The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-06
A CHAMPAGNE CORK Leg
THE 100000 WORKED
ONE.LE00ED BAsEBALL FLA'A"
Dirty naii, the Man with the 'ro".. =,
gers Called u Interesting App'e~
the Higher Science 90 the NAt'"ns, 49,.
BROKEN Pledge Against

pE"sEh
"vhiIs , ri, ,nnr.cinte n wei! n the neat
man n sharp, clever play" I'inarh'u " a.
with the crooked fingers "'h',' ,,o,
thar sor, ~ game. and when you se'
hov,rd ,ho.e limits is dirty ball, pure
md .i,,,l. v.,,inr down the grounds
so that n henyy team viii become tired Is ieeln-
u,,o 4, yon oront caught at it. But dellber-
ataly 10 shove a hoodoo in the shape Oh " oork
leu on,o n ,.om IL dirty ball Especially ~
This true, where the wearer Of the hooooo reg
is one Of the best men on the team ana IT
was all the worse because he had sworn OIL
drinking. and his pledge was never broken
until he wore ,hnt hoodoo leg, ~ was Ger
taiuly n dirty deal" ard the man WIN lhe Dig
jointed hands sighed.
Rig League ball had grown a trihe too speedy
for me" he continued, and ] was glad 10
| catch on with n team in an interstate league
in the West, This team had a CURIOSITY III
the shane of a onc-leggcd player. lie had
been n player prior 10 the accident IN which
he lost his leg, and had got IA Jon as Rro"hu
tender. This Job he held Tor n season anu
during his spare time he pracu+'n moving
about on his good still and the phohy one
| lie go, SO ne could get around about as hVeiv
as n nan with two good legs, and when he
| put in an application for u place on the team
| with which ! signed he had little difficulty
as he was a frst-class fielder and a good batter
| He WAS put over ut first, and ! might state
| rivht here that there was but one better man
ON the team. ] don't care to name him.
Larry Murphy, that was his name. made
a big hit AZ the only one-legged player IN mo
game, and some of the other members OF the
team thought seriously Of having an arm or
leg cut of ~ the hope Of making u hi IKE Larry,
| But they didn't. and after the crash came all
| felt satisfied TO be average players ana have
both arms and legs. Murphy was rather
an excitable chap, and In such moments was
apt 20 hop around Violently TO the de'Timent
Of his phony stilt, He broke several early
in the season, and tie fans were on the look
out for anything new in that line. Some
| one read an advertisement about hollow steel
artificial legs and one was bought for Larry.
For a time that worked well. II couldn't
be broken, no matter how hard i was treated,
| and several players on other teams who tried
to play dirty ball came in contact with the
| steel leg to their own great discomfort Then
a trap was laid for Larry and il worked only
too we'll We had a game to play in a neigh
boring town, where the feeling against us was
| very strong, owing TO the fact that the home
| teams third bsseman had tried to spike Larry
and had run into the steel leg SO hard that his
OVID ankle had been badly wrenched, and then
they tried to lay the blame on Murphy.
There had been quite a heavy shower the
night before the game was played and II was
feared that the grounds would be 100 wet,
But the sun came out in the morning and the field
dried out. A big crowd was out. as the game
was played on saturday and it was n half
| holiday. when We went out for practice ii
was noticed that the diamond was a bit sticky,
but that only seemed natural. Larry slipped
once or twice during the practice, but his steel
leg and the spike in the bottom of II saved him
from going down, and the ground keeper made
a blum at scattering sawdust about first base.
lie didn't scatter any between second and third,
however. and later in the game We learned
why this was.
ran pretty even up to the seventh inning
and then our pitcher weakened a BIT and they
pushed in n bunch, being four to the good when
the ming ended. In the eighth We made two
and shut them out. and 10 the ninth with the
bases full | worked in a double and We were ono
ahead. They tied the score in the last halt,
and then for two innings both sides drew blanks
In the frst Of the twelfth with two out and a man
on third Larry comes up and smashes the first
ball 10 the fence. We stood up on the bench and
rooted for him, seeing nothing but u homer
in the hit. He was running like a deer when he
passed second. but between second and thlrd
he suddenly stopped. We saw his bum leg
apparently sinking into the ground and before
he could tear loose the ball was in and ne was
out. We made a strong howl, but the how
was the best we got, and we were so discouraged
after that that II was no trouble for. the home
team "a score two runs in their half and win.
ours was a pretty sore crowd when We
went back TO the hotel and all agreed on one
thing. that the steel still would have to go.
Larry was quite as eager os the rest OF US to
ppt rid of II hut wantai 10 know what wa would
get 10 take It's place.
" ! n,less H. q case of 20 back TO the old ones
protest an order was sent In for a wooden leg.
Larry insisted that there would be trouble and
he knew; II came the third game We played
with the steel leg, The umpire had been giving
us the worst OF II MI along, and Larry had been
jumping up and down on his bum leg. The
base line and Iarry makes n Jump for II. The
wooden leg snaps and Larry pumps over on
hs head jn-t IN time 10 get he ball in the ear
over toward the bleachers and before any Of the
other players could. reach i the batter was
on thru, Lark had to quit that GAM and
Was. doing a very strong thinking net
After that game there was another CON
ference and a rubber leg was suggested. This
worked fairly well, but Larry wasn't satisfied
and one day when the eXpressman drove up
in front Of the hotel with a box for Larry We
crowded about to sea what was I'm IL IL was
n false leg, one made Of cork. and, on the square.
II was as pretty a piece Of work as ! ever saw
Larry was tickled To death with il and hoped
of to his room to Try IT. He stumped down
stairs a few minutes later and announced that he
now had the real thing, that he was in shape
to play the game OF his life no more getting
cork leg Is too light for that game. The only
thing that bothcrs me is To know whore il came
from We helped him look through the pack
ing in the box and found a little card, stating
that the leg was n present. from one of the Cranks
of the town where he had met with the mis-
fortune while wearing the steel leg, The
note went on to say that the sender Of the leg
was a great admlrnr of larry's and had been
~ great PAINS To secure the accompanying
leg which he was certain would be the very
thing Larry wanted.
Coming from the place il did, We were in
clined Ia be n little afraid Of the leg. but We
had it examined by an expert artificial limb
II a very fine bit Of work. The quality Of the
cork was extra fine, and the expert who en-
amlned 1t explained that it had probably been
made from, champagne cOrks ground. and
pressed. When our second baseman heard
this he shook his head doubtfully. We looked
at him and asked what was the trouble.
m AFRAID there will be very serious trouble
II those corks had been used in champagne
bottles said he. The influence they will
exercise in that case Is very apt To cause Larry
to drink and but before he could get any
further the gang shouted and ridiculed him
30 much that he quoted down. But he con-
tinued olook gloomy and shake his head.
Larry new life He got around livelier than
ever and was always fuIl Of spirit. Then after
"A time h." used TO hit EN- up a few on the quiet
but never went beyond a certain limit. That.
is for a few weeks. Then he used To show
up with q hit Of q load. and the manager called