The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-09

felt pretty sober. None or us slept
 much that night for thinking about the
 deciding game, and Nixon, who was to pitch the next days game for us was so
 nervous that he sat up all night. When | we got up next morning It was rain l ing, and then I began to feel shaky. Damp weather always affected my legs, bringing on charley horse, and l was
 afraid. I told the manager about 1t,
 but he insisted that if the game was played I would have to play. It rained
 all morning, and there was no sign of
 a let-up at noon. Then l began to feel
 a little easier. and when it was finally | announced that the game had been post
 poned l began to feel happy
 Next morning it was still raining.
 but the sky was clearing and by noon
 the sun was out. The crowd that day was d record breaker. The stands,
 bleachers and field were packed to the
 limit. For the first time in the history of the town we had to make field rules, allowing but two bases or hit into
 the crowd. The diamond was in poor { shape, and ther was saWdust all along
 the lines. We went to bat first and
 managed to push in a run, Then the
 home team came in And for time it | seemed as though they were never go- ing. Nixon was completely to the bad | from nervousness When he sent it near the plate some one banged it on the nose. WhelI he didn't the batter drew pass. By the time the inning was over nine runs had been scored
 against us, the home rooters were crazy
 with joy and there wasn't peep com inc from n iiyr of tho crowd that had
 come wth us. Nixon was the mark for
 the manager then, and when we took
 the field again Dawson, a kid pitcher,
 was In the box.
 He was willing to let me coach him
 and not a man saw first. We drew n
 couple of scores, and our rooters woke
 up. That kid kept up his good work, and in seven innings they only made one little scratch hit off him. We man. aged to score once in while and when we came to bat in the first of the ninth we only wanted one to tie. The first two men u3 drew four balls, and our band of rooters got busy. Then the home team worked in double play, and there was howl from the home rooters. Then 1t was up to me. l had been in some close games before, but | never had I felt so nervous. l looked | down the third base line and saw there was quite a bit of water where the saw dust had been pushed aside I wanted | that puddle fixed, and time was called | while the manager of the home team | went in under the stand for the care 1 taker of the grounds. That was when | they fixed their little game
 Tn few minutes the caretaker comes | out with a basket of sawdust and be- | gins to sprinkle it round the puddle. | Then he goes back for the marker. | When he came out with it I noticed it | was different from the one we used. | There was a little iron can on the han | de just back of the wheel where the | lime ran out but I didn't think much | about it. He ran 1t up and down by i the puddle half dozen times and then | the game went on They had two r strikes on me before l drew what 1 l wanted. When the ball started for the back fence our gang of rooters stood | up end danced and howed, and I was tearing around the bases at hundred yards clip. l saw the place where the puddle had oeen and was figuring that I would clear i. wien my feet slipped, I stood on my head and the catcher came down on my ribs with the ball like a load of coal.
 That was the first and only time I was knocked out. I felt the blow in the ribs and then everythin grew dark The first thing I heard when I woke K up was the cheering of the crowd, and then the band. Not our band, but the home band. The crowd was out on the li,,,. f,.o ,,e, | "a tcher up on their shoulder and car ried him off the field. They carried nla 1ff, too. But it was on a shutter. And didn't get any sympathy either The the other playerS and our 'ooters all handed it up to me. l tried Q explain that had slipped, but they have 1t. Slipped exclaimed he manager, why you laid down!'
 That was rubbing it in, and I said, Well, maybe you think l laid down, put I know there was ice there and I ] dipped on it.
 "Then they did shout, But I insisted md when I could stand up went out to ook. Sure enough there was sheet of ce where the puddle had been. Then
 thought of the little iron can. I alled for the manager and the rest of he team and they came out. l showed hem the ice and said something about he iron can on the line marker. Then he manager did open on me. "A fine thing you are to be playing ,all!' said he. Why, any one with ense would have tumbled to the fact hat they were using liquid air to freeze hat water. That's the trouble with swing an ignorant man or team. 'erhaps you never heard of liquid air? ! md you talking scientific ball? If here's another man