The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-09
BACK AT THE ANVIL AGAIN
SCIENTIFIC BASEBALE ENDED I'll E
 CAREER OF THIS PLAYER.

l
 GREER OF THIS PLATTER.
 The Mistake of Having an Uneducatet
 Man on u Team Demonstrated at ,
 Critical Moment - Ordinary Peril
 Avoided, Only 10 Meet Ruin from m
 iron Can.
 Yep" said the man with the crooked
 fingers, I'm out of the game for good As long as a man was required only tc
 know the rules of the game, keep away from the booze and make good show ing with the stick and on the bases could hold up my end with any of them But when it reached point where you had to subscribe to all the scientific | magazines and keep track of scientific discoveries in order to keep on the pay roll I quit. The only trouble was
 didn't get wise soon enough. Hot air
 knew lot about, but liquid air was a
 new one on me, and that caused the | trouble It was hard to lose the Den
 nant, but it couldn't be helped, and
 just because happened to tell the man.
 ager what his batting average was don't see why ! should have got the l blacklist But I did, and perhaps it's
 a good thing. My tricks are all dead
 ones. l guess" and the victim of sci
 ence sighed heavily.
 You see, it was this way" he con- | tinued T had grown little slow for | the big league, but I was still fast enough for any of the smaller leagues and it wasn't a very hard job to catch
 on. I landed place up in one of those dinky state leagues in New England,
 and the team l was with was maktng
 a strong bid for the pennant Three clubs ran pretty even all through the season, and finally the race narrowed down to the team I was with and one in town about twenty miles away. We won a dozen straight games on our own grounds and were to wind up the sea- son with this other team I speak about on their grounds
 There Was a series of three games to be played there, and that series would decide the championship. Before we left home the manager and the board of directors gave us a long talk. telling us to keep away from the red stuff, play ball and win the pennant and there would be an extra bunch of coin wait ing for us. Of course, we made all sorts of promises, and when we left the whole town was out to see US off, and a cou- pie of hundred rooters went along with us and took band. At the town where the final games were to be played we were met by the opposing team, band and thousands of cranks. A parade was organized and we wera es- corted to our hotel by half the town.
 Before we went out to the grounds the manager called us into his room and read us the riot act. We were warned to play the game of our lives, and in particular were instructed to look out for sharp tricks. He also spoke of dirty ball, but there wasn't lot in that lien we had to learn for all the little fancy tricks of spiking and that sort of thing wer familiar to all of us. Some of the men had played in the Texas league, and they knew more than the rest of us. But, as I said, there wasn't any man on the team but was acquainted with the game, and all we wanted was a square deal,'
 By the time we reached the grounds there wasn't room for another person to squeeze in. We looked at the crowd and ] said to the manager, Well, Tom, even if we lose the gate money will make showing Never mind the gate money. says he, you get in there and play the game, and see that you don't 1 get fooled by some old dodge Go into the bases feet first and keep your spikes clean, Get 'em clogged with dirt and | they're no use. And watch the bench | I'll be there to tip off the play, and if | you make a slip 1t means months | salary.
 Now that wasn't very encouraging, but before I had time to talk back the bell rang for us to go out for prac- f tice. and then I forgot about every thing but winning the game. had | played in some fierce games, but that vas the real thing Not that 1t was es- Deeially dirty, but every man was there to win and took chances. The score vas tie when we went to bat for the ast time, and after two men were out he next man gets a single. Then I 1ame up. l don't want to throw any at myself, but I think that vas the longest hit on record. The pest the other side could do was get a nan to third. When the last man was ut and we had won the first game our % rooters and their band whooped it ID, and insisted on drawing us back to he hotel. That night manager wouldn't ct us out of rooms. All of us were a title sore, and I felt it more than the est I'm naturally humble man, but winning that game made me pretty well atisfied with myself and I knew the rowd would want to see me. But it vas no go.
 Next morning we had another talk rom the manager. While he wouldn't st any of the men leave the hotel he ad been out the night before doing a tile scouting and had picked up a lot f information. He put us next to a )t of the other teams signals and alled me to one side to tell me of a lot to do me up and get me out of he game. The catcher of the Other