Morris tribune., 1900-11-10
|A FAST BALL PLA YER
He NAY OR MAY NOT HAVE PLAYED
W,sH THE RoARERs.

own Throw TO First and Who CouI1
Get Behind the Plate In Time to
Catch His own Pitching.
/ The fastest base runner / ever saw
said the fat ex-mascot of the Lightfoot
/ Lilies in comparing baseball of the
present with that Of the old days, twas
little Sammie Salmon Of the Lilies. But
the fastest base runner I ever heard Of
was. or wasn't, as the case may have
been, Steve Speed, who played, or who
didn't play, don't know which, with
the Ringtail Roarers. At any rate,
whether he ever played with the Roar
/ ers or not, he was certainly the fastest
that ever came over the crossways.
You don't understand? Well, I'll tell
you all about him.
Zone afternoon about month before
| the last game we ever played with the
Ringtail Roarers the boys were all sit
ting round in the postof1ce discussing
our chances for the big contest Cap
| tain Slugger Burrows, who was tend
| ing postofice that day, was over in the
corner reading the ball news in Jones
County Courier that had accidentally
slipped its wrapper before delivery
Suddenly he clutched the paper tight
" and sprang to his feet For heavens
sake, boys, listen to this: We have it
from high source he began to read
breathlessly, that the Roarers have
unearthed a phenomenal base runner
of wrestling the Jones county laurels
from the erstwhile ,invincible Lightfoot
Lilies. The newcomers name is Steve
Speed. His extraordinary ability was
first discovered while he was in the
box one day last week. He stopped an
easy grounder and tossed it over to
first to catch the runner. The ball had
no sooner left his hand than, to his hor-
ror, he discovered that first was uncov-
cred. Without moments hesitation,
he made a dive for the bag and sue
ceeded in reaching it just in time to
catch the ball that he had thrown but
an instant before, thereby scoring
put out and an assist unassisted.'
Boys said the Slugger, crumpling
the paper saYagely in his fists, to Lily
park with you. Practice begins at
once, Hustler
well, sir, that week we practiced
In the morning the boys would all go
down to the station and race the trains
as they steamed out of town. After
Moons they'd ease up bit and just in
dulge in short sprints paced by the
town trolley car. At night the daily
practice, would conclude with brisk
cross country run around the town
ship. The work began to show. At
the end Of the week we began to have
some hopes of beating the Roarers aft,
er all. And then came second copy
OF The Courier knocking our hopes,
higher than taxes.
The wonderful baseball feat per-
formed by Steve Speed the article
said, which was published exclusively
by The Jones County Courier, has been
eclipsed by an even more astonishing
performance by the same player. We
have it from the same high source from
which we obtained our former news
that Speed has now become so prod
cient in running that he is able to
pitch the ball from the box and by an
Incredibly quick start reach the plate
in time to catch the ball behind the
bat. The Roarers have released their
catcher Wouldn't that hasten your
pulse? It did ours.
sand the next weeks accounts were !
even worse. The Courier got straight |
from their own private high source
that this guy, Speed was even better
than the week before. (He was now so
super at the game that he not only ran
down behind the plate and caught the
balls that he pitched, but in case the
batter knocked fly he dartedso jus}
the field and caught>it himself. The |
Roarers had, according-to The, Courier, |
their whole outfeld. When /
we read that, Bull Thompson wanted to
cancel the, game, but the Slugger
hear of ii. The Lightfoot1
Lilies, he said, may be made to look
ike tarheel thistles. but we won't
Wither before we're picked.
When the big game finally did come
IF, the lRoarers certainly had us on the
'un. For three innings they piled up
'uns almost at viii. But then we be-
yan to get wise. Where was this fast
'unning phenom? Cy Priest was still
n the pitchers box. and the whole out
ield Seemed to be in their usual places.
Perhaps he was siok. The thought
rave us courage. and we began to pick
lp a bit. You all know how we finally T
pulled the game out Of the fire in the
asst half OF the tenth. That's a mat
Err Of history now. Well, after 1t was
'yer the Slugger went up to Cy Priest.
=. Say, he asked, where's that hot 4
'ase runner Of yours, Cy?'
You mean Steve SPEEDY replied
", with-a funny look in his eye. oh,
We couldn't pay the salary he demand
d and had to let him go. The last i
leard Of him he was touring the north
vest, playing exhibition games to enor-
nous crowds.
Yes, sir; he was the. best that ever
Vas--if he was. AS said, don't real
7 know. OF course The Courier said
hat thew had, If from hiYh source.