouldn't have expected it
had hand like soup tyreen and a steady sort
Of an eye ! went up and asked him what posi-
"'Mef he says Il play substah, mstah'
A. "S S,t 6s. ,s says ho6ster ! guess What
eS 1'0h pS ne sss h JUS
n,sshslly Icy sEao '.t till tn o'hah feilah gets
sn ,hsn p 6 som, ,,b,,
with him ! learned that he hadn't played ball
since he left the district school, more than half
thrower and said that he could bring a squirrel
out Of trcetop with stone Judge it was prob
S hits .H s sqFg,ss him is Ssa to
Oh DON'T p Know. says ySI Bill WY" lie may may do.
I've signed him on the chance. Youll probably
What, with my having done up Bill on the
old deal and his having a reputation for being
rat but guess must have had AGO cold S IN my
head. All the suspicion had was that Bill had
up sSS . and 9 oi n
money before we got their tail feathers; That
ssHsSS w sas q sd KIM R w bs 70
case Of do his best and the game began For the
arst three innings !, went Just as expected The
meal ticket, and good old Soldier held inc Noun,
tain Eagles down TO a couple Of scratch hits that
the fourth two little nisgers .toddled, into our
Of a pale, pleasant looking mixture with ice and
mint and stuff floating IN M, it There was spicy
boys right where they lived, but before let them
thing dangerous There's nothing like spicy
green things TO make drink taste soft and limo;
king asd his s ass
was something felonious II was hot day and
we were all pretty thirsty, we hit IL up quite q
little. As we got three more runs in our half OF
the fourth, IL looked like thing, II our
fielding did show traces Of being, irayed around
the edges when we went out, enabling the foe 10
pick up two scores. Nine to two looked pretty
good, and Bill Carlin remarked that were hav-
Ing II easy when he wandered over 10 find out
how We liked our drink that he'd sent
Mountain cider punch he called H.
, at aint a temperance drink, exactly, he said;
, but there amt enough harm In il 10 damage a
camp meeting.
Then he went over and called out his bp boned
squirrel killer 10 do the rest OF the pitching That
wild and untamed child OF the mountains ripped
of the shirt OF his uniform took off his suspcnders
and tied 'em around his waist for belt rolled up
the sleeves OF his red flannel undershirt and started
in to do business, Our first man up in the fifth
, was the surest batter on tho nine. Old Backwo0ds
sized him up for a minute and the catcher held
out his hands Not one single blasted prelimin-
AIRY twirl or twist did that pitcher make He Just
hauled off and slammed the ball in straight
| that the catcher didn't haNe 10 mnYe a finger of